Dataset Information

Assessing Unconventional Oil and Gas Exposure in the Appalachian Basin: Comparison of Exposure Surrogates and Residential Drinking Water Measurements.

ABSTRACT: Health studies report associations between metrics of residential proximity to unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development and adverse health endpoints. We investigated whether exposure through household groundwater is captured by existing metrics and a newly developed metric incorporating groundwater flow paths. We compared metrics with detection frequencies/concentrations of 64 organic and inorganic UOG-related chemicals/groups in residential groundwater from 255 homes (Pennsylvania n = 94 and Ohio n = 161). Twenty-seven chemicals were detected in ≥20% of water samples at concentrations generally below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. In Pennsylvania, two organic chemicals/groups had reduced odds of detection with increasing distance to the nearest well: 1,2-dichloroethene and benzene (Odds Ratio [OR]: 0.46, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.23-0.93) and m- and p-xylene (OR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.10-0.80); results were consistent across metrics. In Ohio, the odds of detecting toluene increased with increasing distance to the nearest well (OR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.12-1.95), also consistent across metrics. Correlations between inorganic chemicals and metrics were limited (all |ρ| ≤ 0.28). Limited associations between metrics and chemicals may indicate that UOG-related water contamination occurs rarely/episodically, more complex metrics may be needed to capture drinking water exposure, and/or spatial metrics in health studies may better reflect exposure to other stressors.

SUBMITTER: Clark CJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10259677 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Assessing Unconventional Oil and Gas Exposure in the Appalachian Basin: Comparison of Exposure Surrogates and Residential Drinking Water Measurements.

Clark Cassandra J CJ Xiong Boya B Soriano Mario A MA Gutchess Kristina K Siegel Helen G HG Ryan Emma C EC Johnson Nicholaus P NP Cassell Kelsie K Elliott Elise G EG Li Yunpo Y Cox Austin J AJ Bugher Nicolette N Glist Lukas L Brenneis Rebecca J RJ Sorrentino Keli M KM Plano Julie J Ma Xiaomei X Warren Joshua L JL Plata Desiree L DL Saiers James E JE Deziel Nicole C NC

Environmental science & technology 20220104 2

Health studies report associations between metrics of residential proximity to unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development and adverse health endpoints. We investigated whether exposure through household groundwater is captured by existing metrics and a newly developed metric incorporating groundwater flow paths. We compared metrics with detection frequencies/concentrations of 64 organic and inorganic UOG-related chemicals/groups in residential groundwater from 255 homes (Pennsylvania <i>n</i> ...[more]

PMID: 34982938

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Project description:BackgroundChemicals used or emitted by unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) include reproductive/developmental toxicants. Associations between UOGD and certain birth defects were reported in a few studies, with none conducted in Ohio, which experienced a thirty-fold increase in natural gas production between 2010 and 2020.MethodsWe conducted a registry-based cohort study of 965,236 live births in Ohio from 2010 to 2017. Birth defects were identified in 4653 individuals using state birth records and a state surveillance system. We assigned UOGD exposure based on maternal residential proximity at birth to active UOG wells and a metric specific to the drinking-water exposure pathway that identified UOG wells hydrologically connected to a residence ("upgradient UOG wells"). We estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all structural birth defects combined and specific birth defect types using binary exposure metrics (presence/absence of any UOG well and presence/absence of an upgradient UOG well within 10 km), adjusting for confounders. Additionally, we conducted analyses stratified by urbanicity, infant sex, and social vulnerability.ResultsThe odds of any structural defect were 1.13 times higher in children born to mothers living within 10 km of UOGD than those born to unexposed mothers (95%CI: 0.98-1.30). Odds were elevated for neural tube defects (OR: 1.57, 95%CI: 1.12-2.19), limb reduction defects (OR: 1.99, 95%CI: 1.18-3.35), and spina bifida (OR 1.93; 95%CI 1.25-2.98). Hypospadias (males only) was inversely related to UOGD exposure (OR: 0.62, 95%CI: 0.43-0.91). Odds of any structural defect were greater in magnitude but less precise in analyses using the hydrological-specific metric (OR: 1.30; 95%CI: 0.85-1.90), in areas with high social vulnerability (OR: 1.27, 95%CI: 0.99-1.60), and among female offspring (OR: 1.28, 95%CI: 1.06-1.53).ConclusionsOur results suggest a positive association between UOGD and certain birth defects, and findings for neural tube defects corroborate results from prior studies.

Project description:Emerging evidence indicates that proximity to unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) is associated with health outcomes. There is intense debate about "How close is too close?" for maintaining public health and safety. The goal of this Delphi study was to elicit expert consensus on appropriate setback distances for UOGD from human activity. Three rounds were used to identify and seek consensus on recommended setback distances. The 18 panelists were health care providers, public health practitioners, environmental advocates, and researchers/scientists. Consensus was defined as agreement of ≥70% of panelists. Content analysis of responses to Round 1 questions revealed four categories: recommend setback distances; do not recommend setback distances; recommend additional setback distances for vulnerable populations; do not recommend additional setback distances for vulnerable populations. In Round 2, panelists indicated their level of agreement with the statements in each category using a five-point Likert scale. Based on emerging consensus, statements within each category were collapsed into seven statements for Round 3: recommend set back distances of <¼ mile; ¼-½ mile; 1-1 ¼ mile; and ≥ 2 mile; not feasible to recommend setback distances; recommend additional setbacks for vulnerable groups; not feasible to recommend additional setbacks for vulnerable groups. The panel reached consensus that setbacks of < ¼ mile should not be recommended and additional setbacks for vulnerable populations should be recommended. The panel did not reach consensus on recommendations for setbacks between ¼ and 2 miles. The results suggest that if setbacks are used the distances should be greater than ¼ of a mile from human activity, and that additional setbacks should be used for settings where vulnerable groups are found, including schools, daycare centers, and hospitals. The lack of consensus on setback distances between 1/4 and 2 miles reflects the limited health and exposure studies and need to better define exposures and track health.

Project description:Recent research has shown relationships between health outcomes and residence proximity to unconventional oil and natural gas development (UOGD). The challenge of connecting health outcomes to environmental stressors requires ongoing research with new methodological approaches. We investigated UOGD density and well emissions and their association with symptom reporting by residents of southwest Pennsylvania. A retrospective analysis was conducted on 104 unique, de-identified health assessments completed from 2012-2017 by residents living in proximity to UOGD. A novel approach to comparing estimates of exposure was taken. Generalized linear modeling was used to ascertain the relationship between symptom counts and estimated UOGD exposure, while Threshold Indicator Taxa Analysis (TITAN) was used to identify associations between individual symptoms and estimated UOGD exposure. We used three estimates of exposure: cumulative well density (CWD), inverse distance weighting (IDW) of wells, and annual emission concentrations (AEC) from wells within 5 km of respondents' homes. Taking well emissions reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, an air dispersion and screening model was used to estimate an emissions concentration at residences. When controlling for age, sex, and smoker status, each exposure estimate predicted total number of reported symptoms (CWD, p<0.001; IDW, p<0.001; AEC, p<0.05). Akaike information criterion values revealed that CWD was the better predictor of adverse health symptoms in our sample. Two groups of symptoms (i.e., eyes, ears, nose, throat; neurological and muscular) constituted 50% of reported symptoms across exposures, suggesting these groupings of symptoms may be more likely reported by respondents when UOGD intensity increases. Our results do not confirm that UOGD was the direct cause of the reported symptoms but raise concern about the growing number of wells around residential areas. Our approach presents a novel method of quantifying exposures and relating them to reported health symptoms.

Project description:BackgroundOil and gas development emits known hematological carcinogens, such as benzene, and increasingly occurs in residential areas. We explored whether residential proximity to oil and gas development was associated with risk for hematologic cancers using a registry-based case-control study design.MethodsParticipants were 0-24 years old, living in rural Colorado, and diagnosed with cancer between 2001-2013. For each child in our study, we calculated inverse distance weighted (IDW) oil and gas well counts within a 16.1-kilometer radius of residence at cancer diagnosis for each year in a 10 year latency period to estimate density of oil and gas development. Logistic regression, adjusted for age, race, gender, income, and elevation was used to estimate associations across IDW well count tertiles for 87 acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) cases and 50 non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) cases, compared to 528 controls with non-hematologic cancers.FindingsOverall, ALL cases 0-24 years old were more likely to live in the highest IDW well count tertiles compared to controls, but findings differed substantially by age. For ages 5-24, ALL cases were 4.3 times as likely to live in the highest tertile, compared to controls (95% CI: 1.1 to 16), with a monotonic increase in risk across tertiles (trend p-value = 0.035). Further adjustment for year of diagnosis increased the association. No association was found between ALL for children aged 0-4 years or NHL and IDW well counts. While our study benefited from the ability to select cases and controls from the same population, use of cancer-controls, the limited number of ALL and NHL cases, and aggregation of ages into five year ranges, may have biased our associations toward the null. In addition, absence of information on O&G well activities, meteorology, and topography likely reduced temporal and spatial specificity in IDW well counts.ConclusionBecause oil and gas development has potential to expose a large population to known hematologic carcinogens, further study is clearly needed to substantiate both our positive and negative findings. Future studies should incorporate information on oil and gas development activities and production levels, as well as levels of specific pollutants of interest (e.g. benzene) near homes, schools, and day care centers; provide age-specific residential histories; compare cases to controls without cancer; and address other potential confounders, and environmental stressors.

Dataset Information

Assessing Unconventional Oil and Gas Exposure in the Appalachian Basin: Comparison of Exposure Surrogates and Residential Drinking Water Measurements.

Publications

Assessing Unconventional Oil and Gas Exposure in the Appalachian Basin: Comparison of Exposure Surrogates and Residential Drinking Water Measurements.

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