Regulate Fracking at what Scale? A Binational Comparison of Local Elite and Public Opinion in Canada and the United States

In recent years, some of the most contested debates about fracking have emerged as a result of conflicts between the public, regulators and elected officials at the local, subnational and national scales. Given this conflict and the very localized effects of hydraulic fracking operations, a logical hypothesis is that local elected officials and the public would want the majority of authority to regulate fracking. In this paper, we examine local elite and public opinion about fracking in two different subnational jurisdictions, in two different countries - the province of Ontario, Canada, and the state of Michigan, United States. Specifically, the paper examines how and whether local elites and the public believe that authority for the regulation of fracking should be shared between different scales. Results provide novel binational results valuable for future comparative analysis, particularly about fracking in federal systems.