COMPARING AND CONTRASTING REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE APPROACHES TO UNCONVENTIONAL OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF ARGENTINA AND THE U.S

Unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) is changing energy production and markets worldwide. China, Argentina, and the U.S. are the most shale-abundant nations, but widespread drilling success has primarily been limited to the U.S. (and Canada) (Maugeri 2013). As such, social science research on UOGD has been primarily limited to the U.S. as well. However, the Argentine government just incentivized drilling, potentially triggering an oil boom there (Cunningham 2017). Through an analysis of the historical, cultural, political, and legal contexts in both nations I will discuss how a UOGD boom might emerge in Argentina, in what ways it parallels and diverges from the UOGD boom and busts we have witnessed in the U.S., and how policy and regulatory approaches may lead to similar or divergent issues of procedural climate justice in UOGD. In particular, I will focus on each nations’ historical policies and each respective federal government’s ownership and intervention with UOGD. Finally, I will discuss the extent to which these differences have shaped the current context for UOGD in each nation.