Standard Grant: Societal Aspects of Energy Infrastructure Expansion

Drexel University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports a research project that studies social aspects of efforts to expand the use of fracking for gas extraction, as well as corresponding efforts to expand gas processing and exportation, in the tri-state area constituted by Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. The specific goal of this project is to better understand the role labor unions and their members play in the co-production of energy infrastructures. It will provide findings that will shed light on the social forces that shape energy infrastructures, and on how sociotechnical systems are developed, maintained, and how they can be changed. The PIs plan to publish peer reviewed articles in journals such as Science as Culture and Environmental Sociology, and to publish a book with MIT Press. To increase public understanding of energy expansions, the PIs will produce a white paper with the assistance of a design professional to create infographics for the white paper. They will also share key findings with labor unions and with key government offices including that of the Governor for each of the three states, and the Mayor and City Council of Philadelphia, New York City, and Trenton. The proposed research project will examine efforts to expand gas infrastructure. It will combine STS literatures on energy systems with sociological research on organized labor, and it will multiple methods including content analysis, in-depth interviews, and fieldwork. It will investigate the technical and scientific expertise of key members of the different labor unions involved in the infrastructure development, and it will explore the extent to which that expertise impacts technology design and use, and the extent to which it is used in political debate and policy formation. The proposed research has the potential to bridge and to integrate the literatures in STS and sociology that is relevant to a fuller understanding of the role of labor and technology in environmental injustice; although there is some overlap between these literatures, they often are disconnected. Most researchers examining natural gas as an environmental justice issue focus on the extraction point of the energy supply chain, examining rural communities impacted by fracking. This project shifts the focus from communities near gas wells to the views and positions of groups at the transportation and refining points in the energy supply chain that are influential in either supporting or curtailing the conditions that bring about environmental injustice from fossil fuel energy technologies. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.