Towards a Roadmap for Governance of Unconventional Gas: A Multidimensional Challenge

Many assessments of the promise and pitfalls to shale gas development are incomplete. They tend to focus primarily on the benefits for electricity generation and gas producers, and therefore only address in a limited way the impact shale gas has on wider issues such as energy security and stewardship. We expand on the existing literature by considering a broad treatment of the energy security needs of the United States and other countries. We find that with the proper safeguards in place-public disclosure, sound water management, continuous evaluation and stakeholder engagement, selectivity in drilling sites, active minimization of negative externalities, and international performance standards-shale gas production can potentially do more help more than harm.