PRETA Air: Hazardous Air Pollutants

This report shows that people living in a 10-county region of southwestern Pennsylvania have a significantly higher than acceptable risk of developing cancer due to exposure to toxic air pollution released by manufacturing processes, energy production and diesel combustionThe Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threats Analysis Report -- funded by The Heinz Endowments -- analyzes publicly available data on hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), also known as air toxics. Air toxics include approximately 200 pollutants identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as respiratory, neurological and reproductive disorders. The report is the third in a series as part of a project examining major threats to human health and the environment in southwestern Pennsylvania

Air pollution and health impacts of oil & gas production in the United States

Oil and gas production is one of the largest emitters of methane, a potent greenhouse gas and a significant contributor of air pollution emissions. While research on methane emissions from oil and gas production has grown rapidly, there is comparatively limited information on the distribution of impacts of this sector on air quality and associated health impacts. Understanding the contribution of air quality and health impacts of oil and gas can be useful for designing mitigation strategies. Here we assess air quality and human health impacts associated with ozone, fine particulate matter, and nitrogen dioxide from the oil and gas sector in the US in 2016, and compare this impact with that of the associated methane emissions. We find that air pollution in 2016 from the oil and gas sector in the US resulted in 410 000 asthma exacerbations, 2200 new cases of childhood asthma and 7500 excess deaths, with $77 billion in total health impacts. NO2 was the highest contributor to health impacts (37%) followed by ozone (35%), and then PM2.5 (28%). When monetized, these air quality health impacts of oil and gas production exceeded estimated climate impact costs from methane leakage by a factor of 3. These impacts add to the total life cycle impacts of oil and gas, and represent potential additional health benefits of strategies that reduce consumption of oil and gas. Policies to reduce oil and gas production emissions will lead to additional and significant health benefits from co-pollutant reductions that are not currently quantified or monetized

Population allocation at the housing unit level: estimates around underground natural gas storage wells in PA, OH, NY, WV, MI, and CA

Background Spatially accurate population data are critical for determining health impacts from many known risk factors. However, the utility of the increasing spatial resolution of disease mapping and environmental exposures is limited by the lack of receptor population data at similar sub-census block spatial scales. Methods Here we apply an innovative method (Population Allocation by Occupied Domicile Estimation – ABODE) to disaggregate U.S. Census populations by allocating an average person per household to geospatially-identified residential housing units (RHU). We considered two possible sources of RHU location data: address point locations and building footprint centroids. We compared the performance of ABODE with the common proportional population allocation (PPA) method for estimating the nighttime residential populations within 200 m radii and setback areas (100 – 300 ft) around active underground natural gas storage (UGS) wells (n = 9834) in six U.S. states. Results Address location data generally outperformed building footprint data in predicting total counts of census residential housing units, with correlations ranging from 0.67 to 0.81 at the census block level. Using residentially-sited addresses only, ABODE estimated upwards of 20,000 physical households with between 48,126 and 53,250 people living within 200 m of active UGS wells – likely encompassing the size of a proposed UGS Wellhead Safety Zone. Across the 9834 active wells assessed, ABODE estimated between 5074 and 10,198 more people living in these areas compare to PPA, and the difference was significant at the individual well level (p = < 0.0001). By either population estimation method, OH exhibits a substantial degree of hyperlocal land use conflict between populations and UGS wells – more so than other states assessed. In some rare cases, population estimates differed by more than 100 people for the small 200 m2 well-areas. ABODE’s explicit accounting of physical households confirmed over 50% of PPA predictions as false positives indicated by non-zero predictions in areas absent physical RHUs. Conclusions Compared to PPA – in allocating identical population data at sub-census block spatial scales –ABODE provides a more precise population at risk (PAR) estimate with higher confidence estimates of populations at greatest risk. 65% of UGS wells occupy residential urban and suburban areas indicating the unique land use conflicts presented by UGS systems that likely continue to experience population encroachment. Overall, ABODE confirms tens of thousands of homes and residents are likely located within the proposed UGS Wellhead Safety Zone – and in some cases within state’s oil and gas well surface setback distances – of active UGS wells

Home is where the pipeline ends: characterization of volatile organic compounds present in natural gas at the point of the residential end user

The presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in unprocessed natural gas (NG) is well documented; however, the degree to which VOCs are present in NG at the point of end use is largely uncharacterized. We collected 234 whole NG samples across 69 unique residential locations across the Greater Boston metropolitan area, Massachusetts. NG samples were measured for methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), and nonmethane VOC (NMVOC) content (including tentatively identified compounds) using commercially available USEPA analytical methods. Results revealed 296 unique NMVOC constituents in end use NG, of which 21 (or approximately 7%) were designated as hazardous air pollutants. Benzene (bootstrapped mean = 164 ppbv; SD = 16; 95% CI: 134-196) was detected in 95% of samples along with hexane (98% detection), toluene (94%), heptane (94%), and cyclohexane (89%), contributing to a mean total concentration of NMVOCs in distribution-grade NG of 6.0 ppmv (95% CI: 5.5-6.6). While total VOCs exhibited significant spatial variability, over twice as much temporal variability was observed, with a wintertime NG benzene concentration nearly eight-fold greater than summertime. By using previous NG leakage data, we estimated that 120-356 kg/yr of annual NG benzene emissions throughout Greater Boston are not currently accounted for in emissions inventories, along with an unaccounted-for indoor portion. NG-odorant content (tert-butyl mercaptan and isopropyl mercaptan) was used to estimate that a mean NG-CH4 concentration of 21.3 ppmv (95% CI: 16.7-25.9) could persist undetected in ambient air given known odor detection thresholds. This implies that indoor NG leakage may be an underappreciated source of both CH4 and associated VOCs.19-07957 - Barr Foundation; Putnam FoundationPublished versio

Developing a Modular Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Platform for Air Pollution Profiling

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) offers great potential for collecting air quality data with high spatial and temporal resolutions. The objective of this study is to design and develop a modular UAV-based platform capable of real-time monitoring of multiple air pollutants. The system comprises five modules: the UAV, the ground station, the sensors, the data acquisition (DA) module, and the data fusion (DF) module. The hardware was constructed with off-the-shelf consumer parts and the open source software Ardupilot was used for flight control and data fusion. The prototype UAV system was tested in representative settings. Results show that this UAV platform can fly on pre-determined pathways with adequate flight time for various data collection missions. The system simultaneously collects air quality and high precision X-Y-Z data and integrates and visualizes them in a real-time manner. While the system can accommodate multiple gas sensors, UAV operations may electronically interfere with the performance of chemical-resistant sensors. Our prototype and experiments prove the feasibility of the system and show that it features a stable and high precision spatial-temporal platform for air sample collection. Future work should be focused on gas sensor development, plug-and-play interfaces, impacts of rotor wash, and all-weather designs

A Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS) Utilizing the GeoWeb 2.0: Filling the Gaps of the Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Industry

The application of neocartography, specifically through the Web 2.0, is a new phase of participatory geographic information system (PGIS) research. Neocartography includes the encouragement of non-expert participation through visual design (e.g., map layering), and knowledge discovery via the Web. To better understand the challenges from an increase in natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale region of the United States, a GeoWeb 2.0 platform titled FracTracker (FracTracker.org) that relies upon PGIS and neocartography was created and implemented in June 2010. FracTracker focuses on data-to-information translation to stimulate capacity building for a range of user types by leveraging the immense benefits of a spatial component. The main features of FracTracker are the ability to upload and download geospatial data as various file types, visualize data through thematic mapping and charting tools, and learn about and share drilling experiences. In less than 2 years, 2,440 registered users have effectively participated in creating 956 maps or „snapshots' using 399 available datasets. FracTracker demonstrates that participatory, interoperable GeoWebs can be utilized to help understand and localize related impacts of complex systems, such as the extractive energy industry

Climate and health benefits of increasing renewable energy deployment in the United States

The type, size, and location of renewable energy (RE) deployment dramatically affects benefits to climate and health. Here, we develop a ten-region model to assess the magnitude of health and climate benefits across the US We then use this model to assess the benefits of deploying varying capacities of wind, utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV), and rooftop solar PV in different regions in the US—a total of 284 different scenarios. Total benefits ranged from $2.2 trillion for 3000 MW of wind in the Upper Midwest to$4.2 million for 100 MW of wind in California. Total benefits and highest cost effectiveness for CO _2 reduction were generally highest for RE deployment in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic US and lowest in California. Health was a substantial portion of total benefits in nearly all regions of the US Benefits were sensitive to methane leakage throughout the gas supply chain

Hazardous air pollutants in transmission pipeline natural gas: an analytic assessment

Natural gas production occurs in specific regions of the US, after which it is processed and transported via an interconnected network of high-pressure interstate pipelines. While the presence of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in unprocessed, upstream natural gas has been documented, little has been published on their presence in the midstream natural gas supply. We systematically evaluated publicly available, industry-disclosed HAP composition data sourced from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) natural gas infrastructure applications submitted between 2017 and 2020. Natural gas composition data from these filings represent approximately 45% of the US onshore natural gas transmission system by pipeline mileage. Given that reporting natural gas HAP composition data is not required by FERC, only 49% of approved expansion projects disclosed natural gas HAP composition data. Of those applications that disclosed composition data, HAP concentrations were typically reported as higher for separator flash gas and condensate tank vapor compared to liquefied natural gas and transmission-grade natural gas, with mean benzene concentrations of 1106, 7050, 77, and 37 ppm respectively. We also identified one pipeline operator that reports real-time HAP concentrations for its natural gas at five pipeline interconnection points. Similar to the FERC applications, this operator reported benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes and hydrogen sulfide as present in transmission pipeline natural gas. Notably, mercury was also reported as detectable in 14% of real-time natural gas measurements but was not reported in any FERC applications. Given that transmission infrastructure releases natural gas during uncontrolled leaks and loss of containment events as well as during routine operations (e.g. blowouts and compressor station blowdowns), these gas composition data may serve as a critical component of air quality and health-focused evaluations of natural gas releases

Natural gas odorants: A scoping review of health effects.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Organosulfur compounds are intentionally added to natural gas as malodorants with the intent of short-term nasal inhalation to aid in leak detection. Regulatory exposure limits have not been established for all commonly used natural gas odorants, and recent community-level exposure events and growing evidence of indoor natural gas leakage have raised concerns associated with natural gas odorant exposures. We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed scientific publications on human exposures and animal toxicological studies of natural gas odorants to assess toxicological profiles, exposure potential, health effects and regulatory guidelines associated with commonly used natural gas odorants. RECENT FINDINGS: We identified only 22 studies which met inclusion criteria for full review. Overall, there is limited evidence of both transient nonspecific health symptoms and clinically diagnosed causative neurotoxic effects associated with prolonged odorant exposures. Across seven community-level exposure events and two occupational case reports, consistent symptom patterns included: headache, ocular irritation, nose and throat irritation, respiratory complaints such as shortness of breath and asthma attacks, and skin irritation and rash. Of these, respiratory inflammation and asthma exacerbations are the most debilitating, whereas the high prevalence of ocular and dermatologic symptoms suggest a non-inhalation route of exposure. The limited evidence available raises the possibility that organosulfur odorants may pose health risks at exposures much lower than presently understood, though additional dose-response studies are needed to disentangle specific toxicologic effects from nonspecific responses to noxious organosulfur odors. Numerous recommendations are provided including more transparent and prescriptive natural gas odorant use practices