All politics is local, the old saying goes, and that is particularly true with energy. Energy has become a major issue in the US elections, and how voters perceive energy issues is often influenced by the infrastructure they see around them.

As the US economy continues to measure the impacts of the shale gas and oil boom, new investments are being made in everything from pipelines to transportation fueled by natural gas to proposed data centers lying atop burgeoning gas fields. The transformational effects of the investments on local economies is obvious, but the debate over everything from water quality to truck traffic continues to grow in volume too.

Check out the above infographic for insight into how different parts of the US are experiencing the shale boom, and look for much more coverage and discussion on Breaking Energy’s Elections 2012 hub, in partnership with Shell, here.

Click here to enlarge.