POSTPONED to 3/2: Spring 2015 Seminar Series: Kate Neville

Trust-a relational, conditional, action-inducing judgment-has become central to the controversies over shale resources and hydraulic fracturing. The lack of it poses a problem for companies intending to access land, acquire operations permits, build infrastructure, and, ultimately, participate in the energy commodity chain. Using a case study from northern Canada, Kate Neville, a post-doctoral fellow in Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment, will link three factors of unconventional oil and gas developments-scale and pace, risk and uncertainty, and visibility-with two broad trends in trust: skepticism about and divisions concerning the validity of scientific evidence and mistrust of consultative processes and political decision-making.This talk is part of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the University Program in Environmental Policy seminar series featuring leading experts discussing a variety of pressing environmentally focused topics.