This report, available for download below, presents a study led by co-principal investigators Jennifer Baka and Susan L. Brantley (Pennsylvania State University) and colleagues. This Part 2 study provides more recent water quality data from surveys conducted in areas where evidence gathered in Part 1 suggested that groundwater may have been contaminated by unconventional oil and gas (UOGD).

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This report, available for download below, presents a study led by James E. Saiers at Yale University, with co-principal investigators Mario Soriano Jr., Joshua Warren, and Reed Maxwell, and their colleagues. This study provides a modeling approach to estimate groundwater vulnerability of well water to potential contamination from spills associated with unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) in the Marcellus region.

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This report, available for downloading below, presents a study led by Lea Hildebrandt Ruiz at The University of Texas at Austin. Hildebrandt Ruiz and colleagues examined population exposures to air emissions and noise in a major US oil and gas region and developed a model for use in multiple regions to predict population exposures and assess the effectiveness of interventions intended to mitigate emissions to the air.

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This report, available for downloading below, presents a study led by Jennifer Baka at the Pennsylvania State University. Baka and colleagues examined the effects of unconventional oil and gas development on groundwater in regions with long histories of energy development.

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This report, available for downloading below, presents a study led by Meredith Franklin at University of Toronto. Franklin and colleagues examined measured air pollutants such as ozone and volatile organic compounds; greenhouse gas emissions such as methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide; airborne radioactivity; and noise associated with UOGD activities in the two shale production basins during a yearlong study period.

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This report, available for downloading below, presents a study led by Jeffrey L. Collett Jr. at Colorado State University. Collett and colleagues examined population exposures to air emissions and noise in a major U.S. oil and gas region and developed a model for predicting local exposures and assessing the effectiveness of interventions intended to mitigate emissions to air.

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The health of people living in any community can be affected by a range of environmental, social, and economic factors. Cumulative impact assessment is a tool that can be used to assess cumulative exposures to these factors and their impacts on human health and well-being. These assessments have and continue to occur in the context of several national, state, and local regulatory decisions, but they hold promise for non-regulatory, educational, and research purposes.

This report reviews the epidemiology research that assesses whether exposure to unconventional oil and natural gas development (UOGD) might lead to adverse health effects.

Unconventional oil and natural gas development is a driving force behind significant economic and energy policy shifts in the United States and the world today. Technological advances in development are substantially increasing energy supplies, while at the same time outpacing the scientific research that can answer questions about the development’s potential effects.