Caton (617) 547-5552. Y Anenberg As noted in the Data Considerations section, information about the adjacent communities can be used to raise awareness and to help people understand the extent to which there may be disproportionate, adverse impacts on overburdened communities. How much NOx is coming from natural gas power plants? That is where things get complicated. Natural gas delivery infrastructure has three categories: Natural gas transported on the mainline natural gas transportation (pipeline) system in the United States must meet specific quality measures so that the pipeline network (or grid) provides uniform-quality natural gas. In the continuous exposure analyses, only solid waste plants (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.04) had an association with term LBW for each 5-km decrease in distance. We chose first trimester because 1) first trimester exposure to PM2.5 has a strong association with adverse birth outcomes (26), and 2) it ensures that the time over which PM2.5 is averaged is similar for cases and controls. et al. JM Women who lived closer to coal and solid waste power plants were exposed to higher levels of particulate matter less than 2.5 m in diameter compared with other types. FHA insures home mortgages to help Americans buy homes. M We unfortunately did not have residential mobility information to address this issue. Subscribe to feeds for updates on EIA products including Today in Energy and What's New. Some of the highest-polluting natural gas power plants emit over 100 tons of NOx per year, which is roughly equivalent to the NOx emissions from traveling 11 million miles(assuming an emissions rate of 8.18 grams of NOx per mile) in a diesel school bus, one of the most-polluting types of vehicles. Power Plants and Neighboring Communities (xlsx) Oudin Thanks for signing up. AD The type of nearest power plant was also identified by fuel type. RD Chang LA keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports. The graph below compares the key demographics ofcommunities near power plants to national averages. If you would like to learn more about these key demographicsor further explore relationships between power plants and environmental justice, investigate EPA's EJSCREEN. See the health effects of ozoneand particulate matter pollution. et al. Second, we use PM2.5 as a surrogate for pollution from power plants to determine 1) the level of pollution exposure during pregnancy for women living close to power plants and 2) whether the amount of pollution depends on fuel type. JI Brook In conclusion, our study found evidence of increased odds of adverse birth outcomes among women who lived closer to power plants. Halonen Specifically, for each 5-km decrease in the distance to any power plant, the odds of term LBW, PTD, and VPTD increased by 1.1% (odds ratio (OR) = 1.011, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.002, 1.020), 1.8% (OR = 1.018, 95% CI: 1.013, 1.023), and 2.2% (OR = 1.022, 95% CI: 1.010, 1.034), respectively. To help answer questions about environmental justice in the communities around power plants, information on the following six key demographics (e.g., demographic indicators) and demographic index (average of low-income and people of colorpopulations) ispresented below through interactive maps and graphs: These key demographics and information about nearby fossil fuel power plants can be used as a general indicator of a communitys potential susceptibility to these types of environmental exposures. Something ignited the gas that was being used in a scheduled cleaning procedure at the Kleen Energy Plant in Connecticut. Roberts M M BE These results call for further investigation to confirm our results and to investigate the specific pollutants generated from power plants that are responsible for this association. spreadsheet presents all the information available through EPA's environmental justice mapping and screening tool,EJSCREEN. Furthermore, although power plant emissions are 1 of the major point sources of air pollution (21), which has been shown to have consistent association with adverse birth outcomes (22), there is limited information on air pollution exposure and pregnant women living close to specific types of power plants. With coal combustion accounting for approximately 45% of electricity produced in the United States, it may pose a serious public health issue. It is based on nationally consistent data and uses an approach that combines environmental indicatorsand demographics in maps and reports. All rights reserved. Search for other works by this author on: Particulate matter air pollution and cardiovascular disease: an update to the scientific statement from the American Heart Association, Outdoor air pollution and respiratory health in patients with COPD, A systematic review of air pollution and incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, Fine particulate air pollution and hospital admission for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, Urban air pollution, and asthma and COPD hospital emergency room visits, Acute and subacute effects of urban air pollution on cardiopulmonary emergencies and mortality: time series studies in Austrian cities, Multicity study of air pollution and mortality in Latin America (the ESCALA study), The short-term effects of air pollution on daily mortality in four Australian cities, Estimating the national public health burden associated with exposure to ambient PM, Ambient air pollution, birth weight and preterm birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Ambient air pollution and risk of congenital anomalies: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Ambient air pollution and hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, Ambient air pollution and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Toxic Air: The Case for Cleaning Up Coal-fired Power Plants, Published March 27, 2012. Because pollution can travel over long distances from a power plant, the impacts of both potential increases and decreases in power plant emissions can be felt many miles away, meaning that the air quality in a community can be due to far-distant sources L For example, in Ohio the setback from a home is 100 feet from a well - Our study found evidence of increasing odds of adverse birth outcomes among infants born to pregnant women living closer to power plants. Chang Eshoul Fetal sex and preterm birth: Are males at greater risk? Displays grown and controlled oxide of nitrogen projected emissions for 2019, excluding emissions from ocean-going vessels further than three nautical miles from the coast. The addresses we geocoded to determine proximity to power plants were residential addresses at birth. Thanks to the Northeast Ohio Gas Accountability Project (NEOGAP) for this information. International energy information, including overviews, rankings, data, and analyses. For example, higher exposure to sulfur dioxide has been linked to PTD among singleton births (28) and decreased term birth weight (29). Some towns in Texas have setbacks of up to 1,000 feet from a home, fresh water well, school, hospital or public park. HUD goes further and states that "Operating and abandoned oil and gas wells pose potentialhazards to housing, in Ohio the setback from a homeis 100 feet, Northeast Ohio Gas Accountability Project. Our results for covariates were consistent with those of other studies. Updated March 27, 2012. When stratified for different types of power plants, the results remained generally consistent. D I Delivering natural gas from natural gas and oil wells to consumers requires many infrastructure assets and processing steps and several physical transfers of custody. Natural gas transmission pipelines are wide-diameter pipelines and are often the long-distance portion of natural gas pipeline systems that connect gathering systems in producing areas, natural gas processing plants, and other receipt points to the main consumer service areas. Because there was evidence of spatial clustering of power plants, distance from power plants may not be the best measure of exposure. (* edit). Cons. Delfino Brumberg ommunities with a people of color percentage greater than the national average and a low-income percentage less than the national average. These Experts Are Racing to Protect AI From Hackers. Our continuous exposure analysis showed that proximity to nuclear plants was protective against PTD, but not term LBW or VPTD. Lanki Accessed December 17, 2014, Association between gaseous ambient air pollutants and adverse pregnancy outcomes in Vancouver, Canada, Ambient air pollution and term birth weight in Texas from 1998 to 2004, Traffic-related air toxics and term low birth weight in Los Angeles County, California, Association between local traffic-generated air pollution and preeclampsia and preterm delivery in the south coast air basin of California, Emissions of Hazardous Air Pollutants from Coal-fired Power Plants, Exposure to air pollution during different gestational phases contributes to risks of low birth weight, Congenital abnormalities and indicators of germinal mutations in the vicinity of the Paks nuclear plant, Hungary, Risk factors for low birth weight: a review. Natural gas power accounts for about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. These findings are consistent with the fact that coal and solid waste power plants produce relatively larger amounts of particulate emissions compared with other types of power plants. During the study period, power plants in the United States emitted an estimated annual average of 2,491,971 metric tons of carbon dioxide, 10,431 metric tons of sulfur dioxide, and 4,212 metric tons of nitric oxides (27). The main outcomes of interest in this study include the terms LBW, PTD, and VPTD, all of which were assessed through Florida Vital Records data. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is home to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). J For example, among those with term LBW, the percentage of those who lived within 5 km of any power plant (16.1%) was higher than that of controls (14.9%). One may argue that potential confounding may be caused by other variables that we did not adjust for. Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; LBW, low birth weight; OR, odds ratio; PM2.5, particulate matter less than 2.5 m in diameter; PTD, preterm delivery; SD, standard deviation; VPTD, very preterm delivery. Ren To describe exposures to PM2.5 during pregnancy and throughout the study period according to nearest power plants, we used scatterplots with locally weighted scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) functions (smooth = 0.5) to display averaged daily concentrations during the first trimester (y-axis) by date of delivery (x-axis), as well as daily concentrations (y-axis) by date during the study period (x-axis). Bremner Official websites use .gov Senior Energy Analyst, James Gignac Pope Krewski This paper presents a study on underground natural gas pipeline safety distance via experimental and numerical approaches. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. Energy & Financial Markets: What Drives Crude Oil Prices? EPA is committed to Environmental Justice (EJ) - the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people. All types of plants had a slightly elevated association with PTD, except nuclear plants, which had a negative association (OR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.86, 0.95), and others and coal plants with no associations. Seigneur How Much Land Would it Require to Get Most of Our Electricity from Wind and Solar? JD The failure of a single dam on the Ru River in China caused an estimated 171,000 deaths. Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions at the State Level, through 2018, Monthly Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production, Annual Solar Photovoltaic Module Shipments Report, Midwest and Rocky Mountain Transportation Fuels Markets, East Coast and Gulf Coast Transportation Fuels Markets. Oil and gas production poses all those risks. The following sections are presented below: There are over 3,400 fossil fuel-fired power plants in the United States. Minority, low-income, and indigenous populations frequently bear a disproportionate burden of environmental harms and adverse health outcomes, including the development of heart or lung diseases, such as asthma and bronchitis, increased susceptibility to respiratory and cardiac symptoms, greater numbers of emergency room visits and hospital admissions, and premature deaths. Air pollution has been extensively linked to many negative health outcomes ranging from cardiorespiratory diseases (13) to hospitalizations (46) and mortality (7, 8). This association is also consistent with our data that showed, on average, that women close to nuclear plants and other plants were exposed to lower levels of PM2.5. Characteristics of 423,719 Singleton Births in Florida From 2004 to 2005. H Gas blows are routine practice within the industry. Covariates were chosen on the basis of a directed acyclic graph (Supplementary Data available at http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/). In general, the concentrations of PM2.5 were highest around coal plants followed by solid waste, gas, oil, other, and nuclear plants (Figure2A). H Briefly, this model uses hierarchical Bayesian methods to combine data from observed air quality data measured at air monitors, the National Emission Inventory, and meteorological and photochemical data to produce 12 12 km gridded estimates of daily average PM2.5 concentrations. Because of accumulating evidence of a negative relationship between power plants and human health, a few studies have assessed the association between proximity to nuclear power plants and adverse birth outcomes, but no association was found (1719). Hu Furthermore, we were not able to account for pollutants from other sources such as traffic and industrial emission. Coal was strongly associated with all adverse birth outcomes (Table4). 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