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.

Key takeaways:

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.

Key takeaways:

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.

Key takeaways:

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.

Communication 1 surveys the literature about environmental exposures associated with unconventional oil and natural gas development (UOGD). The Energy Research Committee conducted the survey as part of a larger effort to understand the current state of the science on UOGD exposures and their potential health effects.

This Research Brief summarizes a scoping review of the peer-reviewed and gray literature that assesses or describes what is known about the cumulative impacts of chemical and nonchemical factors of unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) and methods for assessing cumulative impacts experienced by UOGD communities.

This Research Brief summarizes literature about the potential for communities to be exposed to produced water from oil and natural gas development. These exposures might arise from permitted, accidental, or unauthorized releases of produced water within or outside of the oil field. This Brief will help to inform HEI Energy’s strategic research planning for 2025–2030. It is part of a series of Research Briefs summarizing literature about potential exposures and health effects associated with unconventional oil and gas development.

This Research Brief summarizes literature about the potential for releases to the environment and human exposures associated with abandoned and orphaned wells in the United States. Conventional oil and gas wells currently dominate the U.S. inventory of inactive wells and are the primary subject of the literature reviewed here, although more UOGD wells will become inactive over time. It is part of a series of Research Briefs summarizing literature about potential exposures and health effects associated with UOGD.