9Land Use Resources and Socioeconomics
9.1 Introduction
Of all the categories of possible impacts, land use resources and socioeconomics may be the broadest category with impacts that are most noticeable to communities living near well sites and mine sites. These social issues include community quality‐of‐life issues, as well as environmental justice, health and safety for the community and workers, worker training, historic and cultural resource protection, and land use planning. The Shale Gas Roundtable (Gourley et al. 2013) report summarized two main land use concerns and one main land use opportunity in unconventional oil and gas‐producing areas:
- Minimize the acute and cumulative impacts of oil and gas operations on the environment, public health, and local communities.
- Minimize the surface disturbance from oil and gas operations, and optimize the efficiency of resource recovery and transport to market.
- Enhance the use of unconventional oil and gas, and support opportunities for regional and national economic growth based on the full oil and natural gas value chain.
Land use resources and socioeconomics are impacted to varying degrees by all seven phases of the unconventional oil and gas exploration–production life cycle:
- Phase 1 Prospect generation (geochemistry studies and geophysical surveys).
- Phase 2 Planning (lease acquisition and site preparation).
- Phase 3 Drilling.
- Phase 4 Well completion and hydraulic fracture stimulation.
- Phase 5 Fluid recovery and waste management. ...
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