Air Quality Impacts of Shale Gas Development in Pennsylvania

Abstract

We estimate the impact of shale gas development on particulate matter pollution using a quasi-experimental setting in Pennsylvania where some wells were developed to produce natural gas whereas other wells were permitted but not drilled. In doing so, we utilize a novel empirical approach drawing upon insights from atmospheric chemistry to account for windblown pollution spillovers in a difference-in-differences framework. Utilizing a high frequency, high resolution satellite-based measure of PM pollution between 2000 and 2018, we identify causal increases in PM2.5 concentration ranging from 0.017 μg/m3 to 0.062 μg/m3 in the vicinity of over 20,000 wells, resulting in approximately 20 additional deaths between 2010 and 2017.