HEI has published a new report Predictive, Source-Oriented Modeling and Measurements to Evaluate Community Exposures to Air Pollutants and Noise from Unconventional Oil and Gas Development led by Dr. Lea Hildebrandt Ruiz at The University of Texas at Austin. Hildebrandt Ruiz and colleagues developed the "TRAcking Community Exposures and Releases" (TRACER) model. The model can be used to predict the magnitude and frequency of emissions from individual UOGD sources, and when coupled with dispersion modeling, generates concentrations of chemicals in the air.

HEI has published a new report Hydrocarbon Extraction and Risk to Groundwater in Pennsylvania: Part 1. Using Geoscientific Analysis and Community Engagement to Analyze Exposures to Potential Groundwater Contamination Related to Hydrocarbon Extraction in Southwestern Pennsylvania, led by Dr. Jennifer Baka at The Pennsylvania State University. Baka and colleagues combined existing water quality data with geostatistical modeling to evaluate whether unconventional oil and gas development has contaminated groundwater in southwestern Pennsylvania.

HEI has published a new report, Assessing Source Contributions to Air Quality and Noise in Unconventional Oil Shale Plays, led by Dr. Meredith Franklin at the University of Toronto. Franklin and colleagues carried out an extensive, year-long monitoring initiative focused on air quality and noise in a major US oil and gas production region. Their study quantified ambient concentrations of hazardous and criteria air pollutants, greenhouse gases, radioactivity, and noise in both the Permian Basin (New Mexico) and the Eagle Ford region (Texas).

HEI has published a new report Measuring and Modeling Air Pollution and Noise Exposure Near Unconventional Oil and Gas Development led by Dr. Jeffrey Collett at Colorado State Univerty. Collett and colleagues conducted a comprehensive two-year monitoring campaign to assess air quality and noise in a major U.S. oil and gas production region. The team measured ambient concentrations of hazardous and criteria air pollutants, greenhouse gases, and noise in Colorado’s Denver-Julesburg Basin.

HEI has published a new special report Roadmap to Health: Assessing Adverse and Beneficial Environmental, Social, and Economic Cumulative Exposures.

The recording and slides from the July 10 HEI Energy webinar, A Groundwater Modeling Framework for Elucidating Community Exposures Across the Marcellus Region to Contamination Associated with Oil and Gas Development, are now available.

Join HEI Energy on Thursday, February 13, 2025 from 11:00am-12:30pm (EST) for 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.

Join HEI Energy on January 29, 2025 from 3-4:30 PM (EST) for a webinar titled, The TRACER Collaboration: Community Exposures to Air Emissions and Noise from Oil and Gas Development, Part 1. In part 1 of the two-part series webinar, the TRACER research teams will describe their stationary, mobile, and passive air quality monitoring to estimate community exposures.

We are pleased to share HEI Energy’s December 2024 Quarterly Research Updates. Early in 2025, the HEI’s Energy & Health webinar series will feature research conducted by the TRACER research collaboration in Colorado, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas. This initial program of research will be featured at HEI’s 2025 Annual Conference.

Read the Updates