Air pollutants from US oil and gas production responsible for 7,500 excess deaths, study finds

A new study in the US, led by the School of Public Health, the University of North Carolina Institute for the Environment, PSE Healthy Energy and Environmental Defense Fund has examined the direct link between emissions from country’s oil and gas production and morbidity and mortality among the population. 

Taking data from 2016 (when gas and oil production was around 30% lower than it is now) the researches used an integrated geospatial model framework that linked emissions inventories from oil and gas production to changes in air quality and health in exposed populations. A detailed explanation of their methodology can be found here.

Exposure to particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen oxide emitted by gas and oil production (10.7% of NOx pollution in the US comes from this source) was found to be responsible for 7,500 excess deaths, 410,000 asthma attacks, and 2,200 new cases of childhood asthma across the country in that year.

This represents $77bn in annual health costs which, the team point out, is three times the estimated climate impact costs of the methane emitted from this source.

Study corresponding author Jonathan Buonocore said: ‘These substantial impacts from oil and gas production show that there are serious consequences across the full life cycle of oil and gas, from well-to-wheels, well-to-power plant, and well-to-furnace.

‘The health impacts are not just from the combustion of oil and gas. In order for energy, air quality, and decarbonization policies to successfully protect health, they need to incorporate health impacts across this full life cycle.’

NO2 was found to be the most damaging of the three pollutants, particularly as it also leads to the formation of secondary PM2.5 and ozone. Ozone was found to be the most widely dispersed, leading to some states suffering from the effects of gas and oil production despite being home to very little of it themselves.

Study senior author Saravanan Arunachalam said: ‘The fact that air pollution and health impacts cross state boundaries indicates a strong need for regional to nationwide coordination. States that have the highest emissions are not necessarily always the ones with the highest health risk due to these emissions, although Texas ranks first in both.’

The authors say future studies should focus on learning more about health impacts across the full life cycle of O&G production, as well as the benefits of additional O&G pollution control strategies.