The health burden and racial-ethnic disparities of air pollution from the major oil and gas lifecycle stages in the United States

The United States has one of the world’s largest oil and gas (O&G) industries, yet the health impacts and inequities from pollutants produced along the O&G lifecycle remain poorly characterized. Here, we model the contribution of major lifecycle stages (upstream, midstream, downstream, and end-use) to air pollution and estimate the associated chronic health outcomes and racial-ethnic disparities across the contiguous US in 2017. We estimate lifecycle annual burdens of 91,000 premature deaths attributable to fine particles (PM_2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and ozone, 10,350 PM_2.5-attributable preterm births, 216,000 incidences of NO₂-attributable childhood-onset asthma, and 1610 lifetime cancers attributable to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Racial-ethnic minorities experience the greatest disparities in exposure and health burdens across almost all lifecycle stages. The greatest absolute disparities occur for Black and Asian populations from PM_2.5 and ozone, and the Asian population from NO₂ and HAPs. Relative inequities are most extreme from downstream activities, especially in Louisiana and Texas.