Belief Conflicts and Coalition Structures Driving Subnational Policy Responses: The Case of Swiss Regulation of Unconventional Gas Development

Abstract

Although there are no immediate projects of unconventional gas exploitation using hydraulic fracturing in Switzerland, the issue is on the political agenda. In federalist Switzerland, cantons are responsible for attributing the respective concessions to private companies according to the usual regulatory procedure of mineral and gas extraction. Yet, policy change has happened in different cantons, including moratoriums and planned bans of hydraulic fracturing techniques. This chapter compares the cantons of Neuchâtel, Bern, and Vaud, where slightly differing regulations are currently in place. Based on the empirical analysis of coalitions, their beliefs and preferences, as well as political and technical information exchange among them, we aim to understand the current policy outputs in the respective cantons, as well as the potential for future policy change.

Appendices

Acknowledgments

We thank Esther Bannwart for her tremendous support with the identification of cases, data gathering and treatment. We also thank Fabienne Leuenberger for the translation of the survey to French.

Appendix I

Lists of Actors

Canton Neuchâtel

	Actors’ abbreviation	Full name	Organization type
1	AAFR	Friends of Farm Roberts Association	Green NGO
2	ARE	Federal Office for Spatial Development	Federal Agency
3	BAFU	Federal Office for the Environment	Federal Agency
4	CC CdF	City Council of Chaux-de-Fonds	City Council
5	CC VdT	City Council Val-de-Travers	City Council
6	CC VNE	City Council of Neuchâtel	City Council
7	CE	Celtique Energie Ltd.	Oil and Gas Company
8	CONE	Cantonal Government Neuchâtel	Cantonal Government
9	CVdT	Collectif Val-de-Travers	Green NGO
10	DDTE	Department of spatial development and the environment	Cantonal Department
11	DEAS	Department of economy and social activity	Cantonal Department
12	ECOFORUM	Umbrella organization for the Protection of the Natural Heritage of Neuchâtel	Green NGO
13	GC	Cantonal Parliament Neuchâtel	Cantonal Council
14	GREP	Greenpeace Neuchâtel	Green NGO
16	PDC	Christian Democratic People’s Party	Cantonal Party, 0.87 % vote share in 2013
17	PLR	FDP. The Liberals	Cantonal Party, 30.43 % vote share in 2013
18	PS	Social Democratic Party	Cantonal Party, 28.69 % vote share in 2013
19	POP	Swiss Party of Labour	Cantonal Party, 17.39 % (together with SS) vote share in 2013
20	PRNA	Pro Natura Neuchâtel	Green NGO
21	SCAV	Cantonal office of consumption and veterinary	Cantonal office
22	SENE	Cantonal office of energy and environment	Cantonal office
23	SPBA	Fishers Society of Basse-Areuse	Green NGO
24	SS	Solidarity	Cantonal Party, 7.82 % (together with POP) vote share in 2013
25	SWTP	Federal Office of Topography Swisstopo	Federal Agency
26	UDC	Swiss People’s Party	Cantonal Party, 6.7 % vote share in 2013
27	UNINE	Neuchâtel University	University
28	VERT	Green Party	Cantonal Party, 10.43 % vote share in 2013
29	VL	Green Liberal Party	Cantonal Party, 4.35 % vote share in 2013
30	WWF	WWF Neuchâtel	Green NGO

1. Actors in bold answered the survey

Canton Bern

	Actors’ abbreviation	Full name	Organization type
1	AWA	Cantonal Water and Waste Authority	Cantonal Agency
2	ARE	Federal Office for Spatial Development	Federal Agency
3	BAFU	Federal Office for the Environment	Federal Agency
4	BDP	Bourgeois Democratic Party	Cantonal Party, 11.19 % vote share in 2014
5	BVE	Department of Construction, Transport and Energy of the Canton of Berne	Cantonal Agency
6	CVP	Christian Democratic People‘s Party	Cantonal Party, 0.75 % vote share in 2014
7	EVP	Evangelical People‘s Party	Cantonal Party, 6.44 % vote share in 2014
8	EWB	Utility company Energy Water Berne	Municipal Agency
9	FDP	FDP. The Liberals	Cantonal Party, 10.66 % vote share in 2014
10	GEOEN	Geo Energy Switzerland	Swiss Competence Centre for deep geothermal energy for power and heat production
11	GEOEX	Geo Explorers Ltd	Oil and Gas Company
12	GLP	Green Liberal Party	Cantonal Party, 6.7 % vote share in 2014
13	GP	Green Party	Cantonal Party, 9.78 % vote share in 2014
14	GREP	Greenpeace regional group Berne	Green NGO
15	PRNA	Pro Natura Bern	Green NGO
16	RAPP	Municipality Rapperswil BE	Municipality
17	SEAG	SEAG. Company for Swiss oil and gas	Oil and Gas Company
18	SP	Social Democratic Party	Cantonal Party, 19.14 % vote share in 2014
19	STML	Stadtholder Agency Mittelland	Stadtholder Agency
20	SVP	Swiss People‘s Party SVP	Cantonal Party, 28.98 % vote share in 2014
21	SWTP	Federal Office of Topography swisstopo	Federal Agency
22	THUN	City Thun	City
23	WWF	WWF Bern	Green NGO

Canton Vaud

	Actors’ abbreviation	Full name	Organization type
1	ARE	Federal Office for Spatial Development	Federal Agency
2	BAFU	Federal Office for the Environment	Federal Agency
3	BFE	Swiss Federal Office of Energy	Federal Agency
4	CC LA	City Council of Lausanne	City Council
5	CONE	Cantonal Government Vaud	Cantonal Government
6	CPVD	Centre Patronal Vaudois (Employers’ Association Vaud)	Economic organisation
7	DDE	Cantonal Energy Department	Cantonal Department
8	DDTE	Department of spatial development and environment	Cantonal Department
9	EPFL	Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne	Federal Institute of Technology
10	GC	Cantonal Parliament Vaud	Cantonal Parliament
11	LIBR	Green Liberal Party	Cantonal Party, 4.69 % vote share in 2012
12	PDC	Christian Democratic People’s Party	Cantonal Party, 3.55 % (together with VDL) vote share in 2012
13	PETR	Petrosvibri SA	Oil and Gas Company
14	PLR	FDP. The Liberals	Cantonal Party, 31.54 % vote share in 2012
15	POP	Swiss Party of Labour	Cantonal Party, 2.68 % (together with SS) vote share in 2012
16	PRNA	Pro Natura Vaud	Green NGO
17	PS	Social Democratic Party	Cantonal Party, 27.52 % vote share in 2012
18	SS	Solidarity	Cantonal Party, 2.68 % (together with POP) vote share in 2013
19	SWTP	Federal Office of Topography Swisstopo	Federal Agency
20	UDC	Swiss People’s Party	Cantonal Party, 17.45 % vote share in 2012
21	VERT	Green Party	Cantonal Party, 12.75 % vote share in 2012
22	VDL	Vaud Libre	Cantonal Party, 3.55 % (together with PDC) vote share in 2012

Appendix II

Survey Questions

Note: Original surveys are in German (Bern) and French (Neuchâtel, Vaud). Surveys in the three cantons were exactly the same. The example is from the canton of Neuchâtel.

Question 5: Importance of Actors

The political debate on the regulation of hydraulic fracturing in the canton of Neuchâtel involved a big number of actors. The following table (list of actors, see Appendix 1 ) contains a list as complete as possible of the relevant actors. Please check all actors which were particularly important in the political debate on hydraulic fracturing in the canton of Neuchâtel. If there are actors missing, please add them to the bottom of the list and indicate if your organization agreed/disagreed with them.

Question 6: Agreement and Disagreement Between Actors

The following table shows exactly the same list of actors as before. Please check all actors with whom your organization mainly agreed upon policy measures to be taken to regulate hydraulic fracturing in the canton of Neuchâtel (second column). In a next step, please indicate all actors with whom your organization mainly disagreed about policy measures to be taken to regulate hydraulic fracturing in the canton of Neuchâtel (third column). If there are actors missing, please add them to the bottom of the list and indicate if your organization agreed/disagreed with them.

Question 7: Technical and Political Information Exchange

The following table shows exactly the same list of actors as before. First, please check all actors from which your organization regularly obtained technical information during the policy debate on the regulation of hydraulic fracturing in the canton of Neuchâtel. Second, please check all actors which your organization regularly provided with technical information during the policy debate on the regulation of hydraulic fracturing in the canton of Neuchâtel. Third, please check all actors from which your organization regularly obtained political information during the policy debate on the regulation of hydraulic fracturing in the canton of Neuchâtel. Fourth, please check all actors which your organization regularly provided with political information during the policy debate on the regulation of hydraulic fracturing in the canton of Neuchâtel. If there are actors missing, please add them to the bottom of the list and indicate if you obtain technical information from them, or if you provide technical information to them.

Question 9: Current Problems Related to Unconventional Gas Development

Following the opinion of your organization, please indicate the extent to which the following issues are current problems related to unconventional gas development: 1 – not a problem, 2 – minor problem, 3 – moderate problem, 4 – serious problem.

Issues to be selected:

• Contamination of ground and surface water

• Competition of water supplies

• Air pollution and air quality degradation

• Landscape degradation

• Nuisance to general public related to site development

• Destruction of public lands

• Patchwork of regulations across different institutional levels

• Unclear competence distribution

• Seismic activities

• Local specificities are not taken into account

• Lack of financial compensation for local communities

Question 10a: Policy Instruments

Below is a list of policy instruments which may be introduced for the regulation of unconventional gas development in the UK. Please indicate your organization’s level of agreement with adopting each of the following policy instruments independently of what has been done in the UK thus far: 1 – strongly disagree, 2 – moderately disagree, 3 – moderately agree, 4 – strongly agree.

• Monitoring of water quality

• Monitoring of air emissions

• Disclosure of chemicals in fracking fluids

• Setbacks of wells from occupied buildings or natural features

• Quality control of designing and constructing wells

• Disposing or treating produced water

• Quality control of constructing well pads

• Mitigating risks from induced seismic activity

• Mitigating risks and nuisances to the general public caused by truck traffic, noise, and light from well site operations

• Funding scientific research relating to environmental impacts of unconventional gas operations

Question 10b: Favorite Concession Regime

Please indicate to what degree you agree with following types of concessions: 1 – strongly disagree, 2 – moderately disagree, 3 – moderately agree, 4 – strongly agree.

• Exploration concession

• Concession for site development

• Exploitation concession

• Moratorium

• Ban

Question 11: General Attitudes

The following statements reflect general attitudes, not related to unconventional gas development. Please indicate whether your organization agrees or disagrees with each statement: 1—strongly disagree, 2—moderately disagree, 3—moderately agree, 4—strongly agree

• Independence of Switzerland from other countries

• Economic efficiency

• Ecological compatibility

• Free market/competition

• Security of the population

• Social equity