Ted Auch, PhD, Author at FracTracker Alliance

About Ted Auch, PhD

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

Entries by Ted Auch, PhD

Ohio’s Shale Oil and Gas Firms Disappoint Shareholders

June 24, 2015/by Ted Auch, PhD

By Ted Auch, Great Lakes Program Coordinator A financial crisis seems to have been averted as the price of crude oil is beginning to stabilize – at least for now. One must wonder how such a volatile market affects oil and gas’ Wall Street, private equity, and pension fund followers, however. We have found that […]

Organic farms near drilling activity in the U.S. and Ohio

March 11, 2015/by Ted Auch, PhD

The US Food, Energy, Water Interface Examined By Ted Auch, Great Lakes Program Coordinator With the emergence of concerns about the Food, Energy, Water (FEW) intersection as it relates to oil and gas (O&G) expansion, we thought it was time to dig into the numbers and ask some very simple questions about organic farms near […]

Is Carroll Co. truly the king of Ohio’s Utica counties?

February 16, 2015/by Ted Auch, PhD

Yes and No… By Ted Auch, Great Lakes Program Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance We know from the most recent Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) permitting numbers that Carroll County, Ohio is home to 26% (461 of 1,778) of the state’s Utica permits and 43% (312 of 712) of all producing wells as of the end […]

Chieftain’s Wisconsin Frac Sand Mine Proposal

January 31, 2015/by Ted Auch, PhD

Potential Land-Cover Change and Ecosystem Services By Ted Auch, Great Lakes Program Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance Chieftain Metals Corp, a relatively large mining company, recently proposed to develop nine silica sand mines in the Barron County, Wisconsin towns of Sioux Creek and Dovre, as well as adjacent Public Land Survey System (PLSS) parcels.1 Here we show that […]

The Water-Energy Nexus in Ohio, Part II

November 17, 2014/by Ted Auch, PhD

OH Utica Production, Water Usage, and Waste Disposal by County Part II of a Multi-part Series By Ted Auch, Great Lakes Program Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance In this part of our ongoing “Water-Energy Nexus” series focusing on Water and Water Use, we are looking at how counties in Ohio differ between how much oil and gas […]

The Water-Energy Nexus in Ohio, Part I

October 24, 2014/by Ted Auch, PhD

OH Utica Production, Water Usage, and Changes in Lateral Length Part I of a Multi-part Series By Ted Auch, OH Program Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance As shale gas expands in Ohio, how too does water use? We conducted an analysis of 500+ Utica wells in an effort to better understand the water-energy nexus in Ohio between […]

O&G Politics & Campaign Financing

October 8, 2014/by Ted Auch, PhD

By Ted Auch, OH Program Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance Anyone who has been paying attention to the domestic shale gas conversation knows the issue is fraught with controversy and political leanings. The debate is made only more complicated by the extensive lobbying to promote drilling and related activities. It would be nice to look at shale […]

Fracking vs. Ohio’s Renewable Energy Portfolio – A False Distinction

August 12, 2014/by Ted Auch, PhD

Changes to OH Wind Power Part I of a Multi-part Series – By Ted Auch, OH Program Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance Governor Kasich recently signed SB 310 “Ohio’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard” and HB 483.1 This action by all accounts will freeze energy efficiency efforts (such as obtaining 25% of the state’s power from renewables by 20252) […]

OH and WV Shale Gas Water Usage and Waste Injection

July 3, 2014/by Ted Auch, PhD

By Ted Auch, OH Program Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance Both Ohio and West Virginia citizens are concerned about the increasing shale exploration in their area and how it affects water quality. Those concerned about the drilling tend to focus on the large quantities of water required to hydraulically fracture – or “frack” – Utica and Marcellus […]

Crime and the Utica Shale

June 9, 2014/by Ted Auch, PhD

By Ted Auch, OH Program Coordinator, FracTracker Alliance No matter where you live in Ohio you have probably asked yourself if crime trends will be – or have already been – affected by the shale gas boom. To quantify the relationship between crime rates and oil and gas development, we compared 14 OH counties (that […]