How Can Understanding Community Concerns About Hydraulic Fracturing Help to Address Them?

Hydraulic fracturing has been the focal point of widespread and global public debate. While the resources sector typically sees hydraulic fracturing as a low-risk method for accessing the coal seam and shale gas reserves required to meet growing public demand for energy, some in the community perceive it as an unmanageable and unacceptable risk. Concerns about hydraulic fracturing and the coal seam gas (CSG) industry include the health impacts of chemicals used, contamination of water supplies from fugitive gas after hydraulic fracturing, equity of land and water access, long term impacts on groundwater, and the full life cycle emission of greenhouse gases from CSG compared to that of coal. This paper highlights the main psychological drivers behind some of these concerns and a possible approach to effectively address them.