The existence of trust and confidence in public authorities and in the rules and the outcomes of environmental and other regulatory assessment processes is highly important. This case examines a region that was overwhelmingly distrustful of public authorities making decisions about shale gas development. Kent County is a rural area in New Brunswick, Canada, featuring coastal and inland villages and a unique mix of three cultures (Mi’kmaq, Acadian, and Anglophone). Through a combination of interviews (n=20) and a survey (n=500), we identified three main reasons for the lack of confidence: (1) skepticism over capacity; (2) scandals and controversies; and (3) challenges of aligning with indigenous epistemologies and questions of representation.
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December 31 2018
Public Trust in Environmental Decision-Making: A Case Study of Shale Gas Regulation in Kent County, New Brunswick
Stewart Fast,
1Institute for Science, Society and Policy, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Email: [email protected]
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Laura Nourallah
Laura Nourallah
2School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
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Email: [email protected]
Case Studies in the Environment (2018) 2 (1): 1–7.
Citation
Stewart Fast, Laura Nourallah; Public Trust in Environmental Decision-Making: A Case Study of Shale Gas Regulation in Kent County, New Brunswick. Case Studies in the Environment 31 December 2018; 2 (1): 1–7. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/cse.2017.000877
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