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2018 Conference

du 20 au 23 June 2018

Washington, DC

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Media Representations Across Space, Place, and Time: Impact Framing of Ethane Plant Development in Southwest Pennsylvania

samedi 23 juin 2018 à 09:00–10:30 EDT
DMTI 215
Type of Session

Individual Paper Presentation

Abstract

In June 2016, Shell announced plans to build a multi-billion-dollar ethane plant in Pennsylvania’s Potter township, 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The plant, which will manufacture plastics using ethane by-products from natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale, is likely to engender multi-scalar economic, social and environmental transformations, few of which are presently understood. This research conducts a systematic media analysis to understand the public framing and contestation of these impacts in local, regional, and statewide outletsadvancing media analyses of natural gas development conducted by Evensen, Clarke, and Stedman (2014) in the Marcellus Shale region. We examine discussions of impacts to both the built and natural environment, as well as social, political, economic, and human health impacts of the proposed ethane plant. Articles from the Beaver County Times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and StateImpact Pennsylvania/The Allegheny Front from 2012 through 2017 are analyzed, with a total sample of 340 articles. Impacts are analyzed by type and valence (positive, negative, neutral or mixed), and finally coded as either anticipated or realized impacts. The most prolific journalist on the topic for each media source is interviewed to provide further information about impact reporting. Ultimately, this media analysis will identify critical the multi-scalar and temporal impacts of the plant as framed in public discourse, and will inform the development of a broadened impact assessment framework that better incorporates temporal, scalar, and socio-environmental systems perspectives.

Primary Contact

Grace Wildermuth, The Pennsylvania State University

Presenters

Dr. Jennifer Baka, The Pennsylvania State University
Elyzabeth W Engle, The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)

Co-Authors

Grace Wildermuth, The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)
Dr. Kathy Brasier, The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)
Aparna Parikh, The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)

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