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This introductory chapter considers how communities have dealt with the shale boom, including its economic costs. The shale boom refers to the dramatic rise in U.S. shale gas production starting in the late 1990s and continuing into the 2020s. The focus is on how planners and government officials have responded to the challenges and opportunities from natural resource extraction. Many of these challenges may be exacerbated as state and local governments deal with the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the potential for increased pressure for shale gas development as a way to boost the economy and keep prices low as the curve flattens. The chapter attempts to provide insight into the specific legal, governance, planning, and economic challenges faced, as well as an understanding of how communities have responded when they often had no choice in the matter.

This chapter offers several points that frame the analysis of governance, planning, and economic impacts associated with fracking in the rest of the book. It shows that some of the accounts of the shale boom were based on perceptions of the past, rather than facts. This chapter's reading of the gold rush history is that it was orderly, and that the government was involved in the governance of miners in California. States have also been responsive to new challenges presented by the shale boom, which calls into question the notion of laissez-faire regulatory stances by the states. On balance, states that allowed fracking balance economic opportunities with regulation of the socially costly aspects of shale gas production. It is also important to keep in mind that there are many external effects that are not internalized, including the fact that no amount of fracking is “sustainable.”

This concluding chapter pulls together the conclusions of the case studies discussed throughout this book. The shale boom has created many studies on environmental and health impacts, but far less on what happens in local communities in practical terms of governance, planning, and economic impacts. Stepping outside the usual range of outcomes considered in economic studies of boom and bust dynamics—typically employment and earnings—heightens the challenge of understanding a resource boom. Such a broader approach is essential to understand the governance, planning, and economic impacts of hydraulic fracturing. Furthermore, these cases demonstrate the role and importance of local and state officials, civic leaders, and resident stakeholders in challenging—and often untested—conditions. This chapter offers recommendations and the role of continuing research on understanding the practice and impacts of shale gas production in local and state planning and governance.