Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the social organization of research on water pollution caused by shale gas production (fracking) in Pennsylvania (USA).

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the social organization of research on water pollution caused by shale gas production (fracking) in Pennsylvania (USA). Companies began extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania almost a decade ago. Since then, there have been two distinct areas of controversy regarding water pollution. First, are methane, drilling chemicals, and other contaminants migrating into underground drinking water supplies? Second, are spills and discharges polluting surface water (rivers and streams), and what cumulative effects do drilling activities have on watershed heath? Scientists at government agencies and universities have examined these questions, under a great deal of public scrutiny and criticism. At the same time, "extramural science," to use Rebecca Lave's term for nonacademic forms of expertise, has risen to a prominent role. The distinctive material challenges in monitoring water underground and on the surface—particularly the invisibility of flows of pollution—are contributing to the formation of both for-profit and non-profit water monitoring organizations. In the case of underground drinking water supplies, the commercial water testing industry has become indispensable to homeowners who fear that their well water will become contaminated. In the case of surface water, volunteers and nonprofit organizations have mobilized a vast stream monitoring effort across the state. This paper considers how extramural science is filling knowledge gaps and how different forms of invisibility contribute to organizational differences in the practice of environmental science.