Atmospheric oil and gas pollution is linked to 91,000 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of health problems in the United States each year – with black, Amerindian and Hispanic groups among the most affected. It is according to a new extended study published on August 22.
Researchers say that the study, published today Scientific advances,, is the first to in -depth quantify the impacts on the health of air pollution external to all stages of the production of fossil fuels and to analyze disparities in exposure to health risks.
The study examined the entire life cycle of oil and gas: upstream, which implies the exploration and extraction of oil and gas; Midstream, which involves compression, transport and storage; Downstream, which involves transformation into petrochemical products; And final use, when the product reaches its final stages of use.
The Amerindian and Hispanic populations are the most affected by air pollution which comes from the stages upstream and in the median environment, revealed that the study, while the black and Asian populations are the most affected by the downstream stages and of final use. Researchers also found that 10,350 premature births and 216,000 new cases of childhood asthma per year are attributable to oil and gas air pollution, as well as 1,610 life cancers in the United States
Although downstream activities cause less pollution than upstream activities and final use, they are responsible for greater health impacts, black communities faced with the most serious health results, including premature mortality, premature births and childhood asthma. These impacts are largely experienced in places with major refining activities, such as Texas and South Louisiana.
Researchers used an air pollution model to determine pollution concentrations and applied this information to epidemiological models to estimate the number of serious health results. They used 2017 data, the last year of full data available and believe that the results could be conservative, since the production of American oil and gas has since increased by 40%.
Eloise Marais, the main author of the study and professor of atmospheric chemistry and air quality at the University College in London, says that the results confirm what communities have known for a long time. “We are not sitting in our academic ivory tower and tell these communities that they are under unfavorable health results. They already know it and that they go through processes to try to resolve it, ”explains Marais. “What our study does is guaranteeing that we can provide truly rigorous evidence of the size of the impact in the hope that this is taken up by the heads of the community, by plea groups, by political decision -makers … To try to identify exactly where, in more granular details, these disparities occur, to essentially develop very clear action plans to resolve them.”
The solution is clear, say the researchers. While greenhouse gases released in the atmosphere can linger for years, once air pollution is reduced, health benefits are almost instantaneous. “”[The study] Gives us a very clear perspective on what public health gains could be, and they would be completely immediate if we reduce our independence on oil and gas “, explains Marais.” We would begin to see immediate advantages on air quality and health, and we would have attenuated a large part of the disparities in health bushy. »»
