Fracking Boom Raised Crime Rates in Rural America

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Scientifically, hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, has been dissected from almost every possible angle. It has been linked to an increase in air and water pollution, earthquakes, traffic and more.

Now, in a paper recently published in The Extractive Industries and Society, a group of researchers from Russia and Pennsylvania have added another one to the list: violent crime.

For the study, the economists focused on three rural U.S. states that experienced the shale oil and gas boom after 2007: West Virginia, North Dakota and Arkansas. They merged data from shale gas production records, fracking boom maps, the U.S. Census Bureau and the FBI from the years 1999 to 2015. The researchers used the post-2007 fracking boom period as a natural experiment.

Overall, the results show violent crime rose by 36% in the three rural states during the fracking boom—costing an extra $15.68 million a year (in 2008 money). Murder and non-negligent homicide increased the most, followed by forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

The researchers attribute the increases to three fracking-specific causes.

First, fracking jobs are typically low-skilled and temporary. Therefore, according to the authors, people with criminal records are likely to disproportionately move to areas experiencing a shale boom to find employment. Moreover, the fracking boom is associated with increased income inequality as the local royalty income is concentrated among just a small segment of the population. Previous studies have shown that inequality provides a rational incentive to commit a crime.

Additionally, fracking jobs are male-dominated, meaning the shale boom in a specific area often created an imbalance in the gender ratio, provoking an increase of crimes against women.

“Businesses like a bar, prostitution and drugs boom with the fracking boom and increase illicit behavior,” the researchers write in their paper.

Third, residents in fracking states are disproportionately affected by toxic elements like pollution, noise, water quality and traffic. This leads to tensions between local residents and temporary workers and, as a result, causes an increase in violent crime.

All of this adds additional burden on local authorities and law enforcement agencies, as evidenced by a 2012 report that shows a 1/3 increase of Pennsylvania State Police incidents/calls for Marcellus rural counties compared with non-Marcellus counties.

The researchers offer various recommendations to counties still experiencing this uptick in shale-related violent crime.

First and foremost, they posit that fracking should be more technologically advanced, involving less manual labor and more automated methods. The topic has been brought to light and researched heavily, but adoption has been slow. Also, the shale boom of 2007 hit so quickly, everyone from companies, executives and researchers to local citizens were wholly unprepared. With hindsight being 20/20, oil companies have begun innovating with more automated methods. For example, in May of this year, Schlumberger, an oil field services company that operates in more than 120 countries, introduced an AI-based well delivery solution that works with platform controls on rig equipment. Ultimately, this advanced technology means oil and gas producers can employ fewer people while taking less time to drill and complete wells.

The researchers also believe reducing the negative impacts of fracking on the environment will lead to a decrease of violent crime.

“The damage shale mining does to the environment should be reduced. This will reduce the number of negative factors affecting the lives of state residents,” said research co-author Kazi Sohar, professor at Ural Federal University.

Sohar and team caution not to generalize the results of the study given outlying characteristics like politics and culture, but they do hope to fill in some gaps by incorporating countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Norway into future studies.

 

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