Rabe examines the political feasibility and durability of environmental and energy policy, with a particular emphasis on efforts to address climate change in the U.S. and other federal systems. His most recent books examine the politics of carbon pricing and the limitations of unilateral executive branch policy actions. Current research explores the politics of intensive but short-lived greenhouse gases, such as methane and HFCs. Recent policy engagement includes work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior, the Department of Commerce, and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.
Politico, E&E News, the Brookings Institution, and The Guardian have recently quoted the Ford School’s Barry Rabe's insights on the 2024 election campaigns regarding climate policy and the impacts on swing states like Michigan. Focusing on...
Recently, Ford School Barry Rabe was highlighted on E&E News and Politico for his insights on Kamala Harris's climate policies during her campaign. Rabe focused on some of the conflicts Harris would face running on a "green dream" campaign."Harris’...
Environmental and energy policy professor at the Ford School, Barry Rabe has shared with Politico what may be vice-president Harris' motivation for retracting her support of a fracking ban from 2019. “You have to put Harris in the context of who...
Fracking provides a shorter timeline for production payoff that may lower the risk for gas and oil investors who are weighing their options in light of the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act.
“That speaks to why, along with geopolitical...
Rabe tole E&E News it remains an open question how much the gas fight will influence Pennsylvania voters.
"If you have a large state with a diversified economy, how significant is something like the fossil fuel industry? This is an interesting...
From 2013-2016, Daniel Raimi traveled to every major oil and gas producing region of the United States to investigate the local impacts of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
The stories he gathered from those trips were the beginnings of Raimi’s...
Barry Rabe, a Ford School professor and director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP), was recently cited by both the Financial Times and the U.S. News & World Report in coverage surrounding the last week's release of findings...
In Barney Jopson’s “US states seek to block city fracking bans,” an article that appeared in yesterday’s Financial Times, Barry Rabe explains that “the US is still in the early stages of discovering and managing the upsides and downsides of shale...
Welfare and distributional implications of shale gas, a paper by Catie Hausman, provides the first estimates of broad-scale welfare and distributional implications of the recent shale gas boom. The report, coauthored with U-M economics professor...
“To frack, or not to frack? That was the question facing New York,” writes Jared Gilmour, staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor, in the January 17 article, “Is New York Governor’s ban on fracking grounded in science?”
The article...
In “How Should States Tax New Fossil Fuel Boom,” Barry Rabe speaks with Michigan Radio’s Stateside with Cynthia Canty to discuss the taxation of fossil fuels, which has become a frontline political issue in many states due to the growth of fracking....
Municipal control over energy policy could make hydraulic fracturing a risky investment in Colorado, Ford School professor Barry Rabe tells the Christian Science Monitor in a July 17 article by Jared Gilmour, titled "In US energy boom, who decides...
"The wild grass is only now beginning to hide the scar left by the giant ditch digger that gouged a trench though Ron Kardos' Oceola Township, Mich., pasture last year for an oil pipeline - but already Kardos is preparing for another onslaught of...
A Grand Bargain on Fracking? Lessons from Springfield, Illinoisby Barry RabeEditor's Note: A new Illinois statewide policy on shale development and the possible use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) procedures was just passed with overwhelming...
The results from a public opinion survey on fracking from the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy and the Muhlenberg Institute of Public Opinion was picked up by a number of local and regional news services.The survey—part of the National...
Most Michigan and Pennsylvania residents say fracking is good for the economy, but have concerns about chemicals used and other environmental risks, according to a University of Michigan survey.The results come from the National Surveys on Energy...
Barry Rabe on the future of CLOSUP
A six-inch bobblehead of Ron Swanson, director of a fictitious Midwestern parks department in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, dominates the meeting table in Barry Rabe's office. The bobblehead is something...
The National Research Council (NRC) has appointed Ford School Professor Barry Rabe to a steering committee that will organize two workshops examining the social and decision-making issues related to identifying, assessing, and managing risk in shale...
The Michigan Chronicle interviewed Barry Rabe for its story on hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." Fracking is a process by which oil and gas companies inject chemical fluids or sand into underground shale rock formations in order to free deposits...
In a blog for The Brookings Institution, Barry G. Rabe said a state appellate court's decision to strike down key provisions of Pennsylvania's shale gas legislation could be a sign of things to come.In February, Pennsylvania passed legislation to...
Pennsylvanians have significant doubts about the credibility of the media, environmental groups and scientists on the issue of natural gas drilling using "fracking" methods, a new poll says.Those surveyed also believe the state's governor, Tom...
Daniel Raimi discusses his book The Fracking Debate, in which he highlights stories of the people and communities affected by the shale revolution, for better and worse.
Development of the Bakken formation represents a multitude of trade-offs. The region is one of the great granaries of the world, but it is also the site of a recent oil and gas boom made possible by hydraulic fracturing. Overlapping with these natural resources is also a grasslands biome - one of the largest areas of grasslands in Canada and the US, which contains breeding grounds for millions of birds. How local residents understand the landscape is crucial to making fair and adequate policy to protect the ecosystem and the economy. This talk examines how landowners grapple with economic, environmental, and social trade-offs when making decisions about land-use.
Free and open to the public. Lunch provided. Speaker: Susan Christopherson, Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University See the presentation from the event:
A Distinctive US Approach to Shale Gas Development?
Abstract: Vertical drilling for natural gas, using at times another form of hydraulic fracturing, is permitted and has occurred for many years in the Marcellus Shale states.
Energy use, fracking, stem cell research, vaccination and prescription drug regulations, intellectual property issues and support for biotech research --these are some of the science related issues that policymakers face. The Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Graduate Certificate program will help you develop and gain methods and tools for science and technology policy analysis.
Free and Open to the Public Panelists: Christopher Borick, Director, Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion Jacquelyn Pless, Energy Policy Associate, National Conference of State Legislatures Erich Schwartzel, Editor of Pipeline, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Moderator: Barry Rabe, Director, Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) See the presentations from the event:
by Christopher Borick
Free and Open to the Public Panelists: Eric Lupher, Director of Local Affairs, Citizens Research Council of Michigan Sanya Carley, Assistant Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Thomas P. Lyon, Professor, Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan Abstract Michigan and twenty-eight other states have enacted legislation that mandates increases in the amount of electricity that they use from renewable sources.
****Watch the video**** Free and open to the public. Abstract The federal Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is the premier national example of a non-regulatory environmental policy, and it illustrates well both the potential and limitations of using information disclosure to achieve policy goals. The TRI was adopted in 1986 as an amendment to the federal Superfund law, and since 1988 we have had annual reports on the release of over 650 toxic chemicals by some 20,000 industrial facilities around the nation.
