Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series

“The Inner Workings and Long-Term Impacts of Unconventional Oil and Gas Development in the Bakken Shale Play” by Kristin Smith ’08, Ph.D. Candidate, Montana State University.

In the early 2000s, skyrocketing oil prices and improved technologies, including hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, prompted a frenzy of oil and gas development across the United States. In the Bakken shale play, the boom physically transformed communities as local governments managed population growth and facilitated industry development through massive investments in public infrastructure. This talk will investigate aspects of oil and gas booms that are rarely discussed with a focus on the risk of natural resource dependence and how today’s investments can prompt barriers for tomorrow’s energy transitions.