Oil, gas production air pollution impacts thousands of asthma cases, exacerbations
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Key takeaways:
- Air pollution from oil and gas production contributed to 410,000 asthma attacks and 2,200 new cases of childhood asthma in 2016.
- Policies aimed at curbing emissions can have a key impact on public health.
Air pollution from oil and gas production contributed to 7,500 excess deaths, 410,000 asthma attacks and 2,200 new cases of childhood asthma across the nation in 2016, according to a study published in Environmental Research: Health.
Oil and gas production also was responsible for $77 billion in annual health costs, Jonathan J. Buonocore, ScD, MS, assistant professor of environmental health, Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues wrote in the study.
This total, which includes related respiratory and cardiovascular hospitalizations, adverse pregnancy outcomes and other health challenges, is three times the estimated climate costs of methane emissions from oil and gas operations, the researchers said.
“There has been a large body of research demonstrating that methane leaks from oil and gas are a major contributor to the total greenhouse gas footprint of oil and gas,” Buonocore told Healio.
“We know use of these fuels for transportation, home heating and power generation have a large burden on air pollution and health as well, but the effects of production on regional air pollution have not been assessed, so we decided to fill that gap,” he continued.
Regions that are home to significant oil and gas production such as southwest Pennsylvania, Texas and eastern Colorado bore the brunt of these impacts, the researchers said, but residents of densely populated cities with little or no gas activity including Chicago, New York City, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Orlando were affected as well.
By state, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oklahoma and Louisiana, which all have significant oil and gas activity, were the most affected. Even though they do not produce much oil or gas, Illinois was sixth and New York was eighth.
Nitrogen oxide (NO2) had the greatest impact on mortality, accounting for 2,800 (37%) of these deaths. Ozone was responsible for 2,600 (35%) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was responsible for 2,100 (28%). More than 99% of the $77 billion in health impacts can be attributed to this mortality.
“All three of these pollutants are respiratory irritants, which can inflame airways,” Buonocore said. “Previous research has shown that about half of deaths due to PM2.5 are due to respiratory causes, and most of the deaths from ozone. Research is ongoing for NO2 exposure.”
Specifically, the financial impacts of PM2.5 and NO2 on asthma in 2016 included $130 million (95% CI, $20 million to $300 million) for incidence, $970,000 (95% CI, $22,000 to $1.9 million) for hospitalizations, $240,000 (95% CI, $5,200 to $500,000) for ED visits and $24 million (95% CI, $200,000 to $80 million) for exacerbations.
The study also found that oil and gas pollution led to 53 (95% CI, 1.2-110) hospitalizations and 530 (95% CI, 12-1,100) ED visits due to asthma in 2016.
Oklahoma had the most deaths per million, followed by West Virginia, Louisiana and Kansas. Texas had the most deaths overall, followed by Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
Similarly, Texas had the most total asthma exacerbations, with Colorado, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma taking second through fourth place. Oklahoma had the most exacerbations per million, with Colorado in second place, West Virginia in third and Kansas in fourth.
Since NO2 contributes to the formation of PM2.5 and ozone, the researchers said, strategies that reduce NO2 produced by oil and gas could mitigate its impact on health.
Also, the researchers said that state regulations addressing precursor NO2 emissions from the oil and gas sector could help mitigate childhood asthma cases in communities near these emission sources and provide secondary ozone and PM2.5 health benefits in downwind areas.
“Communities that are socially vulnerable due to race/ethnicity, income, education or other factors tend to be located near sources of air pollution and tend to have higher exposures,” Buonocore said.
As air pollution crosses state boundaries and impacts health downwind from its source, the researchers continued, there is a need for regional and nationwide coordination of solutions.
The researchers further said that their findings indicate immediate and significant air quality benefits for human health as well as for the climate with policies that reduce oil and gas emissions, such as forthcoming regulations on methane and other pollutants from the EPA.
Policymakers should consider these co-benefits in their future emissions reduction strategies, the researchers continued, adding that strategies focused on end-of-pipe pollution controls during combustion only address part of the problem.
Future studies should then examine the health impacts of air pollution across the full life cycle of oil and gas production, the researchers said, along with the benefits of additional oil and gas pollution control strategies.
“There is a clear relationship between air pollution exposures and respiratory disease, so any policy that reduces air pollution exposure is likely to improve outcomes for respiratory patients,” Buonocore told Healio.
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Jonathan J. Buonocore, ScD, MS, can be reached at jjbuono@bu.edu.