Exploration and reserves, storage, imports and exports, production, prices, sales. These keydemographicsand information about nearby power plants may help identify a community's potential vulnerability to environmental concerns. For the layout of plant, prescriptive distances between equipment items are generally used, according to a tabular matrix How strong is the radiation around a nuclear power plant direct outside at the containment? Pretty much the same as the natural background count. Furthermore, when studying a proposed natural gas power plant, a California Energy Commission analysis found that local one-hour concentrations of NO2 (one form of NOx) would nearly double from their background levels. SC 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 Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; LBW, low birth weight; OR, odds ratio; PTD, preterm delivery; VPTD, very preterm delivery. Eshoul Hu The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is home to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). 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. et al. (617) 547-5552. Compared with pregnant women who lived with no power plants within a 20 km radius, women living near 2 power plants had a 7% increased odds of term LBW (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.12), 12% increased odds of PTD (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.15), and 17% increased odds of VPTD (OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.25). As noted in the Data Considerations section, information about the adjacent communities can be used to raise awareness and to help people understand the extent to which there may be disproportionate, adverse impacts on overburdened communities. 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. Y 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. Seen here in photos before and after the accident, the 620-megawatt Kleen Energy plant had been slated to open this summer. Spengler We further stratify these associations by fuel type. A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Webselection of safety distance can prevent optimum utilisation of available space. Recurring messages. By continuing, you accept our use of cookies. Data from California Air Resources BoardEmissions Projection Analysis. et al. Greenhouse gas data, voluntary reporting, electric power plant emissions. Teng Quadrant D shows power plants located in or nearcommunities with both the low-income and people of color percentages less than the national averages. WebDistance from the nearest power plants was measured in kilometers. Those who were closest to nuclear plants (mean = 7.7 (SD, 1.9) g/m3) and other plants (mean = 8.5 (SD, 2.0) g/m3) were exposed to the lowest levels of PM2.5 (Figure2B; Supplementary Data). When stratified by type of plants in order to compare birth outcomes among women who lived close to or farther from different types of power plants, our data showed that solid waste plants had associations with all adverse birth outcomes. et al. Valero De Bernab Zou To describe exposures to PM2.5 during pregnancy and throughout the study period according to nearest power plants, we used scatterplots with locally weighted scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) functions (smooth = 0.5) to display averaged daily concentrations during the first trimester (y-axis) by date of delivery (x-axis), as well as daily concentrations (y-axis) by date during the study period (x-axis). The national averages of low-income population and the people of color population are drawn as reference lines forcomparison. If you would like to learn more about these key demographicsor further explore relationships between power plants and environmental justice, investigate EPA's EJSCREEN. Siffel SA The electric power sector is a large source of U.S. CO 2 emissions. Holland P Receive urgent alerts about opportunities to defend science. C Williams AR Chen Yli-Tuomi 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." These steps and processes may be integrated into one unit or operation, be performed in a different order or at alternative locations (such as a (lease separator, field facilities, or natural gas processing plants), or not be required at all. S Such information would be valuable in public health efforts to reduce adverse birth outcomes. To access this combined power plants and neighboring communities data in theEJSCREEN mapping tool, from the mapping tool menu: More information can also be found on the Frequent Questions about Power Plants and Neighboring Communitiespage and in the Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Webinar. Figure1 shows a map of the spatial distribution of active power plants and the average annual PM2.5 concentrations in Florida during 20032005. L . 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. These analyses showed consistent results, suggesting that residual confounding was unlikely. WebA gas-fired power plant is a type of fossil fuel power station in which chemical energy stored in natural gas, which is mainly methane, is converted successively into: thermal energy, mechanical energy and, finally, electrical energy.Although they cannot exceed the Carnot cycle limit for conversion of heat energy into useful work the excess heat may be used in Reports requested by congress or otherwise deemed important. J More research is warranted to better understand the causal relationship. Williams Those NOx emissions may linger in nearby communities, leading to serious health problems for the people living near plants. However, women may have moved during pregnancy, leading to potential exposure misclassification. Ghosh Senior Energy Analyst, James Gignac 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). 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. H RE: How far away should you live from a power plant? From a coal-fired power plant I would want to be at least ten miles upwind and nowhere near th Roberts Peng Hodges HL In the continuous exposure analyses, only solid waste plants (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.04) had an association with term LBW for each 5-km decrease in distance. In addition, we also overlaid geocoded active power plants and the 12 12 km grids to determine the daily PM2.5 concentrations near the power plants during the study period. Second, just because the electric sector is cleaner than the transportation sector does not mean the electric sector is not dirty. et al. Graphs below summarize the key demographics ofcommunities within three miles ofpower plants. Lets make sure that does not happen. 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. Hu More information about the Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool can be foundhere. Nathanson 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. R N We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. N 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. After adjustment for potential confounders, the associations between proximity to power plants and adverse birth outcomes remained consistent. This paper presents a study on underground natural gas pipeline safety distance via experimental and numerical approaches. C If something happens to go wrong at a nuclear reactor, anyone living in a 10-mile radius of the plant may The graph will update to show the number of plants in five percentileranges between zero and one hundred for the selected demographic. Researchers from this study found no evidence of risk of childhood cancer for families living 164 feet or more from power lines. EIA's free and open data available as API, Excel add-in, bulk files, and widgets. et al. U.S. Chemical Safety Board Lead Investigator Don Holmstrom said in a statement last week: We strongly caution natural gas power plants and other industries against the venting of high-pressure natural gas in or near work sites. JJ Population with less than high school education, Type in keywords to query the entry "power plants and neighboring communities", and. 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. Natural Resources Defense Council 2023 Privacy Policy A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. T The graph below displays the number of plants located in or near communities which meet or exceed the 80thpercentile nationally for each key demographic. Seigneur A three-mile radius isconsistent with environmental justice literature and studies, including theEJ Screening Reportfor the Clean Power Plan. et al. Otos HUD goes further and states that "Operating and abandoned oil and gas wells pose potentialhazards to housing, in Ohio the setback from a homeis 100 feet, Northeast Ohio Gas Accountability Project. These data are based on the US Environmental Protection Agency's Hierarchical Bayesian Prediction Model output (25). RD H Visintainer Su Neuberger One of the reasons for the differences may be a result of the spatial clustering of power plants. Which states consume and produce the most natural gas. We use cookies to improve your experience. Table2 provides the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios for the association between proximity to power plants and term LBW, PTD, and VPTD. WebGangadharan et al. G 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. U.S. 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). This method assumes that pregnant women stayed at those same addresses throughout their pregnancy. The results remained consistent when exposure was categorized (Table3). 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. Two logistic regression models were used for each outcome: The first model was unadjusted, and the second model was a parsimonious model adjusted for potential confounders on the basis of our directed acyclic graph (Supplementary Data). You'll receive your first NRDC action alert and We also categorized the proximity to power The term LBW was defined as a birth weighing less than 2,500 g at birth and born at or after 37 weeks of gestation. D M DM Figure2A and 2B illustrate PM2.5 exposure by types of power plants. We overlaid geocoded residential addresses over the 12 12 km grids. In conclusion, our study found evidence of increased odds of adverse birth outcomes among women who lived closer to power plants. Out of all the different risks investigated thus far, an increase in natural gas price from $6/GJ to $9/GJ causes the biggest increase in the average electricity price required. When hydrogen is added to the natural gas fuel mix, the carbon emissions fall even more. Regional energy information including dashboards, maps, data, and analyses. Wiesel We wish to thank the Florida Department of Health for supplying the data. PC Short, timely articles with graphics on energy, facts, issues, and trends. 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. The type of nearest power plant was also identified by fuel type. G A detailed description of this method was reported elsewhere (23). Florida has relatively high power plant emissions (16, 24) that provide a unique opportunity to investigate the potential association between power plant emissions and adverse birth outcomes. Yu et al. 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. Moshammer You can seethe percentages by hovering your cursor over the colored bars. Natural gas storage during periods of low demand helps to ensure that enough natural gas is available during periods of high demand. Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; LBW, low birth weight; OR, odds ratio; PM2.5, particulate matter less than 2.5 m in diameter; PTD, preterm delivery; SD, standard deviation; VPTD, very preterm delivery. The first trimester was defined as the first 13 weeks of gestation. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. D Quadrant A shows power plants located in or near communities with a low-income percentage greater than the national average and less than the people of color national average. This practice, although common, is inherently unsafe. Natural gas transmission pipelines are wide-diameter pipelines and are often the long-distance portion of natural gas pipeline systems that connect gathering systems in producing areas, natural gas processing plants, and other receipt points to the main consumer service areas. When ultrasound is not available, fundal height (determined by clinical examination) or menstrual history is used to estimate gestational age. Updated January 2012. Chang X Explore additional graphs that show distributions of generation and emissions for each of the demographics. Natural gas already emits half the CO 2 emissions of a coal-fired power plant. 3rd K Since then, researchers have further studied this association, including in the California Power Line Study, a 2016 study in the British Journal of Cancer. In addition, when exposure was changed to number of plants within 20 km, coal plants had the highest association with all adverse birth outcomes. Stieb State Disclosures, Senior Advocate, Dirty Energy, Lands Division, Nature Program. EPA is committed to Environmental Justice (EJ) - the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people. McMillan Some places in the country, however, still have setbacks for homes that are less then 300 feet. Populations found to be particularly vulnerable to environmental pollution include the poor, the elderly, the very young, those already in poor health, and/or indigenous populations. Midwest Senior Policy Manager. 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. Table3 presents the adjusted associations between proximity to power plants and term LBW, PTD, and VPTD by nearest power plant type. MS When you sign up you'll become a member of NRDC's Activist Network. Ive lived closer than a lot of people. I slept just a couple hundred feet from one. I worked dozens of feet from them. My apartment where I spent To make long-term gains against infection inequity, infectious disease epidemiology needs to develop a more sociological imagination. However, we have also used a fully adjusted model with all covariates in our directed acyclic graph. Park J Results were consistent when exposure was categorized by number of power plants. To compare continuous and categorical characteristics for participants with and without the 3 adverse birth outcomes, we performed t tests and 2 tests. Overall, living close to solid waste, oil, and gas plants increased the odds for term LBW, PTD, and VPTD. The exposure for this study was proximity to a nonrenewable-source power plant. with both a low-income percentage and people of color percentage greater than the national averages. Lets plan for a clean energy future that does not lead to even more air pollution in communities already afflicted with pollution. Graham Therefore, we were not able to account for local variation smaller than this spatial resolution. In general, PM2.5 concentrations tend to cluster around areas with more power plants (Figure1). JK et al. 4.5 shows the two schemes considered by the authors. WebThis is so because the stack is usually several 100s meters tall, so that pollutants in flue gas are dispersed in the atmosphere and only have an influence at distances in the range of 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. C et al. Come test out some of the products still in development and let us know what you think! The following sections are presented below: There are over 3,400 fossil fuel-fired power plants in the United States. This association remained consistent in our analyses for total number of power plants within a 20 km radius and stratified analyses for different types of power plants. For controls, we used eligible births that had none of the 3 outcomes we assessed. For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription. 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. 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. Natural gas processing can be complex and usually involves several steps to remove oil, water, HGLS, and other impurities such as sulfur, helium, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide. CC JI Many fossil fuel-fired power plants (especially coal-fired power plants) have announced plans to retire, based on data collected by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Bremner The lack of a positive association could be explained by the fact that, compared with other types of plants, nuclear plants do not emit as many atmospheric pollutants in high concentrations (e.g., PM2.5, sulfur dioxide, and nitric oxides) (35). Financial market analysis and financial data for major energy companies. Because there was evidence of spatial clustering of power plants, distance from power plants may not be the best measure of exposure. We used logistic regression models to investigate the association between proximity to a power plant and the adverse birth outcomes. Can living near a nuclear power plant cause cancer? A We also compared the odds for different buffer sizes of <5, 59.9, 1019.9, and 20 km from a power plant. LT To our knowledge, few existing studies have evaluated the association between residential proximity to different types of power plants and adverse birth outcomes (20). Forsberg 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. All active power plants during the study period and eligible births were geocoded and mapped using ArcGIS V10.1 (ESRI, Redlands, California). air pollution, California, clean energy, emissions, natural gas, NOx. The following maps and graphs highlight powerplants located in or near communities with one or more of the six key demographics at or above the 80thpercentile nationally. 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. MJ Bremner et al. CA Rabczenko Albaladejo Association Between Proximity to Power Plants, by Fuel Type, and Adverse Birth Outcomes in Florida From 2004 to 2005. Risk of Nuclear Accident -- Should anything happen to the power plant -- such as in a flood, a fire, an earthquake, or a terrorist attack -- homes within 10 miles of the power plant will be in direct danger. Maps, tools, and resources related to energy disruptions and infrastructure. Lee Bell They produce toxic and radioactive waste and spew it into the air, poisoning the environment, sickening people, and causing climate change. Oh wait A The graph below compares the key demographics ofcommunities near power plants to national averages. Distance from the nearest power plants was measured in kilometers. Crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, diesel, propane, and other liquids including biofuels and natural gas liquids. FHA insures home mortgages to help Americans buy homes. L Strmgren Tsai After adjustment for potential confounders, living closer to any power plant increased the odds of all adverse birth outcomes compared with living farther away. O'Brien PTD was defined as a birth that occurred before 37 but at or after 32 weeks of gestation. 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). These results call for further investigation to confirm our results and to investigate the specific pollutants generated from power plants that are responsible for this association. 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. 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. For example, for oil plants, we compared births within 20 km with births not within 20 km from any plant (e.g., excluding those who were closer to any other types of plant). Because pollution can travel over long distances from a power plant, the impacts of both potential increases and decreases in power plant emissions can be felt many miles away, meaning that the air quality in a community can be due to far-distant sources as well as those sited within a community. Terms, Conditions, and Privacy Policy. An official website of the United States government. Wang These emissions really can affect local air quality, and that is why this is a problem. This finding has also been observed in Taiwan by Tsai et al. Natural gas is stored in large volumes in underground facilities and in smaller volumes in tanks above or below ground. Ha In populous cities, the percentage of deaths attributable to PM2.5 and ozone ranges from 3.5% in San Jose to 10% in Los Angeles (both in California) (9). J Western States Energy Manager/Senior Analyst. JL AE et al. Roth Although we chose PM2.5 to validate our exposure, power plants also emit other gaseous pollutants including carbon oxides, sulfur dioxide, and nitric oxides (41), all of which are highly correlated (30). 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). While a natural gas-fired power plant emits only about half the carbon dioxide as a coal plant, thats still far from zero. Mark Specht is the Western States Energy Manager/Senior Analyst for the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Uranium fuel, nuclear reactors, generation, spent fuel. Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; LBW, low birth weight; PTD, preterm delivery; VPTD, very preterm delivery. Steve Clemmer 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. 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. Cifuentes State energy information, including overviews, rankings, data, and analyses. The following map identifies thelocations of power plants and highlights the key demographics of people living within threemiles of those plants. It is an environmental justice screening and mapping tool that utilizes standarddata to highlight places that may have higher environmental burdens and vulnerable populations. Some women may spend most of their time outside their residential home; therefore, their exposure may be different from that estimated. 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). M The association between adverse birth outcomes and total number of power plants within 20 km was determined. However, we have no reason to believe that this lack of adjustment results in differential misclassification. X 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. RJ In short, NOx is bad news for human health. a Adjusted for maternal age, maternal race, education, marital status, census block group income, and urban neighborhood. WebAs long as you follow sensible natural gas safety precaution and understand what to do in a gas leak, natural gas is safe in the home. Sales, revenue and prices, power plants, fuel use, stocks, generation, trade, demand & emissions. Gas blows are routine practice within the industry. Fann Learn more. ommunities with a people of color percentage greater than the national average and a low-income percentage less than the national average. 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.

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