Citation

González DJX, Morello-Frosch R, Liu Z, Willis MD, Feng Y, McKenzie LM, Steiger BB, Wang J, Deziel NC, Casey JA. One Earth 2024; 7(6): 1044-1055.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Cell Press Elsevier)

DOI

10.1016/j.oneear.2024.05.013

PMID

39036466

PMCID

PMC11259100

Abstract

The western United States is home to most of the nation's oil and gas production and, increasingly, wildfires. We examined historical threats of wildfires for oil and gas wells, the extent to which wildfires are projected to threaten wells as climate change progresses, and exposure of human populations to these wells. From 1984-2019, we found that cumulatively 102,882 wells were located in wildfire burn areas, and 348,853 people were exposed (resided ≤ 1 km). During this period, we observed a five-fold increase in the number of wells in wildfire burn areas and a doubling of the population within 1 km of these wells. These trends are projected to increase by late century, likely threatening human health. Approximately 2.9 million people reside within 1 km of wells in areas with high wildfire risk, and Asian, Black, Hispanic, and Native American people have disproportionately high exposure to wildfire-threatened wells.

Language: en