While the US is the world’s largest oil and natural gas producer, the health impacts of the industry on its residents have not been widely studied.

This is the first study of its kind to comprehensively quantify these health impacts over every stage of the US oil and gas lifecycle. Here, researchers found that Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American populations bear the brunt of climate-related burdens throughout the entire cycle. Within the four primary stages of the oil and gas lifecycle, those causing the most health impacts are the downstream and end-use stages: modifying extracted material and final consumption. Looking at per capita effects, residents in New Jersey, the District of Columbia, New York, California and Maryland are subject to the greatest health impacts. Texas and California bear the greatest burden for almost all health hazards resulting from every oil and gas lifecycle stage.

The team suggests the following policy angles to limit the impacts of oil and gas pollution:

• • focus on future studies that refine models identifying pollution and emissions,
  • target end-use sources, particularly in California, Texas and New York, and
  • regulate downstream activities to reduce disparate health outcomes experienced by Black populations.

Researchers from SEI, University College London, George Washington University and University of Colorado Boulder conducted the analysis.