Risks and risk governance in unconventional shale gas development.

A broad assessment is provided of the current state of knowledge regarding the risks associated with shale gas development and their governance. For the principal domains of risk, we identify observed and potential hazards and promising mitigation options to address them, characterizing current knowledge and research needs. Important unresolved research questions are identified for each area of risk; however, certain domains exhibit especially acute deficits of knowledge and attention, including integrated studies of public health, ecosystems, air quality, socioeconomic impacts on communities, and climate change.

Shale play politics: the intergovernmental Odyssey of American shale governance.

Intergovernmental responsibility for policy development for shale gas is concentrated primarily at the state level, given multiple statutory and political constraints on potential federal engagement. This opens the question of how a large subset of American states might craft shale policies, amid competing scholarly views on the commitment of states to environmental protection when energy development opportunities arise in the absence of applicable federal authority. The article examines recent trends in state political economy that may shape policy development and capacity, considers the heterogeneous pattern of policy emerging thus far, and draws preliminary lessons from the very small set of states that have enacted far-reaching new state legislation.

Political impediments to a tobacco endgame.

Any serious consideration of exploring a tobacco endgame in the USA must build upon the enviable track record of reducing tobacco use through a mixture of federal and state policies. This foundation may pose particular challenges in approaching an endgame, including questions of national political feasibility, public support, limitations of sub-federal experimentation and recruitment of future political champions. Advocates must demonstrate a compelling need for a dramatic expansion beyond existing efforts, amid competition from alternative issues and little apparent public appetite for such an initiative.