ABSTRACT
This chapter offers the first pieces of oil and gas production's intergovernmental puzzle. To do so, it broadly summarizes the state-local legal lines, including a brief description of applicable legal frameworks. It then transitions to the state-local politics of oil and natural gas production and offers several justifications for why local governments are getting involved in the fracking debate such as: greater levels of citizen engagement and access, differing priorities and commitments to sustainable economic development, setbacks/quality of life, emergency management, and finances. This chapter also chronicles intergovernmental conflict across the United States, including defiance in Colorado, California, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, West Virginia, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
