Creating and debating energy citizenship: The case of shale gas in Poland

Between 2011 and 2015, the perspective of shale gas extraction in Poland raised enthusiasm among political and business elites, and general public alike. However, in some cases, local opposition led to long-term mobilisations. When adequately contextualised, the brief “affair” with shale gas can be interpreted as a lesson in what we term “energy citizenship.” This chapter analyses the impact of shale gas exploration in the context of a local mobilisation around the drilling site of Zurawlöw, in southeast Poland. We argue that a crucial basis for energy citizenship is actors’ engagement with production of lay expertise: it not only allowed actors to participate in broader debates on energy options but also resulted in new networks being established across different organisations and scales. In the conclusion, we reflect on the long-lasting effects of the anti–fracking mobilisation for the local activists, the broader Polish environmental movement and the representatives of public administration. For this reason, we use the results of a reflection workshop organised in 2017 in Warsaw. We argue that the workshop demonstrated how the emergence of energy citizenship was influenced by the residents’ interaction with NGOs and state institutions.