Shale Revolution dan Kepentingan Nasional Amerika Serikat

Emanuel Nong Agathon, Nur Rachmat Yuliantoro

2016 | Skripsi | Ilmu Hubungan Internasional

Abstract: U.S. dependency on foreign oil made it vulnerable to the changing of international politics. Hence, it became a threat to national security. In 1988, Mitchell Energy developed a new technology called slick water fracturing or fracking. This technology encouraged vast growing exploration of shale, an unconventional natural gas and oil. The so-called shale revolution led U.S. to be one of the biggest energy producers in the world. It also increased U.S. GDP, balanced the trade, decreased the oil price, created enormous amount of potential jobs and mitigated the threats to national security. However, public concerned about the implementation of fracking and its negative impacts on the environment. They advocated and lobbied the state and federal governments to create stricter environmental policies and ban fracking. These circumstances put the federal government on a dilemma to choose between political and economic benefits of energy independence or environmental preservation. This research is using national interest concept and rational actor model to analyze the reason why the U.S. government is still developing the shale industry. It is found out that both energy independence and environmental preservation are parts of U.S national interests. Hence, the federal government’s choice to keep developing shale industry and create stricter environmental regulation is the most rational choice the government can make. Keywords: shale industry, fracking, energy independence, environment, national interest, national security, the U.S.

Kata Kunci : Keamanan Nasional - Amerika Serikat