The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[OakesCS]

‘le fracking’

this exemplifies why shale gas is not likely to be as big in Europe and other locales where ownership of subsurface assets belong to the state rather than individuals. Because the "owners" are politicians, any decision on whether extraction (or injection) proceeds inherently depends on 'popular support'. The corollary result of the community screwing a surface owner by literally under-mining them also exists.

Note this also applies to things like CO2 sequestration, however, in that case liability fears are likely to force folks in the US to act more like Europeans.