Shale gas offers the prospect of a low-cost energy future ? but does extracting it invoke anxieties about the possibility of environmental catastrophe among local residents? Research by Steve Gibbons and colleagues detects a distinct `fear of fracking?, as indicated by falling house prices in the one part of the country where exploratory drilling has taken place. Their study finds that house prices fell by up to 5% in the months after fracking triggered minor earthquakes. Compensation to local communities for the `psychological costs? of fracking could be very costly.

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13 December 2016     Paper Number CEPCP487

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This CentrePiece article is published under the centre's Urban programme, Neighbourhoods programme.

This publication comes under the following theme: Housing