Park The CSB is trying to devise better safety codes for gas blows, but has yet to identify them. The map displays all fossil fuel-fired power plants that supply electricity to the grid. Martinez A detailed description of this method was reported elsewhere (23). B Since then, researchers have further studied this association, including in the California Power Line Study, a 2016 study in the British Journal of Cancer. M Such information would be valuable in public health efforts to reduce adverse birth outcomes. This practice, although common, is inherently unsafe. et al. S The national average for each demographic is shown in parentheses. When natural gas arrives at the locations where it will be used (usually through large pipelines), it flows into smaller diameter pipelines called mains and then into smaller service lines that go directly to homes or buildings. Xu 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. SC The following sections are presented below: There are over 3,400 fossil fuel-fired power plants in the United States. Geer Tools to customize searches, view specific data sets, study detailed documentation, and access time-series data. Hu C However, we have also used a fully adjusted model with all covariates in our directed acyclic graph. a Adjusted for maternal age, maternal race, marital status, census block group income, and urban neighborhood. air pollution, California, clean energy, emissions, natural gas, NOx. In 3rd Please click here to see any active alerts. Prenatal exposure to particulate matter less than 2.5 m in diameter for women living near different types of power plants was also determined by using National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network data. All rights reserved. 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. D We wish to thank the Florida Department of Health for supplying the data. Liu In addition, our observation that pregnant women who had a lower level of education, were racial minorities and unmarried, had no prenatal care, used tobacco, and smoked during pregnancy were more likely to be in the adverse birth outcome groups is also consistent with the literature (3840). et al. update email soon. et al. Ghosh Simpson Y State Disclosures, Senior Advocate, Dirty Energy, Lands Division, Nature Program. PC 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. 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. T The following map identifies thelocations of power plants and highlights the key demographics of people living within threemiles of those plants. One may argue that potential confounding may be caused by other variables that we did not adjust for. Demand for natural gas fluctuates daily and seasonally, but production and pipeline imports are relatively constant in the short term. This paper presents a study on underground natural gas pipeline safety distance via experimental and numerical approaches. . J et al. 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. Zhu But coal is just about the dirtiest way to produce electricity, so almost anything will seem cleaner in comparison. Author affiliations: Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Health Professions and College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (Sandie Ha, Hui Hu, Xiaohui Xu); Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (Jeffrey Roth); and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China (Haidong Kan). Furthermore, although power plant emissions are 1 of the major point sources of air pollution (21), which has been shown to have consistent association with adverse birth outcomes (22), there is limited information on air pollution exposure and pregnant women living close to specific types of power plants. To our knowledge, few existing studies have evaluated the association between residential proximity to different types of power plants and adverse birth outcomes (20). Rabczenko Spengler 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). We geocoded 423,719 singleton Florida births born from 2004 to 2005 and all active power plants and determined residential proximity to the nearest power plant for each birth. A Bell Moreover, these associations showed an exposure-response relationship with closer residents having the higher odds. F Some power plants also More information about the Power Plant Retirements map can be foundhere. Data analyses were performed by using SAS, version 9.3, software (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, North Carolina). The source population was all livebirths recorded by the Florida Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics (Florida Vital Records), from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2005 (n = 445,028). (* edit). J AR Catov For example, in Ohio the setback from a homeis 100 feetfrom awell - not even from the boundary of a wellpad - and only 75 feet for a directional well. Power Plants and Neighboring Communities (xlsx) Time is Running Out, Motorola's handy Bluetooth device adds satellite messaging to your iPhone or Android smartphone, Linux 6.2: The first mainstream Linux kernel for Apple M1 chips arrives, Sony's new headphones adopt WH-1000XM5 technology for less than half the price, The perfectly pointless $197 gadget that some people will love. Exposure to various air pollutants has also been linked to adverse pregnancy-related and birth outcomes including gestational hypertension, premature delivery, and low birth weight (1013). SS L et al. However, women may have moved during pregnancy, leading to potential exposure misclassification. Western States Energy Manager/Senior Analyst. How Much Land Would it Require to Get Most of Our Electricity from Wind and Solar? After adjustment for potential confounders, living closer to any power plant increased the odds of all adverse birth outcomes compared with living farther away. This association is also consistent with our data that showed, on average, that women close to nuclear plants and other plants were exposed to lower levels of PM2.5. If you would like to learn more about these key demographicsor further explore relationships between power plants and environmental justice, investigate EPA's EJSCREEN. Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; LBW, low birth weight; OR, odds ratio; PTD, preterm delivery; VPTD, very preterm delivery. Petroeschevsky N We also categorized the proximity to power plants into several categories of buffers: <5, 59.9, 1019.9, and 20 km. Y Coal was strongly associated with all adverse birth outcomes (Table4). According to projections from the California Air Resources Board, stationary sources account for roughly 21% of NOx emissions, while mobile sources account for a whopping 74% of NOx emission in the state. 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. These keydemographicsand information about nearby power plants may help identify a community's potential vulnerability to environmental concerns. The study also found that women living near 1 or more power plants located within a 20 km radius from their residence had higher odds of adverse birth outcomes. 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. The 50 mile safe distance that the U.S. government recommended to Americans was shown on the map. Some of the highest-polluting natural gas power plants emit over 100 tons of NOx per year, which is roughly equivalent to the NOx emissions from traveling 11 million Lets plan for a clean energy future that does not lead to even more air pollution in communities already afflicted with pollution. For the layout of plant, prescriptive distances between equipment items are generally used, according to a tabular matrix Chen The main pollutants resulting from natural gas electricity generation are nitrogen oxides, or NOx. Minority, low-income, and indigenous populations frequently bear a disproportionate burden of environmental harms and 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. J In addition to the data presented in these maps and graphs, a Characteristics of 423,719 Singleton Births in Florida From 2004 to 2005. 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. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, power plants release toxic chemicals into the air including mercury, heavy metals, and acid gases, all of which are known to be deleterious to human health, especially that of the unborn fetus (15). a Adjusted for maternal age, maternal race, education, marital status, census block group income, and urban neighborhood. When considering whether a property is eligible for an FHA-insured loan, HUD requires that "a site be rejected if the property being appraised is subject to hazards, environmental contaminants, noxious odors, offensive sights or excessive noises to the point of endangering the physical improvements or affecting the livability of the property, its marketability or the health and safety of its occupants." Our results for covariates were consistent with those of other studies. Brook Teng You can filter the plants displayed on the map based on demographics, plant characteristics such as size and fuel type, and quantity of annual plant-level emissions of SO2, NOX, CO2, and PM2.5. Ha VPTD was defined as a birth that occurred before 32 weeks of gestation. Moreover, there is recent evidence suggesting that harmful emissions from power plants may be increasing (16). We further stratified analyses for different types of plants. Energy use in homes, commercial buildings, manufacturing, and transportation. This method assumes that pregnant women stayed at those same addresses throughout their pregnancy. Initial calculations conducted by the USB determined that about 400,000 standard cubic feet of natural gas had been released into the atmosphere within the 10 minutes prior to the incident. Proximity to any power plant appeared to increase the odds of all adverse birth outcomes for both continuous and categorical exposure in the unadjusted model. In addition, when exposure was changed to number of plants within 20 km, coal plants had the highest association with all adverse birth outcomes. The Author 2015. M 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. Electric power sector power plants that burned fossil fuels or materials made from fossil fuels, and some geothermal power plants, were the source of about 32% of total U.S. energy-related CO 2 emissions in 2021.. Some places in the country, however, still have setbacks for homes that are less then 300 feet. 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. Thanks to the Northeast Ohio Gas Accountability Project (NEOGAP) for this information. The association between adverse birth outcomes and total number of power plants within 20 km was determined. EM Energy & Financial Markets: What Drives Crude Oil Prices? All active power plants during the study period and eligible births were geocoded and mapped using ArcGIS V10.1 (ESRI, Redlands, California). ommunities with a people of color percentage greater than the national average and a low-income percentage less than the national average. The results remained consistent when exposure was categorized (Table3). How much NOx is coming from natural gas power plants? That is where things get complicated. JM Czeizel Which states consume and produce the most natural gas. Association Between Number of Plants Within 20 km, by Fuel Type, and Adverse Birth Outcomes in Florida From 2004 to 2005. a Adjusted for maternal age, maternal race, maternal education, marital status, census block group income, and urban neighborhood. Stolz Air pollution has been extensively linked to many negative health outcomes ranging from cardiorespiratory diseases (13) to hospitalizations (46) and mortality (7, 8). (20), who reported that the odds of PTD were 14 times higher among women who lived within 3 km of a thermal power plant compared with those who lived farther than 3 km. Many U.S. power plants produce CO 2 emissions. One of the reasons for the differences may be a result of the spatial clustering of power plants. Particulate matter and ozone cause the extensive list of adverse health outcomes you hear at the end of a prescription drug commercial shortness of breath, heart attacks, premature death; the list goes on. et al. In Scheme 1, the syngas that results from coal gasification was divided into two parts; one part went to the Underground Natural Gas Storage by Storage Type, The Basics of Underground Natural Gas Storage, Natural Gas Processing: The Crucial Link Between Natural Gas Production and Its Transportation to Market. Peng Liu See the health effects of ozoneand particulate matter pollution. We unfortunately did not have residential mobility information to address this issue. TH For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. 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. 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. An official website of the United States government. What is a safe distance to live from a nuclear power plant? Lets make sure we bring everyone along in the transition to clean electricity. Anderson BE Greenhouse gas data, voluntary reporting, electric power plant emissions. This work was supported by grant K01ES019177 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (X.X.) Additional layers which can be toggled on/off include power plant emissions, area demographics, and tribal areas. Graham Includes hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and ethanol. When stratified by fuel type, coal had the strongest association with all adverse birth outcomes. We use cookies to improve your experience. Association Between Proximity to Power Plants and Adverse Birth Outcomes in Florida From 2004 to 2005. Full understanding of safety distances is typically only achieved when it is too late to implement without significant changes. C All rights reserved. SI MJ L Dominici In addition, nitric oxides have also been linked to term LBW and PTD (30, 31). Second, we use PM2.5 as a surrogate for pollution from power plants to determine 1) the level of pollution exposure during pregnancy for women living close to power plants and 2) whether the amount of pollution depends on fuel type. We strongly caution natural gas power plants and other industries against the venting of high-pressure natural gas in or near work sites. However, emissions from natural gas power plants are only a fraction of the emissions from stationary sources, so NOx emissions from natural gas power plants end up being roughly 1% of total NOx emissions in California. Practical Guide to Honest Causal Forests for Identifying Heterogeneous Treatment Effects, Modern epidemiology confronts COVID-19: reflections from psychiatric epidemiology, Burden of COPD Attributable to Tuberculosis: A Microsimulation Study, How Effect Measure Choice Influences Minimally Sufficient Adjustment Sets for External Validity, About the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplants/, http://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_09_01.html, http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/affect/air-emissions.html, http://www.cdc.gov/pednss/how_to/read_a_data_table/prevalence_tables/birth_outcome.htm, http://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/resources/2546.pdf, Receive exclusive offers and updates from Oxford Academic, Academic Pulmonary Sleep Medicine Physician Opportunity in Scenic Central Pennsylvania, Academic Surgical Pathologist/Breast Pathologist, Census block group annual income, US dollars, 29,643.00 to <38,095.00(second quartile), Copyright 2023 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Yu A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. PTD was defined as a birth that occurred before 37 but at or after 32 weeks of gestation. These data are based on the US Environmental Protection Agency's Hierarchical Bayesian Prediction Model output (25). Coal is responsible for over 800,000 premature deaths per year globally and many millions more serious and minor illnesses. Exploration and reserves, storage, imports and exports, production, prices, sales. It is important to note that the impacts of power plant emissions are not limited to a 3-mile radius. Y In the categorical exposure analyses, we made a fundamental assumption that each power plant has a uniform effect on participants within a certain buffer. 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. A recent study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that natural gas power plants in California will start and stop much more frequently in the future, and this increase in natural gas plant start-ups may increase NOx emissions. Displays grown and controlled oxide of nitrogen projected emissions for 2019, excluding emissions from ocean-going vessels further than three nautical miles from the coast. It is an environmental justice screening and mapping tool that utilizes standarddata to highlight places that may have higher environmental burdens and vulnerable populations. Accessed December 6, 2014, US Power Plant Global Warming Emissions Rising in 2013 AfterYears of Decline, Birth defects in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in Germany, Congenital anomalies, prematurity, and low birth weight rates in relation to nuclear power plant proximity, Pregnancy outcome of women in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in Taiwan, Increased risk of preterm delivery in women residing near thermal power plants in Taiwan, Using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model to estimate public health impacts of PM, Maternal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) and pregnancy outcomes: a meta-analysis, The effects of air pollution on adverse birth outcomes, Fuel sources and carbon dioxide emissions by electric power plants in the United States, Published March 2009. With coal combustion accounting for approximately 45% of electricity produced in the United States, it may pose a serious public health issue. 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. The photo to the right shows gas venting out of an open pipe shortly before the explosion on February 7th. 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. S M Recurring messages. The power sector has significantly reduced many of these pollutants over the past two decades, but important health and environmental concerns persist. We were also unable to adjust for daily activities patterns. Testing RFID blocking cards: Do they work? TA Director of Energy Research & Analysis, Guillermo Pereira et al. et al. A recent risk analysis estimated that particulate matter less than 2.5 m in diameter (PM2.5) and ozone, estimated from the 2005 air quality level, were responsible for 130,000 and 4,700 excess deaths, respectively (9). Stieb A Furthermore, we were not able to account for pollutants from other sources such as traffic and industrial emission. . keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports. We used logistic regression models to investigate the association between proximity to a power plant and the adverse birth outcomes. Regional energy information including dashboards, maps, data, and analyses. However, in addition to adjustment for maternal education, which serves as a proxy for socioeconomic status, we also adjusted for census-tract-level median household income from the US Census 2000 to control for ecological (or population-level) socioeconomic status factors. Figure1 shows a map of the spatial distribution of active power plants and the average annual PM2.5 concentrations in Florida during 20032005. et al. Romieu Gouveia Secure .gov websites use HTTPS et al. S T 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). Vrijheid 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. Natural gas is burned to generate heat, electricity, and hot water. This analysis yielded results consistent with proximity to power plants as a measure of exposure. Hodges K Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; LBW, low birth weight; PTD, preterm delivery; VPTD, very preterm delivery. Natural gas power accounts for about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. 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. A Those NOx emissions may linger in nearby communities, leading to serious health problems for the people living near plants. 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. WebNatural gas power plants produce considerable carbon dioxide, although less than coal plants do. et al. In fact, the rise of natural gas to become the leading U.S. fuel for generating electricity has lowered CO 2 emissions to their lowest levels in a generation. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is home to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). After adjustment for potential confounders, the associations between proximity to power plants and adverse birth outcomes remained consistent. Fig. The mandated distance from an industrial facility to a home or other sensitive area is called a "setback." 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. Chen We overlaid geocoded residential addresses over the 12 12 km grids. Roussos-Ross . b Nuclear plants are categorized differently because there are no births with 2 or more nuclear plants within 20 km. HS To make long-term gains against infection inequity, infectious disease epidemiology needs to develop a more sociological imagination. In short, NOx is bad news for human health. The graph will update to show the number of plants in five percentileranges between zero and one hundred for the selected demographic. Weedon 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 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. Maps by energy source and topic, includes forecast maps. 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. We will McMillan Ha These associations remained consistent for PTD and VPTD when exposures were categorized (Table2). Reply STOP to cancel. CC In categorical exposure analyses, no association was found. Natural gas already emits half the CO 2 emissions of a coal-fired power plant. 2 Brattle Square, Cambridge MA 02138, USA, produces less global warming emissions and air pollution, projections from the California Air Resources Board, concentrated in some of the most socioeconomically and environmentally disadvantaged communities.
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