safe distance to live from natural gas power plant
In conclusion, our study found evidence of increased odds of adverse birth outcomes among women who lived closer to power plants. Liu 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. 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. However, studies on residential mobility and its effects on air pollution assessment suggest a very low degree of misclassification (42, 43). A blog on science, politics, and activism. Abbreviations: LBW, low birth weight; PTD, preterm delivery; SD, standard deviation; VPTD, very preterm delivery. update email soon. 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). 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). M We also found that gas and oil plants had a positive association with adverse birth outcomes, especially PTD and VPTD. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS D One of the reasons for the differences may be a result of the spatial clustering of power plants. Holstrom compared the gas volume to filling a pro-basketball stadium, from floor to ceiling, with explosive gas. The type of nearest power plant was also identified by fuel type. Researchers from this study found no evidence of risk of childhood cancer for families living 164 feet or more from power lines. Fetal sex and preterm birth: Are males at greater risk? Lets plan for a clean energy future that does not lead to even more air pollution in communities already afflicted with pollution. Yu Four people died last year during a gas blow at a ConAgra Slim Jim factory in 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). Halonen A Natural gas is burned to generate heat, electricity, and hot water. Short, timely articles with graphics on energy, facts, issues, and trends. Wiesel We further identified that solid waste plants had the strongest association with term LBW, while oil, gas, and solid waste plants all had strong associations with PTD and VPTD. Some towns in Texas have setbacks of up to 1,000 feet from a home, fresh water well, school, hospital or public park. Can living near a nuclear power plant cause cancer? Some places in the country, however, still have setbacks for homes that are less then 300 feet. In short, NOx is bad news for human health. 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. 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. ML Please click here to see any active alerts. Does EIA have maps or information on the location of natural gas and oil pipelines? In Scheme 1, the syngas that results from coal gasification was divided into two parts; one part went to the Tools to customize searches, view specific data sets, study detailed documentation, and access time-series data. Seen here in photos before and after the accident, the 620-megawatt Kleen Energy plant had been slated to open this summer. These associations remained consistent for PTD and VPTD when exposures were categorized (Table2). (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. 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. Because of accumulating evidence of a negative relationship between power plants and human health, a few studies have assessed the association between proximity to nuclear power plants and adverse birth outcomes, but no association was found (1719). Moshammer Crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, diesel, propane, and other liquids including biofuels and natural gas liquids. In categorical exposure analyses, no association was found. If something happens to go wrong at a nuclear reactor, anyone living in a 10-mile radius of the plant may For example, the fact that our study showed an increased proportion of females among the term LBW group and a decreased proportion of females among the PTD and VPTD groups confirmed previous findings. Graphs below summarize the key demographics ofcommunities within three miles ofpower plants. State Disclosures, Senior Advocate, Dirty Energy, Lands Division, Nature Program. JJ We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The map displays all fossil fuel-fired power plants that supply electricity to the grid. How much NOx is coming from natural gas power plants? That is where things get complicated. VPTD was defined as a birth that occurred before 32 weeks of gestation. Uranium fuel, nuclear reactors, generation, spent fuel. We further stratified analyses for different types of plants. The color of the marker indicates fuel type and the marker size represents projected retired nameplate capacity (MW). Western States Energy Manager/Senior Analyst. A Dong et al. 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). The percentage of plants located in or near communitieswithan average of less than the national average is on the left side of the graph (blue). 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 A 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. Bremner Given the high emission of sulfur dioxide and nitric oxides from power plants and the positive association between these pollutants and adverse birth outcomes, it is plausible that proximity to power plants was associated with adverse birth outcomes. 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). On Florida birth certificates, the gestational age in weeks is typically determined by ultrasound measurements. In addition, when exposure was changed to number of plants within 20 km, coal plants had the highest association with all adverse birth outcomes. Some power plants also 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. Eshoul Bell This method assumes that pregnant women stayed at those same addresses throughout their pregnancy. Ren 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 Tags: N Our continuous exposure analysis showed that proximity to nuclear plants was protective against PTD, but not term LBW or VPTD. JK We also categorized the proximity to power 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. Tsai et al. Msg & data rates may apply. . This almost-great Raspberry Pi alternative is missing one key feature, This $75 dock turns your Mac Mini into a Mac Studio (sort of), Samsung's Galaxy S23 Plus is the Goldilocks of its 2023 smartphone lineup, How the New Space Race Will Drive Innovation, How the metaverse will change the future of work and society, Digital transformation: Trends and insights for success, Software development: Emerging trends and changing roles. With coal combustion accounting for approximately 45% of electricity produced in the United States, it may pose a serious public health issue. Krewski 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. Park Like most retrospective studies, this study has several limitations. Updated March 27, 2012. Includes hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and ethanol. 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. Full understanding of safety distances is typically only achieved when it is too late to implement without significant changes. ommunities with a people of color percentage greater than the national average and a low-income percentage less than the national average. The electric power sector is a large source of U.S. CO 2 emissions. We also compared the odds for different buffer sizes of <5, 59.9, 1019.9, and 20 km from a power plant. 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. In general, the concentrations of PM2.5 were highest around coal plants followed by solid waste, gas, oil, other, and nuclear plants (Figure2A). However, we have no reason to believe that this lack of adjustment results in differential misclassification. Such information would be valuable in public health efforts to reduce adverse birth outcomes. . Pope Y et al. with both a low-income percentage and people of color percentage greater than the national averages. Testing RFID blocking cards: Do they work? For each demographic, the percentages of these communities within three miles of a power plant greater than and less than the national averages are displayed. 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. K JM et al. We stratified the plots by fuel type for comparison. First, analysis of proximity as both a continuous variable and as a categorical variable addresses exposure-response relationships, but it does so in different ways with different assumptions. This is especially true because the by-products of coal plants also include toxic components including sulfur dioxide and nitric oxides, all of which are also associated with negative health outcomes (32). Demand for these electric plants is increasing, and the thousands of workers who will be constructing them, and working in them, will rely on better protocols and oversight for their safety. We unfortunately did not have residential mobility information to address this issue. But coal is just about the dirtiest way to produce electricity, so almost anything will seem cleaner in comparison. This practice, although 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. 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. For VPTD, only oil and solid waste plants had significant associations. Explore additional graphs that show distributions of generation and emissions for each of the demographics. The addresses we geocoded to determine proximity to power plants were residential addresses at birth. Reserves, production, prices, employment and productivity, distribution, stocks, imports and exports. Many U.S. power plants produce CO 2 emissions. M When you sign up you'll become a member of NRDC's Activist Network. Nearest distance to a power plant showed significant and negative regression coefficients with four neurobehavioral symptoms: affective problems, anxiety problems, 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. 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. 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. We also created 20 km buffers around each birth and determined the total number of power plants within this buffer (Table4). TA It is based on nationally consistent data and uses an approach that combines environmental indicatorsand demographics in maps and reports. These mortality estimates were significantly higher for the older population. Power Plants and Neighboring Communities (xlsx) Specifically, for each 5-km decrease in the distance to any power plant, the odds of term LBW, PTD, and VPTD increased by 1.1% (odds ratio (OR) = 1.011, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.002, 1.020), 1.8% (OR = 1.018, 95% CI: 1.013, 1.023), and 2.2% (OR = 1.022, 95% CI: 1.010, 1.034), respectively. 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. You may have heard that natural gas is clean. Compared to coal, natural gas produces less global warming emissions and air pollution. . A Exploration and reserves, storage, imports and exports, production, prices, sales. N 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. 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 fact of the matter is that natural gas power plants still produce a significant amount of air pollution, and thats a problem. et al. International energy information, including overviews, rankings, data, and analyses. 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. It is possible that socioeconomic status confounded the association that we observed in this study. et al. 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). Lee See the health effects of ozoneand particulate matter pollution. Brumberg A Better Way of Paying for a Reliable Electricity Grid, Minnesota Proves Its Readiness for Carbon-Free Electricity. But HUD goes further and states that "Operating and abandoned oil and gas wells pose potentialhazards to housing, including potential fire, explosion,spray and other pollution.No existing dwelling may be located closer than 300 feet from an active or planned drilling site. The first trimester was defined as the first 13 weeks of gestation. A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. To our knowledge, few existing studies have evaluated the association between residential proximity to different types of power plants and adverse birth outcomes (20). Second, just because the electric sector is cleaner than the transportation sector does not mean the electric sector is not dirty. Natural gas is burned to generate electricity by passing hot pressurized gases through either a combined-cycle combustion turbine (CCCT) or simple-cycle combustion turbine (SCCT) connected to an electric generator. 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. 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