It’s a shocking piece of data that makes clear just how great the health risks are associated with this country’s reliance on fossil fuel infrastructure. This study should seriously alarm communities nationwide. Almost 47 million Americans, including over 1 in 7 people, are located within a mile of facilities used to produce and distribute fossil fuels. These facilities consist of extraction, transportation, refining, storage, and end-use operations. That means that half the population is at greater risk of their serious health effects. That threat stems from toxic emissions spewed while these infrastructures are in use.
The fossil fuel infrastructure network is massive and mostly hidden in plain sight. It crosses urban and rural America, impacting vulnerable communities in every state across the contiguous US. More than 21 million Americans are estimated to live near end-use facilities, such as power plants, according to the study. Further, over 20 million people live near extraction sites, including oil and gas wells. Furthermore, over 6 million Pennsylvanians live within a mile of a storage site.
Understanding the Infrastructure Network
The fossil fuel infrastructure system consists of five key stages: extraction, transportation, refining, storage, and end-use. Each phase adds to the risk of serious health effects from air pollution caused by extraction and burning processes.
The results show that for urban populations, which are often at high risk, these impacts are even worse. Nearly 90% of people who live nearby end-use, transportation, refining, and storage infrastructure live in urban areas. On average, each individual piece of storage infrastructure services roughly 2,900 residents within a mile. By comparison, extraction sites are far more sparsely populated, having an average of just 17 residents within close proximity.
“With a lot of these different types of infrastructure, the hazards have not been fully characterized. Characterizing hazards and understanding who is most heavily exposed should be the first steps of understanding the possible health impacts,” – Jonathan Buonocore
These statistics highlight the pervasive reach of fossil fuel facilities and the immediate threat they inflict upon public health.
The Health Risks Involved
Pollutants released during fossil fuel extraction, transportation, and refining can cause devastating health effects for communities living near these operations. This research underscores that emissions can leak out at every step of fossil fuel production and transport. This is both the leaks and blowouts they cause during extraction processes.
Mary Willis, a researcher who helped lead this study, said it’s crucial to understand these emissions. She stated, “There is reason to believe that there could be air pollution coming from each of these stages.” This announcement is a call for more research to understand how these pollutants are harmful to communities’ health.
“Especially for these more obscure pieces of energy infrastructure, this is the first step to tracking what emissions and stressors those are imposing on the communities,” – Jonathan Buonocore
The study should be seen as a foundational analysis intended to begin quantifying these risks and determining who is being affected the most. Experts are starting to dig into what it means to live near fossil fuel infrastructure. Pinpointing particular health outcomes associated with this exposure is increasingly important.
The Role of the EI3 Database
The Energy Infrastructure Exposure Intensity and Equity Indices (EI3) Database for Public Health was launched in spring 2024. This new database centralizes publicly available information on fossil fuel infrastructure into a single national tool for the first time.
A rich, centralized data vault gives researchers the power. It enables them to understand the magnitude and depth of exposure that communities currently living near fossil fuel facilities are dealing with.
“Having that in one database is the first step to doing any health studies in the future on this integrated system,” – Mary Willis
To date, researchers have been incorporating and/or quantifying these cumulative effects to fossil fuel infrastructure. Their hope is to better understand the potential health impacts of residents living by varying types of facilities. As Buonocore aptly puts it, “This study helps us get a general size of the potential problem, and really starts the process of doing a better job of understanding exactly what the hazards are and how many people are potentially exposed.”