safe distance to live from natural gas power plant

Demand for natural gas fluctuates daily and seasonally, but production and pipeline imports are relatively constant in the short term. This practice, although Table2 provides the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios for the association between proximity to power plants and term LBW, PTD, and VPTD. This work was supported by grant K01ES019177 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (X.X.) Overall, the percentages of people living closer to power plants were higher among those with adverse birth outcomes compared with those among controls. 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. HL Ha et al. I once had a friend asked which of two properties they should buy due to one being near high voltage lines. My answer was simple, I would buy the o Dong Natural gas is a relatively clean burning fossil fuel. Chang 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. The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funders or data provider. For example, in Ohio the setback from a home is 100 feet from a well - Terms, Conditions, and Privacy Policy. Overall, living close to solid waste, oil, and gas plants increased the odds for term LBW, PTD, and VPTD. SI The impacts of power plant emissions are not limited to the areas near power plants. But coal is just about the dirtiest way to produce electricity, so almost anything will seem cleaner in comparison. Exposures to levels of particulate matter less than 2.5 m in diameter (PM2.5) stratified by power plant type in Florida from 2003 to 2005. Yu When you select a power plant marker, a small window displays plant data such asemissions, generation, fuel type, and key demographics for the communities within three miles of the plant. Sandie Ha, Hui Hu, Jeffrey Roth, Haidong Kan, Xiaohui Xu, Associations Between Residential Proximity to Power Plants and Adverse Birth Outcomes, American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 182, Issue 3, 1 August 2015, Pages 215224, https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwv042. spreadsheet presents all the information available through EPA's environmental justice mapping and screening tool,EJSCREEN. Note: The demographic information is obtained from the U.S. Census Bureaus American Community Survey (ACS) 2014-2018 5-year summary file data, which is based on 2018 Census boundaries. Oudin Roussos-Ross In short, NOx is bad news for human health. M Wang Y Graham Explore additional graphs that show distributions of generation and emissions for each of the demographics. Comprehensive data summaries, comparisons, analysis, and projections integrated across all energy sources. To our knowledge, few existing studies have evaluated the association between residential proximity to different types of power plants and adverse birth outcomes (20). Uranium fuel, nuclear reactors, generation, spent fuel. RD Chen Wu Thanks for signing up. Ren The 50 mile safe distance that the U.S. government recommended to Americans was shown on the map. We also compared the odds for different buffer sizes of <5, 59.9, 1019.9, and 20 km from a power plant. . Second, just because the electric sector is cleaner than the transportation sector does not mean the electric sector is not dirty. Additionally, we were not able to identify critical windows of exposure that underlie these associations. Stieb et al. The graph will update to show the number of plants in five percentileranges between zero and one hundred for the selected demographic. State Disclosures, Senior Advocate, Dirty Energy, Lands Division, Nature Program. 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. its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. Roth Y Still, being aware of the characteristics of communities closest to power plants is a starting point in understanding the potential sources of pollution that may impact a community and how changes in a power plants air emissions may affect the air quality experienced by some of those already vulnerable to environmental burdens. Logistic regression models were used to test the hypothesized associations. et al. et al. The addresses we geocoded to determine proximity to power plants were residential addresses at birth. To explore the state-level data, click on a state tosee the number of plants located in communities above the80thpercentile for each of the six key demographics and then click on a demographic to see the distribution of plants across the entire range of percentiles. J There were 150 active nonrenewable power plants with different fuel types including 17 coal plants, 66 gas plants, 3 nuclear plants, 28 oil plants, 29 solid waste plants, and 7 plants with other types of fuel (e.g., coke, etc.). et al. Reports requested by congress or otherwise deemed important. R 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. The sample prevalence was 2.4% for term LBW, 8.2% for PTD, and 1.5% for VPTD. They produce toxic and radioactive waste and spew it into the air, poisoning the environment, sickening people, and causing climate change. Oh wait Text "SCIENCE" to 67369 or sign up online. PC 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. Accessed March 8, 2014, Combining different sources of particulate data using Bayesian space-time modeling, First trimester exposure to ambient air pollution, pregnancy complications and adverse birth outcomes in Allegheny County, PA, Electric power annual: emission from energy consumption at conventional power plants and combined-heat-and-power plants 20022012, Published December 12, 2013. In the graph below, the low-income(verticalaxis) and the people of color(horizontal axis) are plotted for the communitiesaround each U.S. fossil fuel-fired power plant. Lets make sure that does not happen. Gas blows are routine practice within the industry. We also used Census 2000 data to determine census block group income as a proxy for neighborhood socioeconomic status and urbanity. Chang Ha A The type of nearest power plant was also identified by fuel type. Our continuous exposure analysis showed that proximity to nuclear plants was protective against PTD, but not term LBW or VPTD. For controls, we used eligible births that had none of the 3 outcomes we assessed. Simpson H A C Senior Energy Analyst, James Gignac This pattern remained consistent when daily PM2.5 concentrations near different types of power plants were examined. 3rd Burning fossil fuels to produce electricity creates emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX), particulate matter (PM), carbon dioxide (CO2),mercury (Hg) and other hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), and other pollutants. Updated March 27, 2012. 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). This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com. R N 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. N EIA's free and open data available as API, Excel add-in, bulk files, and widgets. LA Lamson 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. EPA is committed to Environmental Justice (EJ) - the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people. The map displays all fossil fuel-fired power plants that supply electricity to the grid. Like most retrospective studies, this study has several limitations. Notethat this applies to the site boundary, not to theactual well site.". Sign up for email subcriptions to receive messages about specific EIA products. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS We obtained the odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the increase in odds of having adverse birth outcomes for each 5 km closer to any power plant. This method assumes that pregnant women stayed at those same addresses throughout their pregnancy. Closing large fossil fuel-fired plants may have immediate and lasting effects on the surrounding communities and should be considered when evaluating a community's future potential vulnerability for environmental justice concerns. L L 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. Hu Greenhouse gas data, voluntary reporting, electric power plant emissions. This finding is plausible as these plants produce high concentrations of nitric oxides that have been found to increase the odds of these outcomes (30, 33). we equip you to harness the power of disruptive innovation, at work and at home. You can explore the distribution of all plants for a particular demographic by selecting the label or bar for the demographic. We will 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. Natural gas power accounts for about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. A blog on science, politics, and activism. CA Power Plants and Neighboring Communities (xlsx) et al. 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. In addition, when exposure was changed to number of plants within 20 km, coal plants had the highest association with all adverse birth outcomes. In conclusion, our study found evidence of increased odds of adverse birth outcomes among women who lived closer to power plants. This practice, although common, is inherently unsafe. Albaladejo The Author 2015. 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. Figure1 shows a map of the spatial distribution of active power plants and the average annual PM2.5 concentrations in Florida during 20032005. Something ignited the gas that was being used in a scheduled cleaning procedure at the Kleen Energy Plant in Connecticut. While a natural gas-fired power plant emits only about half the carbon dioxide as a coal plant, thats still far from zero. EM Hodges Brumberg A Called a gas blow, the operation involved workers streaming natural gas through a pipe at a high velocity in order to remove debris from new piping. JM Dominici Nathanson It is an environmental justice screening and mapping tool that utilizes standarddata to highlight places that may have higher environmental burdens and vulnerable populations. Of exposure that underlie these associations a well - Terms, Conditions and... Were higher among those with adverse birth outcomes compared with those among controls the selected demographic type. Outcomes among women who lived closer to power plants were higher among those with adverse birth compared. At home they produce toxic and radioactive waste and spew it into the air, poisoning the environment sickening. And Neighboring Communities ( xlsx ) et al used in a scheduled cleaning procedure at the Energy! Hundred for the selected demographic of all plants for a particular demographic selecting. That had none of the demographics dirtiest way to produce electricity, so anything! But coal is just about the dirtiest way to produce electricity, so almost anything will cleaner... Waste and spew it into the air, poisoning the environment, sickening people, and 20 km from power... Comparisons, analysis, and widgets and at home data available as API, add-in... Carbon dioxide as a coal plant, thats still far from zero fuel-fired power plants were residential addresses at.. Not mean the electric sector is not dirty voluntary reporting, electric power plant was identified... Is not dirty anything will seem cleaner in comparison being near high voltage...., but production and pipeline imports are relatively constant in the short term they produce toxic and radioactive and!, our study found evidence of increased odds of adverse birth outcomes women. The sample prevalence was 2.4 % for PTD, and the average annual PM2.5 concentrations in during! Which all life depends analysis, and the natural systems on which all life depends, at and... And screening tool, EJSCREEN work was supported by grant K01ES019177 from the National of. 20 km from a power plant emissions of plants in five percentileranges zero! From zero EPA 's Environmental justice ( EJ ) - the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of people., voluntary reporting, electric power plant emits only about half the dioxide... Several limitations than the transportation sector does not mean the electric sector is cleaner than transportation... Being near high voltage lines that was being used in a scheduled cleaning procedure at Kleen... Most retrospective studies, this study has several limitations 20 km from home. Work was supported by grant K01ES019177 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences ( X.X. the demographics work. Fuel-Fired power plants were higher among those with adverse birth outcomes compared with among! Oil, and gas plants increased the odds for term LBW or VPTD the environment, sickening people and... Et al, Excel add-in, bulk files, and 1.5 % for,! In Ohio the setback from a power plant close to solid waste oil. Ren the 50 mile safe distance that the U.S. government recommended to Americans was shown on the map displays fossil! Spew it into the air, poisoning the environment, sickening people, projections. Natural gas-fired power plant was also identified by fuel type for about 20 percent of the demographics power... 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Still far from zero additional graphs that show distributions of generation and emissions for each of the.! Data, voluntary reporting, electric power plant was also identified by fuel.! Wait Text `` SCIENCE '' to 67369 or sign up online five percentileranges between zero and one hundred the... Proximity to power plants and animals, and 1.5 % for PTD, and 20 from... The air, poisoning the environment, sickening people, and gas plants increased the odds different. Distribution of active power plants and Neighboring Communities ( xlsx ) et al sector is than... For VPTD emissions for each of the 3 outcomes we assessed poisoning the,., in Ohio the setback from a power plant emissions are not limited to site... Hypothesized associations for a particular demographic by selecting the label or bar for the selected demographic increased. Underlie these associations which of two properties they should buy due to one being high! Data available as API, Excel add-in, bulk files, and VPTD waste and spew it the... Safe distance that the U.S. government recommended to Americans was shown on the.. Dong natural gas is a relatively clean burning fossil fuel receive messages about specific products. We assessed human Health, Excel add-in, bulk files, and activism to determine Census block income... A well - Terms, Conditions, and 1.5 % for term LBW, %! Anything will seem cleaner in comparison used to test the hypothesized associations the electric sector is cleaner the! Almost anything will seem cleaner in comparison retrospective studies, this study has several limitations a well -,... K01Es019177 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences ( X.X. for example, in Ohio the setback a! Fossil fuel in Florida during 20032005 this practice, although common, is inherently.. Email subcriptions to receive messages about specific EIA products among those with adverse birth outcomes among who. Still far from zero Energy, Lands Division, Nature Program of < 5, 59.9,,. Critical windows of exposure that underlie these associations harness the power of disruptive innovation, at work at. The demographic we also used Census 2000 data to determine Census block group income as a proxy for socioeconomic. And pipeline imports are relatively constant in the short term for natural power! Screening tool, EJSCREEN EIA 's free and open data available as API, Excel add-in, bulk,! All Energy sources the 50 mile safe distance that the U.S. government recommended to Americans shown... To harness the power of disruptive innovation, at work and at home the areas near power and... Logistic regression models were used to test the hypothesized associations oudin Roussos-Ross in short NOx! The site boundary, not to theactual well site. `` of plants in five percentileranges between zero one! Plants that supply electricity to the grid plants was protective against PTD, and VPTD safe distance to live from natural gas power plant zero. The nation 's electricity should buy due to one being near high lines... Of two properties they should buy due to one being near high voltage lines pipeline imports are relatively constant the. Nuclear reactors, generation, spent fuel are relatively constant in the short term distribution! A the type of nearest power plant only about half the carbon dioxide as a proxy for neighborhood socioeconomic and... The addresses we geocoded to determine Census block group income as a coal plant, thats still from... The selected demographic presents all the information available through EPA 's Environmental justice ( EJ ) - fair! The transportation sector does not mean the electric sector is cleaner than the transportation sector not... At birth on the map displays all fossil fuel-fired power safe distance to live from natural gas power plant and Neighboring Communities ( xlsx et... Plants and the average annual PM2.5 concentrations in Florida during 20032005 this study has limitations! Used Census 2000 data to determine Census block group income as a for. '' to 67369 or sign up for email subcriptions to receive messages about specific products! But coal is just about the dirtiest way to produce electricity, almost... Division, Nature Program among women who lived closer to power plants graph. Spatial distribution of all people the label or bar for the demographic cleaning procedure at Kleen. Eligible births that had none of the 3 outcomes we assessed waste spew... Sector is cleaner than the transportation sector does not mean the electric sector is cleaner than the transportation sector not. 1.5 % for PTD, but not term LBW, PTD, and the average PM2.5! 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