BU researchers hope their findings will help guide policymakers and lead to a more equitable siting of future fossil fuel infrastructure. Photo by Bilanol/iStock

Fossil Fuels

More Than 46 Million in the US Live Within a Mile of Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

New Boston University study suggests urban residents are disproportionately exposed to potentially harmful energy supply chain infrastructure

A dusty coal mine or a smoky power plant are the kinds of neighbors that would be a big red flag to most prospective homebuyers and renters. But new Boston University research suggests more of us might be living closer to potentially harmful fossil fuel industry infrastructure than previously known. 

In the recently published study, researchers at BU’s School of Public Health and Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS) highlight a sprawling energy infrastructure network that’s largely hidden from view and in close proximity to millions of Americans. They found that 46.6 million people in the contiguous United States, many in cities, live within about a mile of at least one piece of fossil fuel infrastructure—and that it could be putting their health at risk. The findings were published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

“The study really shows that there are big knowledge gaps across the supply chain, in terms of the hazards people are being exposed to, the consequent health impacts, and who is being exposed,” says Jonathan Buonocore, an SPH assistant professor of environmental health who coled the study. “This study helps us get a general size of the potential problem, and really starts the process of doing a better job of understanding exactly what the hazards are and how many people are potentially exposed.”

The study is the first based on the Energy Infrastructure Exposure Intensity and Equity Indices (EI3) Database for Public Health. A BU-led project that launched in 2024, EI3 centralizes publicly available fossil fuel energy infrastructure data—information that had previously been scattered across local, state, and national agencies and jurisdictions, sometimes behind paywalls or password protection. Buonocore, study colead Mary Willis, and their colleagues used the database to map fossil fuel infrastructure across all stages of the supply chain and chart it against the populations within 1.6 km (roughly a mile) of each.

“Our results represent a substantial population in the US that is potentially exposed to hazards that are not well-characterized,” the researchers write in their paper, “with unknown cumulative impacts, and which constitute a major environmental justice issue.”

Disproportionate Impact on Urban Areas

Fossil fuels release pollutants into the air when extracted from the ground and then burned for energy—but those processes are just the first and last moments, respectively, in their five-stage journey. Between the initial extraction site and the final power-generating facility are a series of steps along the supply chain: oil and gas are refined to remove impurities, held in storage facilities, and transported from place to place.

According to the study, this infrastructure is not distributed evenly across the nation. Almost 90 percent of the population near end use, transportation, refining, and storage infrastructure is found in urban areas. Predominantly non-white groups are disproportionately exposed across all stages of the energy supply chain.

The BU team found almost 21 million Americans live near end-use facilities, including power plants. More than 20 million are within a mile of extraction sites, like oil and gas wells. Storage facilities—like underground gas storage facilities and petroleum product terminals—have more than 6 million nearby residents. And many Americans, about 9 million, live in proximity to multiple types of infrastructure.

While a growing body of research suggests that living near extraction and end-use facilities increases the risk of adverse birth outcomes and asthma, much less is known about the health effects of living near mid–supply chain infrastructure. Potentially harmful pollutants such as volatile organic compounds—gases emitted by some household products, but also during fossil fuel use and extraction—have been detected near some of these facilities.

“There is reason to believe that there could be air pollution coming from each of these stages, from consistent pollution, gas leaks, or blowouts, when gas or oil flows from a well uncontrollably,” says Willis, an SPH assistant professor of epidemiology and IGS core faculty member. “All of these stages can reasonably impact a range of population health outcomes, yet the basic information of who is even near the infrastructure components has not been examined to date.”

More Equitable Energy Solutions

Assessing each infrastructure type for its proximity to populations helped the researchers reveal important trends that could guide policymaking. For instance, they found that a single piece of storage infrastructure has, on average, 2,900 residents within a mile, while a single piece of extraction infrastructure has an average of only 17.

“That means that if a local policymaker in an urban area were to take interest in reducing exposures, they may receive the most impact per piece of infrastructure if they focus on storage,” says Buonocore, a core IGS faculty member. Their work on the project led him and Willis to launch the BU Energy & Health Lab.

By identifying communities already hosting significant amounts of fossil fuel infrastructure, the researchers say their work can help guide more equitable siting of energy infrastructure in the future. While some US municipalities or states have set zoning regulations, in many regions, fossil fuel processes are permitted in any proximity to homes and schools. The team hopes their work will spur continued research to inform policymaking and promote community health.

The study and the EI3 database were supported by an IGS Sustainability Research Grant jointly funded by IGS and SPH. A version of this story was originally published by IGS.