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Natural Gas Gathering and Transmission Pipelines and Social Vulnerability in the United States

Midstream oil and gas infrastructure comprises vast networks of gathering and transmission pipelines that connect upstream extraction to downstream consumption. In the United States (US), public policies and corporate decisions have prompted a wave of proposals for new gathering and transmission pip...

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Autores principales: Emanuel, Ryan E., Caretta, Martina A., Rivers, Louie, Vasudevan, Pavithra
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8214100/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34189365
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2021GH000442
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author Emanuel, Ryan E.
Caretta, Martina A.
Rivers, Louie
Vasudevan, Pavithra
author_facet Emanuel, Ryan E.
Caretta, Martina A.
Rivers, Louie
Vasudevan, Pavithra
author_sort Emanuel, Ryan E.
collection PubMed
description Midstream oil and gas infrastructure comprises vast networks of gathering and transmission pipelines that connect upstream extraction to downstream consumption. In the United States (US), public policies and corporate decisions have prompted a wave of proposals for new gathering and transmission pipelines in recent years, raising the question: Who bears the burdens associated with the existing pipeline infrastructure in the US? With this in mind, we examined the density of natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines in the US, together with county‐level data on social vulnerability. For the 2,261 US counties containing natural gas pipelines, we found a positive correlation between county‐level pipeline density and an index of social vulnerability. In general, counties with more socially vulnerable populations have significantly higher pipeline densities than counties with less socially vulnerable populations. In particular, counties in the top quartile of social vulnerability tend to have pipeline densities that are much higher than pipeline densities for counties in the bottom quartile of social vulnerability. The difference grows larger for counties at the upper extremes of pipeline density within each group. We discuss some of the implications for the indigenous communities and others affected by recent expansions of oil and gas infrastructure. We offer recommendations aimed at improving ways in which decision‐makers identify and address the societal impacts and environmental justice implications of midstream pipeline infrastructure.
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spelling pubmed-82141002021-06-28 Natural Gas Gathering and Transmission Pipelines and Social Vulnerability in the United States Emanuel, Ryan E. Caretta, Martina A. Rivers, Louie Vasudevan, Pavithra Geohealth Research Article Midstream oil and gas infrastructure comprises vast networks of gathering and transmission pipelines that connect upstream extraction to downstream consumption. In the United States (US), public policies and corporate decisions have prompted a wave of proposals for new gathering and transmission pipelines in recent years, raising the question: Who bears the burdens associated with the existing pipeline infrastructure in the US? With this in mind, we examined the density of natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines in the US, together with county‐level data on social vulnerability. For the 2,261 US counties containing natural gas pipelines, we found a positive correlation between county‐level pipeline density and an index of social vulnerability. In general, counties with more socially vulnerable populations have significantly higher pipeline densities than counties with less socially vulnerable populations. In particular, counties in the top quartile of social vulnerability tend to have pipeline densities that are much higher than pipeline densities for counties in the bottom quartile of social vulnerability. The difference grows larger for counties at the upper extremes of pipeline density within each group. We discuss some of the implications for the indigenous communities and others affected by recent expansions of oil and gas infrastructure. We offer recommendations aimed at improving ways in which decision‐makers identify and address the societal impacts and environmental justice implications of midstream pipeline infrastructure. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-06-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8214100/ /pubmed/34189365 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2021GH000442 Text en © 2021. The Authors. GeoHealth published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
spellingShingle Research Article
Emanuel, Ryan E.
Caretta, Martina A.
Rivers, Louie
Vasudevan, Pavithra
Natural Gas Gathering and Transmission Pipelines and Social Vulnerability in the United States
title Natural Gas Gathering and Transmission Pipelines and Social Vulnerability in the United States
title_full Natural Gas Gathering and Transmission Pipelines and Social Vulnerability in the United States
title_fullStr Natural Gas Gathering and Transmission Pipelines and Social Vulnerability in the United States
title_full_unstemmed Natural Gas Gathering and Transmission Pipelines and Social Vulnerability in the United States
title_short Natural Gas Gathering and Transmission Pipelines and Social Vulnerability in the United States
title_sort natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines and social vulnerability in the united states
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8214100/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34189365
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2021GH000442
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