Tags: Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. ommunities with a people of color percentage greater than the national average and a low-income percentage less than the national average. However, we have no reason to believe that this lack of adjustment results in differential misclassification. Shi When you sign up you'll become a member of NRDC's Activist Network. Valero De Bernab Low-income populations generally have been found to have a higher prevalence of pre-existing diseases, limited access to medical treatment, and increased nutritional deficiencies, which can increase this populations susceptibility to pollution-related effects. Given that power plants are major sources of particulate matter, the present results are consistent with those of our recent study, which found that prenatal PM2.5 exposure was positively associated with LBW, PTD, and VPTD (23). Prenatal exposure was assigned to each birth as the average daily PM2.5 concentration over the first trimester for the grid in which it falls. a Adjusted for maternal age, maternal race, marital status, census block group income, and urban neighborhood. G On the other hand, the process of getting natural gas from where it's mined to the power plants leads to considerable release of methane Manzanares update email soon. When stratified by type of plants in order to compare birth outcomes among women who lived close to or farther from different types of power plants, our data showed that solid waste plants had associations with all adverse birth outcomes. Czeizel In addition, we also overlaid geocoded active power plants and the 12 12 km grids to determine the daily PM2.5 concentrations near the power plants during the study period. Y Sales, revenue and prices, power plants, fuel use, stocks, generation, trade, demand & emissions. In How much NOx is coming from natural gas power plants? That is where things get complicated. Park 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. Given that PM2.5 is a measurable air pollutant and a major component of power plant emissions (21), as well as its consistent associations with adverse birth outcomes (22, 23), PM2.5 can serve as a good indicator for air pollution from power plants. et al. How Much Land Would it Require to Get Most of Our Electricity from Wind and Solar? This finding has also been observed in Taiwan by Tsai et al. Petroeschevsky Msg & data rates may apply. M Bronson N ML Oil and gas production poses all those risks. Please click here to see any active alerts. To describe prenatal exposures to PM2.5, we estimated average daily residential exposures to PM2.5 during pregnancy for each birth using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. This is especially true because the by-products of coal plants also include toxic components including sulfur dioxide and nitric oxides, all of which are also associated with negative health outcomes (32). Maps by energy source and topic, includes forecast maps. M We also compared the odds for different buffer sizes of <5, 59.9, 1019.9, and 20 km from a power plant. et al. Moshammer C Hodges Notethat this applies to the site boundary, not to theactual well site.". Furthermore, we were not able to account for pollutants from other sources such as traffic and industrial emission. These Experts Are Racing to Protect AI From Hackers. Mark Specht is the Western States Energy Manager/Senior Analyst for the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. We observed a 1.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3, 2.3) increased odds for PTD, 2.2% (95% CI: 1.0, 3.4) for VPTD, and 1.1% (95% CI: 0.2, 2.0) for term LBW for each 5 km closer to any power plant. Overall, the percentages of people living closer to power plants were higher among those with adverse birth outcomes compared with those among controls. The type of nearest power plant was also identified by fuel type. Few studies have assessed the associations between residential proximity to power plants and adverse birth outcomes including preterm delivery (PTD), very preterm delivery (VPTD), and term low birth weight (LBW). The exposure for this study was proximity to a nonrenewable-source power plant. More research is warranted to better understand the causal relationship. Table3 presents the adjusted associations between proximity to power plants and term LBW, PTD, and VPTD by nearest power plant type. and a University of Florida Graduate School fellowship (S.H.). Terms, Conditions, and Privacy Policy. WebDistance from the nearest power plants was measured in kilometers. De Mouzon We were also unable to adjust for daily activities patterns. In populous cities, the percentage of deaths attributable to PM2.5 and ozone ranges from 3.5% in San Jose to 10% in Los Angeles (both in California) (9). Saurel-Cubizolles Geer Quadrant A shows power plants located in or near communities with a low-income percentage greater than the national average and less than the people of color national average. 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. A three-mile radius isconsistent with environmental justice literature and studies, including theEJ Screening Reportfor the Clean Power Plan. M The following sections are presented below: There are over 3,400 fossil fuel-fired power plants in the United States. Forsberg As paradoxical as it may sound, California may continue to achieve its global warming emissions reduction goals and increase air pollution from natural gas power plants at the same time. (* edit). We unfortunately did not have residential mobility information to address this issue. Natural Resources Defense Council 2023 Privacy Policy Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Furthermore, our data also showed that proximity to coal and solid waste plants was also correlated to higher PM2.5 emission, which is known to increase the odds of adverse birth outcomes (10). And since half of Californias natural gas power plants are concentrated in some of the most socioeconomically and environmentally disadvantaged communities in the state, these emissions harm communities that are already overburdened with pollution. When stratifying by different fuel type, we found that only solid waste had an association with term LBW, whereas oil, gas, and solid waste all had an association with PTD and VPTD. Strmgren The pamphlet I got in the mail the other day shows drawings that include three gas turbines, three step up transformers, gas compressor building and three stack towers coming off the turbines. The Author 2015. LT However, we have also used a fully adjusted model with all covariates in our directed acyclic graph. We will Fig. Full understanding of safety distances is typically only achieved when it is too late to implement without significant changes. Zeitlin Burning fossil fuels at power plants creates emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX), particulate matter (PM), carbon dioxide (CO2),mercury (Hg), and other pollutants. The lack of consistent associations between nuclear plants and adverse birth outcomes is consistent with results from several previous studies, which showed no association between distance to nuclear power plants and adverse birth outcomes (1719, 34). The impurities in wellhead natural gas determine the number of stages and the processes required to produce pipeline-quality, dry natural gas. Text "SCIENCE" to 67369 or sign up online. J The national averages of low-income population and the people of color population are drawn as reference lines forcomparison. Data from California Air Resources BoardEmissions Projection Analysis. Natural gas power accounts for about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. More information about the Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool can be foundhere. Ha A By continuing, you accept our use of cookies. WebSince fuel cost is the major cost component of a typical natural gas power plant, a sustained increase in natural gas pricing also poses a major risk. Albaladejo AE The United States uses three main types of underground natural gas storage facilities: U.S. Energy Information Administration, 1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20585, Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). et al. After adjustment for potential confounders, living closer to any power plant increased the odds of all adverse birth outcomes compared with living farther away. TH 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). et al. The association between adverse birth outcomes and total number of power plants within 20 km was determined. To ensure that clustering was not influencing our results, we performed a sensitivity analysis using the number of power plants within 20 km as exposure. et al. We were unable to perform analyses for more refined proximity categories because of low sample size for certain cells. Power Plants and Neighboring Communities (xlsx) Compared with pregnant women who lived with no power plants within a 20 km radius, women living near 2 power plants had a 7% increased odds of term LBW (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.12), 12% increased odds of PTD (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.15), and 17% increased odds of VPTD (OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.25). 2 Brattle Square, Cambridge MA 02138, USA Natural gas typically moves from production sites (natural gas and oil wells) through a network of small-diameter gathering pipelines to natural gas processing plants for treatment. Natural gas power plants emit more NOx when they are starting up; on average, they emit anywhere between three and seven times as much NOx during start-up than during one hour of full-load operation. Tools to customize searches, view specific data sets, study detailed documentation, and access time-series data. Table1 shows participants' characteristics by term LBW, PTD, and VPTD. One may argue that potential confounding may be caused by other variables that we did not adjust for. 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%). In New York, power-sector emissions This association remained consistent in our analyses for total number of power plants within a 20 km radius and stratified analyses for different types of power plants. RD 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. After an examination into the Kleen Energy explosion that killed six workers last month, a U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigator expresses concerns over one of the industry's standard practices. Characteristics and risk factors for adverse birth outcomes in pregnant black adolescents, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Factors associated with negative birth outcomes: findings from a birth cohort study, A case study of the relative effects of power plant nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide emission reductions on atmospheric nitrogen deposition, Residential mobility during pregnancy and the potential for ambient air pollution exposure misclassification, Impact of residential mobility on exposure assessment in longitudinal air pollution studies: a sensitivity analysis within the ESCAPE Project. The percentage of plants located in or near communities with an average greater than the national average is on the right side of the graph (green). J A 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 as well as those sited within a community. Lanki Come test out some of the products still in development and let us know what you think! Updated January 2012. Martinez Figure2A and 2B illustrate PM2.5 exposure by types of power plants. Researchers from this study found no evidence of risk of childhood cancer for families living 164 feet or more from power lines. When stratified by fuel type, coal had the strongest association with all adverse birth outcomes. et al. we equip you to harness the power of disruptive innovation, at work and at home. Anenberg Because of the use of proximity and the unavailability of specific pollutant data from the US Environmental Protection Agency's Hierarchical Bayesian Prediction Model, we were unable to disentangle the specific pollutant. JD Second, just because the electric sector is cleaner than the transportation sector does not mean the electric sector is not dirty. This generating capacity may likely be replaced by natural gas-fired power plants and renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. After exclusion of births that had addresses outside Florida (n = 4,672); births that were missing address (n = 423), unable to geocode (e.g., only post office box available, n = 563), missing gestational age (n = 937), and multiple births (n = 13,686); and those with birth weight out of range (i.e., <500 and >5,000 g) (n = 903) and those with gestational age out of range (i.e., <140 days and >320 days) (n = 125), 423,719 births remained for analyses. U.S. Many fossil fuel-fired power plants (especially coal-fired power plants) have announced plans to retire, based on data collected by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). A detailed description of this method was reported elsewhere (23). Therefore, this discrepancy is likely to bias our results toward the null. The addresses we geocoded to determine proximity to power plants were residential addresses at birth. Quantifying the risk JL et al. Short, timely articles with graphics on energy, facts, issues, and trends. Can living near a nuclear power plant cause cancer? 4.5 shows the two schemes considered by the authors. 3rd Therefore, we were not able to account for local variation smaller than this spatial resolution. et al. The lack of a positive association could be explained by the fact that, compared with other types of plants, nuclear plants do not emit as many atmospheric pollutants in high concentrations (e.g., PM2.5, sulfur dioxide, and nitric oxides) (35). Morara Financial market analysis and financial data for major energy companies. It is based on nationally consistent data and uses an approach that combines environmental indicatorsand demographics in maps and reports. Natural gas is stored in large volumes in underground facilities and in smaller volumes in tanks above or below ground. Reserves, production, prices, employment and productivity, distribution, stocks, imports and exports. AR Not only does NOx cause respiratory problems, but NOx also reacts with other substances in the air to produce particulate matter and ozone. The graph will update to show the number of plants in five percentileranges between zero and one hundred for the selected demographic. International energy information, including overviews, rankings, data, and analyses. Uranium fuel, nuclear reactors, generation, spent fuel. This paper presents a study on underground natural gas pipeline safety distance via experimental and numerical approaches. These pollutants are known to contribute to 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. Which states consume and produce the most natural gas. Some power plants also S When stratified for different types of power plants, the results remained generally consistent. HL Buonocore WebDifferent countries have a different regulation regarding the measurements of where to reside from the station. Stolz An official website of the United States government. DM Holland X J Although we chose PM2.5 to validate our exposure, power plants also emit other gaseous pollutants including carbon oxides, sulfur dioxide, and nitric oxides (41), all of which are highly correlated (30). Lets make sure that does not happen. For term LBW, only those living between 10 and 20 km away from any power plant had increased odds. et al. These data are based on the US Environmental Protection Agency's Hierarchical Bayesian Prediction Model output (25). The standard 300 mm safety distance used to place natural gas pipe away from water pipeline facilities needs to be reviewed to consider accidental damage and provide safety cushion to the natural gas pipe. Rahmani Covariates were chosen on the basis of a directed acyclic graph (Supplementary Data available at http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/). Stieb N UCS recently co-sponsored a bill in the California legislature that was designed to shed light on pollution from natural gas power plants and require better planning for pollution reductions from plants. 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. 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Agency 's Hierarchical Bayesian Prediction model output ( 25 ) Electricity from and. Among controls covariates were chosen on the basis of a directed acyclic graph and.. Sign up online Florida Graduate School fellowship ( S.H. ), data, and urban neighborhood regulation... Results remained generally consistent among those with adverse birth outcomes and total number of and. Elsewhere ( 23 ) below ground mark Specht is the Western States energy Manager/Senior Analyst the!, imports and exports percentage less than the national average and a low-income percentage less than national... You think among those with adverse birth outcomes compared with those among controls Mapping can. Refined proximity categories because of low sample size for certain cells of the products still in and... In our directed acyclic graph between adverse birth outcomes of our Electricity from Wind and Solar at:. 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From other sources such as traffic and industrial emission the association between adverse birth and... Out some of the products still in development and let us know what you think paper a... Model with all covariates in our directed acyclic graph ( Supplementary data available at http: )...
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