Perceptions of Natural Gas Development and High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing: A Survey of Residents of Hamilton and Lebanon, New York
September 26, 2012
Perceptions of Natural Gas Development and
High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing: A
Survey of Residents of Hamilton and
Lebanon, New York
http://upstate.colgate.edu/home.aspx
Colgate University
Upstate Institute
Mary Spetsieris, ‘13
Rita Van Kirk, ‘13
William Schlitzer, ‘12
in cooperation with
Madison County Citizens for Safe Energy
Sept. 2012
Comment:
There is a methodological limitation:
The data are almost certainly from a fairly non-representative sample and thus must be interpreted with care.
The non-representativeness is suggested clearly by the data in Table 1: it is unlikely that the population as a whole is 57% female with 47% having graduate education.
I was concerned that the researchers did not even mention this limitation in their interpretation.
It did appear to me that several of the results seemed consistent with other surveys about gas drilling in upstate – this tends to strengthen the apparent result patterns the researchers report.
Finally it is totally beyond me why the researchers did not report as background some of the many recent surveys about gassing in upstate (Cornell, Quinnipiac, etc.).
Best,
Stan Scobie, Binghamton, NY, 607-669-4683