Lesson plans, science fair experiments, field trips, teacher guide, and career corner. Can living near a nuclear power plant cause cancer? AE 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. De Mouzon Basic stages of natural gas processing and treatment. J 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). Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; LBW, low birth weight; PTD, preterm delivery; VPTD, very preterm delivery. Petroeschevsky This generating capacity may likely be replaced by natural gas-fired power plants and renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. This finding has also been observed in Taiwan by Tsai et al. Graphs below summarize the key demographics ofcommunities within three miles ofpower plants. The national average for each demographic is shown in parentheses. Energy & Financial Markets: What Drives Crude Oil Prices? A 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. Wiesel M 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. Natural gas is a relatively clean burning fossil fuel. Geer At this point you might be wondering, So how bad is it? The type of nearest power plant was also identified by fuel type. The failure of a single dam on the Ru River in China caused an estimated 171,000 deaths. A After adjustment for potential confounders, living closer to any power plant increased the odds of all adverse birth outcomes compared with living farther away. The national averages of low-income population and the people of color population are drawn as reference lines forcomparison. 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. Midwest Senior Policy Manager. Lee et al. In the categorical exposure analyses, we made a fundamental assumption that each power plant has a uniform effect on participants within a certain buffer. a Adjusted for maternal age, maternal race, education, marital status, census block group income, and urban neighborhood. Seigneur M You can seethe percentages by hovering your cursor over the colored bars. MS Gouveia 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). Sign up for email subcriptions to receive messages about specific EIA products. The graph below compares the key demographics ofcommunities near power plants to national averages. The type of nearest power plant was also identified by fuel type. This work was supported by grant K01ES019177 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (X.X.) The American Lung Association has estimated that pollution specifically from power plants is responsible for approximately 13,000 excess deaths annually in the United States (14). Tsai Moreover, there is recent evidence suggesting that harmful emissions from power plants may be increasing (16). 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. I A Zhu FHA insures home mortgages to help Americans buy homes. et al. For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription. Natural gas provides a cost-effective option for You can explore the distribution of all plants for a particular demographic by selecting the label or bar for the demographic. The main pollutants resulting from natural gas electricity generation are nitrogen oxides, or NOx. 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. 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. Ghosh More information about the Power Plants and Neighboring Communities Mapping Tool can be foundhere. DM Full understanding of safety distances is typically only achieved when it is too late to implement without significant changes. Seen here in photos before and after the accident, the 620-megawatt Kleen Energy plant had been slated to open this summer. A 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. Tools to customize searches, view specific data sets, study detailed documentation, and access time-series data. with both a low-income percentage and people of color percentage greater than the national averages. 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. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Catov 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. The results remained consistent when exposure was categorized (Table3). Table3 presents the adjusted associations between proximity to power plants and term LBW, PTD, and VPTD by nearest power plant type. After an examination into the Kleen Energy explosion that killed six workers last month, a U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigator expresses concerns over one of the industry's standard practices. DM Thanks to the Northeast Ohio Gas Accountability Project (NEOGAP) for this information. Uranium fuel, nuclear reactors, generation, spent fuel. BE H Those NOx emissions may linger in nearby communities, leading to serious health problems for the people living near plants. Distance from the nearest power plants was measured in kilometers. The association between adverse birth outcomes and total number of power plants within 20 km was determined. Liu WebGangadharan et al. WebDistance from the nearest power plants was measured in kilometers. Peacock Caton EIA's free and open data available as API, Excel add-in, bulk files, and widgets. keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports. Greenhouse gas data, voluntary reporting, electric power plant emissions. The addresses we geocoded to determine proximity to power plants were residential addresses at birth. Bronson ML Maps, tools, and resources related to energy disruptions and infrastructure. Chen Quadrant D shows power plants located in or nearcommunities with both the low-income and people of color percentages less than the national averages. The power sector has significantly reduced many of these pollutants over the past two decades, but important health and environmental concerns persist. EM State energy information, including overviews, rankings, data, and analyses. Zou 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. Testing RFID blocking cards: Do they work? A three-mile radius isconsistent with environmental justice literature and studies, including theEJ Screening Reportfor the Clean Power Plan. Liu Anderson 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. Because there was evidence of spatial clustering of power plants, distance from power plants may not be the best measure of exposure. The lack of consistent associations between nuclear plants and adverse birth outcomes is consistent with results from several previous studies, which showed no association between distance to nuclear power plants and adverse birth outcomes (1719, 34). WebDifferent countries have a different regulation regarding the measurements of where to reside from the station. JD 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. 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 M WebNatural gas power plants produce considerable carbon dioxide, although less than coal plants do. There is a proposal for the construction of a 130MW, natural gas fired power generation facility near my house. Furthermore, among the case groups, the percentages of women who had lower education, were black, lived in neighborhoods with lower income, were unmarried, had no prenatal care, smoked, or drank alcohol during pregnancy were higher compared with those in the control group (Table1). Zeitlin et al. Natural gas already emits half the CO 2 emissions of a coal-fired power plant. Includes hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and ethanol. Dominici Some layersare not visible until the map is zoomed in. In addition, when exposure was changed to number of plants within 20 km, coal plants had the highest association with all 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). Association Between Proximity to Power Plants, by Fuel Type, and Adverse Birth Outcomes in Florida From 2004 to 2005. N The electric power sector is a large source of U.S. CO 2 emissions. T And since half of Californias natural gas power plants are concentrated in some of the most socioeconomically and environmentally disadvantaged communities in the state, these emissions harm communities that are already overburdened with pollution. We used logistic regression models to investigate the association between proximity to a power plant and the adverse birth outcomes. et al. Subscribe to feeds for updates on EIA products including Today in Energy and What's New. 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. J Many U.S. power plants produce CO 2 emissions. Tags: Saurel-Cubizolles 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). Y This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com. Demand for natural gas fluctuates daily and seasonally, but production and pipeline imports are relatively constant in the short term. Which states consume and produce the most natural gas. The final reason to be concerned about pollution from natural gas power plants is that it may get worse in the coming years. 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. 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 miles(assuming an emissions rate of 8.18 grams of NOx per mile) in a diesel school bus, one of the most-polluting types of vehicles. Simpson In short, NOx is bad news for human health. We stratified the plots by fuel type for comparison. Figure1 shows a map of the spatial distribution of active power plants and the average annual PM2.5 concentrations in Florida during 20032005. Data from California Air Resources BoardEmissions Projection Analysis. Forsberg To make long-term gains against infection inequity, infectious disease epidemiology needs to develop a more sociological imagination. Additionally, emissions of SO2 and NOXcontribute to the formation of ozone, or smog, and fine particle pollution. A blog on science, politics, and activism. Reply STOP to cancel. Given that PM2.5 is a measurable air pollutant and a major component of power plant emissions (21), as well as its consistent associations with adverse birth outcomes (22, 23), PM2.5 can serve as a good indicator for air pollution from power plants. 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). M An official website of the United States government. This analysis yielded results consistent with proximity to power plants as a measure of exposure. . Some power plants also How Much Land Would it Require to Get Most of Our Electricity from Wind and Solar? Dong The exposure for this study was proximity to a nonrenewable-source power plant. Regional energy information including dashboards, maps, data, and analyses. 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. All active power plants during the study period and eligible births were geocoded and mapped using ArcGIS V10.1 (ESRI, Redlands, California). et al. JM This paper presents a study on underground natural gas pipeline safety distance via experimental and numerical approaches. Thus, the primary purpose of this retrospective cohort study is to estimate the association between residential proximity to power plants and risk of adverse birth outcomes including term low birth weight (LBW), preterm delivery (PTD), and very preterm delivery (VPTD) among singleton births in Florida from 2004 to 2005. We also used Census 2000 data to determine census block group income as a proxy for neighborhood socioeconomic status and urbanity. For controls, we used eligible births that had none of the 3 outcomes we assessed. Mark Specht is the Western States Energy Manager/Senior Analyst for the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. U.S. Additionally, we were not able to identify critical windows of exposure that underlie these associations. Cons. 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. HS Morara McMillan 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. Ha ML et al. Like most retrospective studies, this study has several limitations. Table1 shows participants' characteristics by term LBW, PTD, and VPTD. Our study found evidence of increasing odds of adverse birth outcomes among infants born to pregnant women living closer to power plants. Williams Text "SCIENCE" to 67369 or sign up online. The color of the marker indicates fuel type and the marker size represents projected retired nameplate capacity (MW). Chang Senior Energy Analyst, James Gignac 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.. Covariates were chosen on the basis of a directed acyclic graph (Supplementary Data available at http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/). LA Consequently, daily activity patterns cannot entirely explain the increased risk that we found. Short, timely articles with graphics on energy, facts, issues, and trends. S 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). Updated January 2012. 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