Dr. Ted Auch, Midwest Program Director

Ted’s primary responsibilities include photographing, mapping, and bringing to light data gaps associated with the waste, water, and land-use footprint of the unconventional oil and gas build-out across the Midwest/Great Lakes region of North America. Ted’s primary interests include frac sand mining, watershed security/resilience, the food-energy nexus, and oil and gas waste production, transport, and disposal.

Ted's most recent peer-review publications include:

1. Bratman, Auch, Stinchfield. 2022. Energy Security, International Investment, and Democracy: The Case of the United States Shale Oil and Gas Industry. Development and Change. Spring 2022
2. Stinchfield, Auch, and Bratman. 2020. Energy Security, International Investment, and Democracy: The Case of the United States Shale Oil and Gas Industry. Democracy and Security. Volume 16(4) pages 309-333.
3. 2. Bratman, Auch, and Stinchfield. 2020. Energy Independence, International Investment, and Self-Determination: The Environmental Justice Impact of the Unconventional Oil & Gas Industry in the Ohio River Valley. International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conference 2019, Honolulu, March 25th-28th
4. Strube, Thiede, and Auch. 2021. Proposed Pipelines and Environmental Justice: Exploring the Association between Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Pipeline Proposals in the United States. Rural Sociology. 86(4) 647-672.
5. Palmer, R.C., Short, D., and Auch, W.E. 2019. The Human Right to Water and Unconventional Energy. In Regulating Water Security in Unconventional Oil and Gas, Eds. Buono, R.M., Gunn, E.L., McKay, Staddon, C., Springer, Chapter 3, Pgs. 39-67.
6. Stinchfield, B., Bratman, E., and W.A. Auch. 2019. Energy Independence, International Investment, and Self-Determination: The Case of the US Shale Industry. International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of International Studies Association (ISA) and the International Security and Arms Control Section of APSA (IS) Annual Conference 2019, Denver, October 18th-19th
7. Palmer, R.C., Short, D., and Auch, W.E.2018. The Human Right to Water and Unconventional Energy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 15(9), 1858.
8. Malone, Kelso, Auch, Edelstein, Ferrar, and Jalbert. 2015. Data Inconsistencies from States with Unconventional Oil and Gas Activity. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A. 250, pages 489-498.
His aerial photography and drone work has appeared in the following: Yale Environment E360, Oil Change International, Belt Magazine, SAPIENS, LightHawk Journal, ACRES Magazine, Environmental Health News, Allegheny Front, The Guardian, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Scranton Times-Tribune, NRDC, Midwest Energy News, Union of Concerned Scientists, Rai News, EcoWatch, the Michigan Voice, Multinationals Observatory, and Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Additionally, his photos have appeared in the following books:
1. “Climate Crisis Energy Violence: Mapping Energy’s Enduring Grasp on a Vulnerable Future”, Stephen Metts and Mary Finley-Brook, Elsevier Science, Spring, 2022
2. “To Frack or Not to Frack? How a Small New York Town’s Decision-Making Process Came up Short”, Ronald Fraser, Cheshire & Company Viewpoints Publishing, Inc., Fall, 2018
3. “When the Hills Are Gone: Frac Sand Mining and the Struggle for Community”by Thomas W. Pearson, University of Minnesota Press, Fall, 2017
4. “The Ground Beneath us: Form the Oldest cities to the Last Wilderness, What Dirt Tells Us About Who We Are “by Paul Bogard, Little, Brown and Company, March 21st, 2017

Ted came to FracTracker after a successful stint as a Cleveland Botanical Garden postdoc fellow quantifying the Great Lakes Basin’s (GLB) vacant lot portfolio, constructing various Vacant Land Repurposing (VLR) scenario models, and working with institutions, urban planners, and community groups to understand the cost and benefits associated with VLR from an economic, social continuity, and environmental perspective. Prior to that, he completed a postdoc at Green Mountain College.
Ted’s dissertation while finishing his PhD at the University of Vermont was titled “Modeling the interaction between climate, chemistry, and ecosystem fluxes at the global scale.” Prior to this work, Dr. Auch pursued an MS at Virginia Tech looking at the ecological effects of strip-mining and Mountain Top Removal (MTR) in West Virginia, southwest Virginia, and eastern Kentucky with a focus on soil ecology and plant diversity.
Outside of work, Ted is cultivating his interests in photography and guitar playing having just gone down the slide guitar rabbit hole. He is avid fan of all things jazz, Yankees, Phish, and FC Barcelona. He frequently attends multiple Tedeschi Trucks Band shows in a row. Ted and his wife Julia are proud parents of an amazing, 8+-year-old, cello and hockey prodigy Michael Leaf and 4-year-old dancer and comedian Satchel Edward.

Phone: (802) 343-6771
Email: auch@fractracker.org

Read Ted's Staff Spotlight