Investigation and Analysis of Social Impacts of Eagle Ford Shale on Local Communities
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In a region traditionally known for agriculture, the Western Gulf Basin of South Central Texas has recently become a major player in the oil and gas industry. The shale gas and oil development in the area, now known as the Eagle Ford Shale region, has generated a significant boost to South Texas. However, the issue of whether the development has benefited all residents in the region (most of whom are Hispanic and low income) and how the development has affected the social life of the local communities in general, remains an unanswered question. To investigate the general economic and social impacts of the development to the local residents in the region, a research team at Texas A&M University-Kingsville has conducted a large-scale social survey in the region. Adopting a multi-stage probability sampling frame, the survey has randomly selected 1590 respondents in the region for interview. In the paper, we describe in detail the research design and survey instrument, and provide results of preliminary analysis of the data thus collected. 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.