Study title

We analysed 1,557 UK policy documents. This included departmental documents (98), select committee reports (18), POST notes and Commons library briefings (57), written ministerial statements (52), UK general election manifestos (14), policy paper (46), major speeches (9), DECC blog posts (6), and passages of parliamentary debate (1,297). The analysis sought to identify key 'frames' used in the Westminster policy debate over shale development in the UK. Frames are, most simply, shared ways of thinking and talking about particular issues. We identified 9 such frames - 4 pro-shale development and 5 anti-shale development. The data therefore is comprised of every statement from across our corpus that expressed one of the 9 key policy frames. See Williams and Sovacool (2019) for a description of the 9 frames.Hydraulic fracturing ('fracking') is a technology that allows the extraction of unconventional fossil fuel resources (oil and gas). The technology has been widely used in North America over the last decade but is in a much earlier stage of development in the UK. Government policy in the UK is actively encouraging the deployment of this technology and test drilling has taken place at several sites in the UK. There has been significant policy and public controversy around the use of the technology: it is simultaneously viewed by some actors as a novel and risky technology with the potential to adversely affect public health and the environment, but by others as rather more mundane and manageable. Shale gas, furthermore, is viewed by some as able to help the UK meet emissions reduction objectives but by others as hindering this task. Finally, the governance of shale gas development is also a source of conflict, with varying ideas about the ways and extent to which publics and local communities should have a say in policy and decision-making. This contested nature of shale development amongst different groups and stakeholders represents a key socio-political...