Oil and natural gas (O&G) account for about 60% of primary energy use in the world. Oil underpins passenger and freight transport, while natural gas is pivotal in electricity generation and heating. These fuels have thus played a central role in economic growth and improvements in well-being realized over the past 150 years.
The O&G supply chain also takes a heavy toll on human health. Recent research quantified air pollution emissions from oil & gas production in the United States: exploration, development, production, drilling rigs, compressors, flares, venting, and the gathering pipelines and compressor stations.1 The emissions covered include fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia (NH3), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). Decades of research document the severe short- and long-term health impacts of these pollutants, especially the impacts on vulnerable populations such as children, pregnant women, older adults, and energy and environmental justice communities.2 These impacts include asthma exacerbation, heart attacks, and premature deaths, among others.
The spatial distribution of health impacts follows a spatial pattern caused by air quality that is degraded by O&G production emissions and its intersection with population distribution. Deaths caused by air pollution are largely centered around O&G-producing areas: Texas (TX), Louisiana (LA), Oklahoma (OK), western Pennsylvania (PA), West Virginia (WV), and North Dakota (ND), and a few counties in Colorado (CO), Wyoming (WY), and New Mexico (NM).
Childhood asthma occurs in heavily impacted cities that are just downwind of O&G activity, including Denver, Pittsburgh, and cities in TX including Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, and San Antonio. Note that long-range pollution transport is evidenced by cities far downwind that also experience significant impact: Chicago, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the District of Columbia.
The interplay between the location and transport of the emissions and demographic patterns is revealed in the comparison of total deaths and the death rate. States with heavy O&G production and emissions, like TX, OK, and PA, generally have the highest total impact. But some heavily populated states that are downwind of O&G-producing states–but do not have substantial O&G activity themselves– such as IL, NY, and Georgia (GA) have health impacts from O&G that are higher in proportion compared to their emissions. When normalized to population, the health impacts per million people are tracked closely with air pollution exposures. States with high O&G-related emissions but mid to low populations, like OK, CO, WY, ND, and NM, have the highest impacts per million people.
The health and climate impacts of air pollution emissions from oil and gas impose a significant economic cost. In 2016 the total health impacts totaled about $77 billion; 99% of this was due to mortality. The total estimated climate impact of oil and gas production based on the U.S. Social Cost of GHGs was about $11 billion.3 The total impact of the O&G sector, accounting for both climate and health impacts from air pollution was $93 billion. Health impacts account for 83% of the total damages.
What are the key takeaways from this research? First, there are potential immediate health benefits of policies that reduce air pollution emissions other than GHGs from the oil and gas supply chain. Second, in monetary terms the health impacts from air pollution may be greater than the climate impacts, so those pollutants require our focused attention. Third, efforts to reduce air pollution from the oil and gas supply chain demand a “big picture” perspective due to the transport of harmful pollutants to regions with little O&G activity.
1 Buonocore, Jonathan J., Srinivas Reka, Dongmei Yang, Charles Chang, Ananya Roy, Tammy Thompson, David Lyon, Renee McVay, Drew Michanowicz, and Saravanan Arunachalam. “Air Pollution and Health Impacts of Oil & Gas Production in the United States.” Environmental Research: Health 1, no. 2 (May 2023): 021006. https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/acc886.
2 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Research on Health Effects from Air Pollution,” https://www.epa.gov/air-research/research-health-effects-air-pollution
3 Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, United States Government, Technical Support Document: Social Cost of Carbon, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide Interim Estimates under Executive Order 13990, February 2021,Link