Living near or downwind of unconventional oil and gas development linked
with increased risk of early death

Date:
January 27, 2022
Source:
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Summary:
Elderly people who live near or downwind of unconventional oil
and gas development (UOGD), such as fracking, are at greater risk
of premature death than those who don't live near UOGD. Airborne
contaminants emitted by UOGD that are transported downwind are
likely contributing to increased mortality.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Elderly people living near or downwind of unconventional oil and
gas development (UOGD) -- which involves extraction methods including directional (non-vertical) drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking
-- are at higher risk of early death compared with elderly individuals
who don't live near such operations, according to a large new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.


==========================================================================
The results suggest that airborne contaminants emitted by UOGD and
transported downwind are contributing to increased mortality, the
researchers wrote.

The study will be published on January 27, 2022 inNature Energy.

"Although UOGD is a major industrial activity in the U.S., very little
is known about its public health impacts. Our study is the first to
link mortality to UOGD-related air pollutant exposures," said Petros
Koutrakis, professor of environmental sciences and senior author of
the study. Added co-author Francesca Dominici, Clarence James Gamble
Professor of Biostatistics, Population, and Data Science, "There is an
urgent need to understand the causal link between living near or downwind
of UOGD and adverse health effects." UOGD has expanded rapidly over the
past decade. As of 2015, according to the study, more than 100,000 UOGD land-based wells were drilled using directional drilling combined with fracking. Roughly 17.6 million U.S. residents currently live within one kilometer of at least one active well. Compared with conventional oil
and gas drilling, UOGD generally involves longer construction periods
and larger well pads (the area occupied by equipment or facilities),
and requires larger volumes of water, proppants (sand or other materials
used to keep hydraulic fractures open), and chemicals during the fracking process.

Prior studies have found connections between UOGD activities and increased human exposure to harmful substances in both air and water, as well as connections between UOGD exposure and adverse prenatal, respiratory, cardiovascular, and carcinogenic health outcomes. But little was known
about whether exposure to UOGD was associated with mortality risk in
the elderly, or about exactly how exposure to UOGD-related activities
may be contributing to such risk.

To learn more, the researchers studied a cohort of more than 15 million Medicare beneficiaries -- people ages 65 and older -- living in all
major U.S.

UOGD exploration regions from 2001 to 2015. They also gathered data from
the records of more than 2.5 million oil and gas wells. For each Medicare beneficiary's ZIP code and year in the cohort, the researchers used
two different statistical approaches to calculate what the exposure to pollutants would be from living either close to UOGD operations, downwind
of them, or both, while adjusting for socioeconomic, environmental,
and demographic factors.

The closer to UOGD wells people lived, the greater their risk of
premature mortality, the study found. Those who lived closest to wells
had a statistically significant elevated mortality risk (2.5% higher)
compared with those who didn't live close to wells. The study also found
that people who lived near UOGD wells as well as downwind of them were
at higher risk of premature death than those living upwind, when both
groups were compared with people who were unexposed.

"Our findings suggest the importance of considering the potential health dangers of situating UOGD near or upwind of people's homes," said
Longxiang Li, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Environmental
Health and lead author of the study.

Other Harvard Chan School co-authors of the study included Falco Bargagli- Stoffi, Joel Schwartz, Brent Coull, John Spengler, Yaguang Wei, and
Joy Lawrence.

Support for the study came from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) grant RD-835872, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant
R01 MD012769, and the Climate Change Solutions Fund at Harvard University.

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dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Harvard_T.H._Chan_School_of_Public_Health. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Longxiang Li, Francesca Dominici, Annelise J. Blomberg, Falco J.

Bargagli-Stoffi, Joel D. Schwartz, Brent A. Coull, John
D. Spengler, Yaguang Wei, Joy Lawrence, Petros Koutrakis. Exposure
to unconventional oil and gas development and all-cause
mortality in Medicare beneficiaries. Nature Energy, 2022; DOI:
10.1038/s41560-021-00970-y ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220127114329.htm

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