Comparing the Politics of Hydraulic Fracturing in New York, Colorado, and Texas* Christopher Weible & Tanya Heikkila School of Public Affairs UC Denver Paper presented at the Energy Policy Research Conference (EPRC) Denver, CO September 10, 2015 *Study Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Research Questions (1)Who are actively involved in hydraulic fracturing debates (policy actors) and to what extent do they support or oppose hydraulic fracturing? (2)What are the perceptions of potential problems associated with hydraulic fracturing? (3)What capacity do policy actors have and what political activities do they engage in? (4)Who do policy actors interact with?

Research Questions (1)Who are actively involved in hydraulic fracturing debates (policy actors) and to what extent do they support or oppose hydraulic fracturing? (2)What are the perceptions of potential problems associated with hydraulic fracturing? (3)What capacity do policy actors have and what political activities do they engage in? (4)Who do policy actors interact with? Research questions theoretically grounded by the Advocacy Coalition Framework

Hydraulic fracturing politics in CO, NY, TX Study Context

Methods Online survey ( ) of policy actors – New York = 129 completed of 379 (34%) – Colorado = 137 completed of 398 (34%) – Texas = 78 completed of 324 (24%) Informing this research but not included in this paper are interviews, media analyses, hyperlink analyses, and document analyses.

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Conclusions Polarization between two opposing coalitions with different beliefs and different levels of political capacity and kinds of political activities. Some nuanced differences across states include higher levels of polarization in New York, higher levels of government support for proponents of hydraulic fracturing in Texas, and high frequency of coalition building in Colorado. One similarity across states is the shared concern by both coalitions about public distrust of the oil and gas industry.

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