Authors: Garima Raheja, Leatra Harper, Ana Hoffman, Yuri Gorby, Lyssa Freese, Brendan O’Leary, Nathan Deron, Shannon Smith, Ted Auch, Melissa Goodwin, and Daniel M Westervelt

Belmont County, Ohio is heavily dominated by unconventional oil and gas development that results in high levels of ambient air pollution. Residents here chose to work with a national volunteer network to develop a method of participatory science to answer questions about the association between impact on the health of their community and pollution exposure from the many industrial point sources in the county and surrounding area and river valley. After first directing their questions to the government agencies responsible for permitting and protecting public health, residents noted the lack of detailed data and understanding of the impact of these industries. These residents and environmental advocates are using the resulting science to open a dialogue with the EPA in hopes to ultimately collaboratively develop air quality standards that better protect public health. Results from comparing measurements from a citizen-led participatory low-cost, high-density air pollution sensor network of 35 particulate matter and 25 volatile organic compound sensors against regulatory monitors show low correlations (consistently R2 < 0.55). This network analysis combined with complementary models of emission plumes are revealing the inadequacy of the sparse regulatory air pollution monitoring network in the area, and opening many avenues for public health officials to further verify people’s experiences and act in the interest of residents’ health with enforcement and informed permitting practices. Further, the collaborative best practices developed by this study serve as a launchpad for other community science efforts looking to monitor local air quality in response to industrial growth.

Author: Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D.

Single-use plastics have increased significantly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Plastic cups, trays, and utensils along with personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves were being used and discarded at an enormous rate. In a recent study published in Chem Engineering Journal, it was estimated that in some cases, hospital wastes have increased by 350 percent. Hospitals as well as some communities are finding it hard to deal with the massive increase. Carelessly discarded face masks and other PPE trash are washing up on beaches and floating in waterways. Pre-Covid-19, cities including Chicago and New York were considering banning restaurants from using single-use plastic for take-out, and requiring reusable dinnerware for dine-in service. But due to concerns over health and safety, these restrictions were put on hold and the use of plastics actually increased in the food service industry.

Authors: Eve Bratman, Ted Auch, Bryan Stinchfield

This article provides a fresh perspective on the unconventional oil and gas (hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’) industry in the Appalachian and Midwestern regions of the United States. It presents a case study of this industry in relation to development, democracy and the environment. The article utilizes neocolonialism as a heuristic device and analyses the fracking industry in relation to processes of capital expansion in resource frontiers. It identifies a two-pronged paradox at the heart of the US energy independence rhetoric. First, the political-economic reality is one in which the companies involved in promoting energy independence are in fact dependent on considerable amounts of foreign direct investment. Second, despite the purported ‘freedom’ offered through such energy sources, many legal measures associated with the industry ultimately detract from civil liberties, rights to private land and local sovereignty over decision making. Centrally, this article argues that political and economic relationships within this industry may undermine democratic participation and representative government. The case study demonstrates how relationships of coloniality in the fracking industry involve dynamics of land loss, ethical shifts in relation to land, and a lack of local property rights controls that are derivative of natural resource extraction on resource frontiers.

Authors: Johann Strube, Ted Auch, and Brian C. Thiede

The current natural gas and oil boom in North America requires new pipelines, which pose environmental risks from wellheads to their destinations. Environmental justice literature suggests that ethno-racial minorities, populations with low socioeconomic status, and rural communities are disproportionally exposed to risks associated with potentially harmful land uses.

Using data from the American Community Survey’s 2015 five-year estimates and data on the route of proposed pipelines compiled by The FracTracker Alliance, this study tests whether the above assumptions are true for proposed FERC-permitted natural gas transmission pipelines in the United States for which planned routes have been made available.

The results of logistic regression models provide only limited, and in some cases contradictory, support for these hypotheses. Although an increased share of highly educated residents significantly decreases the likelihood of a pipeline proposal in a census tract, a higher poverty rate also significantly lowers this probability. Likewise, the share of Black and Hispanic residents is significantly and negatively associated with pipeline proposals. However, reliable routing data are needed to test whether this holds true for built pipelines, but these data are considered confidential and thus inaccessible in the United States.