Law Commons^™

This is the introduction to the first book systematically exploring the relationship between shale gas and sustainable development, Shale Gas and the Future of Energy: Law and Policy for Sustainability (Edward Elgar 2016). It describes the growing importance of unconventional shale gas and the evolution of sustainable development as a policy norm, and explains that there has been little analysis of the relationship between unconventional shale gas and sustainability. The introduction then summarizes twelve chapters by the contributing authors, who are not only lawyers and current and former policy makers, but also from public health, the social sciences, economics, and …

Few energy issues in recent decades have proven as contentious as shale gas. Supporters and opponents often speak in such strikingly divergent terms that they seem to be describing different activities. Typically, supporters point to the economic and security impacts of shale gas, and minimize the adverse environmental and social effects. Opponents often point to negative environmental and social impacts, and downplay the economic and security effects. This chapter, from Shale Gas and the Future of Energy: Law and Policy for Sustainability (Edward Elgar 2016), explains sustainable development as an essential framework for providing a more complete understanding of whether …