IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jenvss/v4y2014i1p78-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Civil society research and Marcellus Shale natural gas development: results of a survey of volunteer water monitoring organizations

Author

Listed:
  • Kirk Jalbert
  • Abby Kinchy
  • Simona Perry

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a survey of civil society organizations that are monitoring surface water for impacts of Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania and New York. We argue that enlisting volunteers to conduct independent monitoring is one way that civil society organizations are addressing knowledge gaps and the “undone science” of surface water quality impacts related to gas extraction. The survey, part of an ongoing 2-year study, examines these organizations' objectives, monitoring practices, and financial, technical, and institutional support networks. We find that water monitoring organizations typically operate in networks of two main types: centralized networks, with one main “hub” organization connecting many chapter groups or teams, and decentralized networks, consisting primarily of independent watershed associations and capacity building organizations. We also find that there are two main orientations among water monitoring groups. Roughly, half are advocacy-oriented, gathering data in order to improve regulation, support litigation, and change industry behavior. We characterize the other half as knowledge-oriented, gathering data in order to protect natural resources through education and awareness. Our analysis finds that many monitoring programs function relatively independently of government and university oversight supported instead by a number of capacity building organizations in the field. We argue that this reflects neoliberal tendencies toward increased public responsibility for environmental science. We also find that new participants in the field of water monitoring, mainly large environmental NGOs integral to the operations of centralized networks, are shifting monitoring programs towards more advocacy-oriented objectives. We believe this shift may impact how civil society water monitoring efforts interact with regulatory bodies, such as by taking normative positions and using volunteer-collected data to advocate for policy change. Copyright AESS 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Kirk Jalbert & Abby Kinchy & Simona Perry, 2014. "Civil society research and Marcellus Shale natural gas development: results of a survey of volunteer water monitoring organizations," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 4(1), pages 78-86, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jenvss:v:4:y:2014:i:1:p:78-86
    DOI: 10.1007/s13412-013-0155-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s13412-013-0155-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13412-013-0155-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dara O'Rourke & Gregg P. Macey, 2003. "Community environmental policing: Assessing new strategies of public participation in environmental regulation," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(3), pages 383-414.
    2. Frickel, Scott & Vincent, M. Bess, 2007. "Hurricane Katrina, contamination, and the unintended organization of ignorance," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 181-188.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abby Kinchy & Sarah Parks & Kirk Jalbert, 2016. "Fractured knowledge: Mapping the gaps in public and private water monitoring efforts in areas affected by shale gas development," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(5), pages 879-899, August.
    2. Richard Milligan & Tyler McCreary & Na’Taki Osborne Jelks, 2021. "Improvising against the racial state in Atlanta: Reimagining agency in environmental justice," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(7), pages 1586-1605, November.
    3. Yasminah Beebeejaun, 2024. "Fracking and epistemic injustice: A feminist critique of knowledge formation," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 42(2), pages 250-267, March.
    4. Ben Brucato, 2015. "The New Transparency: Police Violence in the Context of Ubiquitous Surveillance," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(3), pages 39-55.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hausman, Catherine & Stolper, Samuel, 2021. "Inequality, information failures, and air pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    2. Vajjhala, Shalini & Van Epps, Amanda & Szambelan, Sarah, 2008. "Integrating EJ into Federal Policies and Programs: Examining the Role of Regulatory Impact Analyses and Environmental Impact Statements," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-45, Resources for the Future.
    3. François Dedieu, 2022. "Organized denial at work: The difficult search for consistencies in French pesticide regulation," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 951-973, July.
    4. Michelle Wong & Esther Bejarano & Graeme Carvlin & Katie Fellows & Galatea King & Humberto Lugo & Michael Jerrett & Dan Meltzer & Amanda Northcross & Luis Olmedo & Edmund Seto & Alexa Wilkie & Paul En, 2018. "Combining Community Engagement and Scientific Approaches in Next-Generation Monitor Siting: The Case of the Imperial County Community Air Network," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-14, March.
    5. Edith M. Williams & Julien Terrell & Judith Anderson & Laurene Tumiel-Berhalter, 2016. "A Case Study of Community Involvement Influence on Policy Decisions: Victories of a Community-Based Participatory Research Partnership," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-9, May.
    6. Suzanne Kingston & Edwin Alblas & Mícheál Callaghan & Julie Foulon, 2021. "Magnetic law: Designing environmental enforcement laws to encourage us to go further," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(S1), pages 143-162, November.
    7. Yaru Tang & Mengdi Liu & Fan Xia & Bing Zhang, 2024. "Informal regulation by nongovernmental organizations enhances corporate compliance: Evidence from a nationwide randomized controlled trial in China," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 234-257, January.
    8. Abby Kinchy & Sarah Parks & Kirk Jalbert, 2016. "Fractured knowledge: Mapping the gaps in public and private water monitoring efforts in areas affected by shale gas development," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(5), pages 879-899, August.
    9. Timo Goeschl & Ole Jürgens, 2012. "Environmental quality and welfare effects of improving the reporting capability of citizen monitoring schemes," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 264-286, December.
    10. Tessa Bonincontro & Juliette Cerceau & Florian Tena-Chollet & Sylvia Becerra, 2024. "From unseen to seen in post-mining polluted territories: (in)visibilisation processes at work in soil contamination management," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    11. Lesi Hertati & Marlina Widiyanti & Desfitrina Desfitrina & Afriapollo Syafarudin & Otniel Safkaur, 2020. "The Effects of Economic Crisis on Business Finance," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(3), pages 236-244.
    12. Jeong-Il Park & Hye-Seon Kwon, 2019. "Examining the Association between Socioeconomic Status and Exposure to Carcinogenic Emissions in Gyeonggi of South Korea: A Multi-Level Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-12, March.
    13. Eckert Heather L, 2006. "Public Complaints and Alberta's Environmental Regulation," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-25, October.
    14. Cristian Alarcon Ferrari & Mari Jönsson & Solomon Gebreyohannis Gebrehiwot & Linley Chiwona-Karltun & Cecilia Mark-Herbert & Daniela Manuschevich & Neil Powell & Thao Do & Kevin Bishop & Tuija Hilding, 2021. "Citizen Science as Democratic Innovation That Renews Environmental Monitoring and Assessment for the Sustainable Development Goals in Rural Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-9, March.
    15. Michelle Wong & Alexa Wilkie & Catalina Garzón-Galvis & Galatea King & Luis Olmedo & Esther Bejarano & Humberto Lugo & Dan Meltzer & Daniel Madrigal & Mariana Claustro & Paul English, 2020. "Community-Engaged Air Monitoring to Build Resilience Near the US-Mexico Border," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-18, February.
    16. Simpson, Ace Volkmann & Cunha, Miguel Pina e & Clegg, Stewart, 2015. "Hybridity, sociomateriality and compassion: What happens when a river floods and a city's organizations respond?," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 375-386.
    17. Shigeru Matsumoto & Kenji Takeuchi, 2011. "The effect of community characteristics on the frequency of illegal dumping," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 13(3), pages 177-193, September.
    18. Sanne, Johan M., 2012. "Learning from adverse events in the nuclear power industry: Organizational learning, policy making and normalization," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 239-250.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jenvss:v:4:y:2014:i:1:p:78-86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.