Two Pitt faculty members edit book on local responses to the shale gas industry

Two faculty members in the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs co-edited a recently released book of essays, “When Fracking Comes to Town: Governance, Planning, and Economic Impacts of the US Shale Boom” (Cornell University Press).

Associate Professors Sabina Deitrick and Ilia Murtazashvili oversaw essays from over 20 contributors, including planners, legal scholars, political scientists and economists, to trace the response of local communities to the shale gas industry.

"Through an interdisciplinary perspective, ‘When Fracking Comes to Town,’ tells the stories of community resilience and the complexity of local responses to the rise and fall of shale gas production," Deitrick said. "This book demonstrates the actions and opportunities local communities created when confronted with the fracking boom. Rather than responding passively to the challenges the shale boom posed, communities found innovative ways through planning and regulation to improve their communities and lessen some of the harmful impacts on residents."

Deitrick is co-director of the Urban and Regional Analysis research program at the University Center for Social and Urban Research.

Murtazashvili is associate director for the Center for Governance and Markets and a Campbell Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where he is researching property rights institutions on Native American lands.