On July 10,HEI Energy hosted a webinar exploring how groundwater modeling can help identify residential well water vulnerability to contamination from unconventional oil and gas development in the Marcellus Region.
Research on potential exposures and health effects associated with oil and gas development should be grounded in a good understanding of not only exposure assessment, epidemiology, and the operations themselves, but also of the social implications for the communities affected by such research.
On February 13, 2025, HEI Energy hosted part two in a two-part webinar series on the Tracking Community Exposures and Releases (TRACER) Collaboration to better understand community exposures to air emissions and noise from unconventional oil and gas development in multiple U.S. regions.
This webinar will highlight projects that exemplify elements of cumulative impact assessment that have been implemented across different geographic scales with various specific objectives.
This webinar, co-organized by HEI Energy and HEI’s Environmental Justice Program, will introduce the topic of cumulative impact assessment. It is the first in a series of three webinars to inform HEI Energy’s design of a Cumulative Impact Assessment for a representative oil and gas community.
HEI Energy hosted a webinar highlighting best practices for researchers, policymakers, operators, and others to mitigate research fatigue and effectively engage communities.
This webinar hosted by HEI Energy reviewed the current understanding of the scale and location of abandoned and orphaned oil and natural gas wells across the United States, possible human exposures associated with releases to air and water from these wells, and the technology involved with properly abandoning oil and natural gas wells to prevent releases. All speakers addressed the question of research needs to better understand and address exposures related to abandoned and orphaned wells.
The webinar increased understanding of specific UOGD processes that might result in releases to surface water or groundwater and trends in the releases – learning from experience and looking to future changes that can influence human exposure. Releases to water might be authorized under federal or state requirements, while others might result from accidental or unauthorized events.
The webinar explored UOGD processes that might result in noise and how they are managed, state-of-the-practice principles for monitoring noise, and efforts to assess community exposures to noise from UOGD. All speakers addressed questions of research needs to better understand and address noise exposures. The webinar informed policymakers, communities, and others making health-based decisions about UOGD and academics who must factor this information into their study designs to ensure the utility of their human exposure research.
The webinar increased understanding of specific UOGD processes associated with air emissions and trends in the emissions – learning from experience and looking to future changes that can influence human exposure. The webinar informed policymakers, communities, and others making health-based decisions about UOGD and academics who must factor these trends into their study designs to ensure the utility of their human exposure research.
On April 7, HEI Energy hosted an in-person public meeting and panel discussion for the research team of a recently completed study to share their study design and findings. This event was open to all individuals who were be interested. In 2021, HEI Energy funded independent research on how people in the Northern Front Range of Colorado might be exposed to noise and chemicals from unconventional oil and gas development.
You are invited to a public open house on November 9, 5-7pm in Karnes City, TX, where HEI Energy will be giving an overview of our research on air quality and noise impacts from oil and gas development in the Eagle Ford Shale. Please see attached flyers (in English and Spanish) for more details. In breif:
Health Effects Institute Energy (HEI Energy), a nonprofit organization, is funding independent research on how people in the North Front Range community might be exposed to both noise and chemical emissions to the air from unconventional oil and gas development.
Dr. Meredith Franklin and her research team hosted an in-person open house to learn more about independent research on air quality and noise around oil and gas well sites in the New Mexico and Texas regions of the Permian Basin. The research is being funded by Health Effects Institute Energy (HEI Energy) and is underway through 2024.
HEI-Energy hosted a virtual Open House to learn more about independent research on air quality and noise around oil and gas well sites in the Permian and Eagle Ford regions in Texas.
HEI Energy is funding independent research on whether people living in the North Front Range community might be exposed to both chemical emissions to the air and to noise from unconventional oil and gas development. HEI Energy hosted an in-person open house for community members to learn more about this research.
HEI’s Energy Research Program hosted a Research Planning Workshop to identify gaps in understanding about potential community exposures associated with oil and gas wastewater (called “produced water”) use outside the oilfield.
At this workshop, participants learned about progress on the Energy Research Committee’s ongoing review of the exposure literature associated with UOGD, heard presentations from experts on scientific and regulatory topics relevant to the assessment of potential human exposures to UOGD, shared their expertise, and contributed their perspective to the Committee's impartial, interdisciplinary review and interpretation of the exposure literature.
The purpose of HEI’s Energy Research Program is to identify and conduct high-priority research on the potential population exposures and health effects from the onshore development of oil and natural gas from shale and other unconventional resources (UOGD) across the United States.
This Scoping Meeting provided an opportunity for a wide range of stakeholders to engage with one another and share their recommendations for the Committee’s Critique. In addition, meeting participants heard ten speakers from federal and state government, nongovernmental organizations, community groups, industry, and academia, and engaged in a productive exchange with the Committee and other meeting participants about HEI’s plans for its systematic review of the health literature, its review of the exposure literature, and future research challenges and opportunities.
This third and final community workshop provided an opportunity for the HEI Special Scientific Committee to hear comments on the draft Strategic Research Agenda on the Impacts of 21st Century Oil and Gas Development in the Appalachian Region and Beyond from interested members of academia, industry, government, and non-governmental organizations.
This second of three community workshops provided an opportunity for the HEI Special Scientific Committee to hear from interested members of academia, industry, government, and non-governmental organizations regarding their (1) recommendations for scientific research to better understand the potential impacts of 21st century oil and gas development in the Appalachian Basin; and (2) criteria that may be used to prioritize research alternatives.
The first of three community workshops provided an opportunity for the HEI Scientific Committee to hear from interested parties regarding the potential impacts of unconventional oil and natural gas development and recommendations for scientific research to better understand them.
