J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy; Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; Professor of Environmental Policy; Professor of Political Science; Professor of the Environment
Barry Rabe is the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy at the Ford School. He is also the Arthur Thurnau Professor of Environmental Policy, with courtesy appointments in the Program in the Environment, the Department of Political…
Barry Rabe, a Ford School professor and director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP), was recently cited by both the Financial Times and the U.S. News & World Report in coverage surrounding the last week's release of findings...
“To frack, or not to frack? That was the question facing New York,” writes Jared Gilmour, staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor, in the January 17 article, “Is New York Governor’s ban on fracking grounded in science?”
The article explores...
Barry Rabe on the future of CLOSUP
A six-inch bobblehead of Ron Swanson, director of a fictitious Midwestern parks department in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, dominates the meeting table in Barry Rabe's office. The bobblehead is something of...
The United States has seen dramatic growth in energy development with much of it occurring on privately owned lands, creating a unique raft of opportunity and risk for landowners. The presentation reviews research on the nexus of property ownership rights and regulatory policy, with a focus on Shale and Wind Energy. It introduces the concept of 'Private Participation' in the planning and siting of energy projects and discusses how private property ownership will continue to influence the energy revolution.
Daniel Raimi discusses his book The Fracking Debate, in which he highlights stories of the people and communities affected by the shale revolution, for better and worse.
While much attention has been focused on the threats that hydraulic fracturing poses to water systems—whether by its consumptive use of freshwater or the risk of contaminating ground- and surface waters—the financial wealth that oil and gas development brings to state and local governments may provide opportunities to protect water resources. This diverse group of scholars will discuss their research at the intersection of fracking and water policy, and as a panel explore whether there are particular policies or practices that might be scaled-up or replicated outside their geographical area of study to create more sustainable energy-water systems.
Development of the Bakken formation represents a multitude of trade-offs. The region is one of the great granaries of the world, but it is also the site of a recent oil and gas boom made possible by hydraulic fracturing. Overlapping with these natural resources is also a grasslands biome - one of the largest areas of grasslands in Canada and the US, which contains breeding grounds for millions of birds. How local residents understand the landscape is crucial to making fair and adequate policy to protect the ecosystem and the economy. This talk examines how landowners grapple with economic, environmental, and social trade-offs when making decisions about land-use.
This talk will explore policies such as taxation, disclosure and regulation of drilling processes in a comparative manner across the states and municipalities on the Marcellus shale play.
Free and open to the public. Lunch provided. Speaker: Susan Christopherson, Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University See the presentation from the event:
A Distinctive US Approach to Shale Gas Development?
Abstract: Vertical drilling for natural gas, using at times another form of hydraulic fracturing, is permitted and has occurred for many years in the Marcellus Shale states.
****Watch the video**** Free and open to the public. Abstract The federal Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is the premier national example of a non-regulatory environmental policy, and it illustrates well both the potential and limitations of using information disclosure to achieve policy goals. The TRI was adopted in 1986 as an amendment to the federal Superfund law, and since 1988 we have had annual reports on the release of over 650 toxic chemicals by some 20,000 industrial facilities around the nation.
Free and Open to the Public Panelists: Christopher Borick, Director, Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion Jacquelyn Pless, Energy Policy Associate, National Conference of State Legislatures Erich Schwartzel, Editor of Pipeline, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Moderator: Barry Rabe, Director, Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) See the presentations from the event:
by Christopher Borick
Free and Open to the Public Panelists: Eric Lupher, Director of Local Affairs, Citizens Research Council of Michigan Sanya Carley, Assistant Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Thomas P. Lyon, Professor, Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan Abstract Michigan and twenty-eight other states have enacted legislation that mandates increases in the amount of electricity that they use from renewable sources.
In recent years, natural gas production has increased greatly in the United States. This is, in large part, because of an attempt to decrease dependence on foreign energy sources. With increased use of natural gas comes the use of hydraulic...
Since becoming an economically viable means of extracting oil and gas in the early 21st century, hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking” as the process is commonly known) has become a major component of the American and world energy sectors. In 2015,...
This paper seeks to explore the issue of unilateral state authority over hydraulic fracturing policy and the possibility/ merits of a shared government model that incorporates local input. This analysis explores the balance of state and local power...
Extraction from the Marcellus Shale—one of the most robust natural gas deposits in North America—represents the potential for economic growth and environmental degradation. There is little federal oversight concerning natural gas extraction...
Barry Rabe, Rachel Hampton, University of Michigan
States producing gas and oil have long levied severance taxes at the point of extraction, commonly placing most revenues into general funds. These taxes have assumed new meaning in many states amid the expansion of gas and oil production...
The extraction of shale gas—mainly through the process of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”—has become a central if contentious area of energy policy in the European Union (EU). Like their US counterparts, European policymakers are attracted by the...
The Canadian province of Québec has the largest reserves of shale gas in Eastern Canada, but Québeckers are in the midst of a heated debate over the desirability of exploiting this resource. At issue is the controversial technique of hydraulic...
