Community Shale Network to host presentation Community and social impacts of natural gas topic of planned meeting

FOR THE REVIEW)
Published: March 30, 2010

Article Tools
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
Sign Up newsletter

The Community Shale Network will be hosting a presentation and discussion of the potential impacts on the community of natural gas development at 7 p.m. on April 12 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Athens and Sheshequin on North Street in Athens. Dr. Abby Kinchy and Dr. Simona Perry are the featured speakers and will share their observations and work related to developments in similar "boomtown" developments as well as their research related to Bradford County and the surrounding communities. Their presentations will be followed by an open discussion.

The rapid development of any energy resource in a rural area such as Bradford County has numerous impacts on the community at the social, economic and infrastructural levels. The influx of new people and their integration into the community, housing needs, economic impacts, increased road traffic, demands on health care and schools, are just a few of the issues that follow typical gas or oil field developments. Already local papers have headlined strains on housing and roads. The evening's program is geared at creating an awareness of some of the changes that can be expected which can lead to a discussion on how organizations and institutions can begin to plan and address those needs.

Abby Kinchy, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. She earned a PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2007. She is in the beginning stages of a long-term research project examining social conflict and scientific debate regarding gas development in the Marcellus Shale. In the coming year, she will be collecting data on public perceptions of water pollution and water treatment associated with hydraulic fracturing in Bradford County.

Simona Perry, Ph.D. University of Massachusetts 2009-2010 Visiting Scholar in Community Mapping and Outreach with the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education at Dickinson College. She is involved in organizing a participatory mapping project within the Susquehanna River watershed that will serve as an interdisciplinary and capacity-building project through which the Dickinson community can learn about GIS technology, develop spatial and geographic literacy, and document rural life-ways in Pennsylvania. In addition, it is hoped that this project will plant the seeds for on-going partnerships between Dickinson College and rural Pennsylvanians facing environmental, social, and economic changes.

The meeting is another in the ongoing series being organized and hosted by the Community Shale Network to help initiate community discussion and interaction in response to the gas development in the Twin Tiers area. For more information about this meeting and other future meetings and events, contact Elaine Lovegreen at emlovegreen@earthlink.net, Rev. Darcey Laine at minister@athensuuc.org or call the church at (570) 888-0252.

This article was submitted by the Community Shale Network.

Ads by Yahoo!






Type in the characters you see in the picture below. If you have trouble reading the characters in the picture, click it to see a new one.



Be the first to comment on this article!