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Primary Submission Category: Environmental factors
Associations between oil and gas production, earthquakes, and environmental distress in Texas
Authors: Elizabeth Blake, Daoming Liu, Sidra Goldman-Mellor, Holly Elser, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Nicole Deziel, Mary Willis, Heather McBrien, Joan Casey,
Presenting Author: Elizabeth Blake*
Unconventional oil and natural gas development in the United States has expanded rapidly. From 2010 to 2020, U.S. crude oil production doubled from 2 million to 4.1 million barrels, and natural gas production grew by 63%. In 2021, Texas accounted for 43% of national crude oil and 27% of marketed natural gas production. This rapid expansion has prompted questions about potential impacts on nearby residents. Understanding psychological health effects is crucial, especially in heavily drilled regions like the Permian Basin in West Texas. We quantified associations between residential proximity to this industry and perceived environmental risks. In April 2021, we conducted an online survey of Texas residents within and outside the Permian Basin, using the Environmental Distress Scale (EDS) to assess self‑reported distress related to perceived threats from local hazards, the felt impact of environmental changes, and solastalgia (loss of solace). Using weighted linear regression, we examined relationships between short‑term exposures (number of unconventional wells within 5 km and earthquakes within the past two weeks and 100 km) and long‑term exposures (number of earthquakes in the past year within 100 km and residence in the Permian Basin) with EDS scores, including stratified analyses by gender and urbanicity and a secondary analysis restricted to Permian Basin residents. Among 962 respondents, experiencing a recent earthquake was associated with a 2.5% (95% CI: 0.1, 4.9) higher solastalgia score, and experiencing 20–89 earthquakes in the past year was associated with a 4.5% (95% CI: 1.1, 8.0) higher perceived threat score. Although overall associations between unconventional development and EDS scores were modest, in rural areas, higher well counts were associated with elevated felt impact and solastalgia scores, suggesting that distress surrounding oil and gas activity may be context‑dependent and particularly salient in rural communities near intensive development.