Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Mar;106(3):550-6.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.303000. Epub 2016 Jan 21.

Wastewater Disposal Wells, Fracking, and Environmental Injustice in Southern Texas

Jill E Johnston  1 , Emily Werder  1 , Daniel Sebastian  1
Affiliations

Wastewater Disposal Wells, Fracking, and Environmental Injustice in Southern Texas

Jill E Johnston et al. Am J Public Health. 2016 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate race and poverty in areas where oil and gas wastewater disposal wells, which are used to permanently inject wastewater from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations, are permitted.

Methods: With location data of oil and gas disposal wells permitted between 2007 and 2014 in the Eagle Ford area, a region of intensive fracking in southern Texas, we analyzed the racial composition of residents living less than 5 kilometers from a disposal well and those farther away, adjusting for rurality and poverty, using a Poisson regression.

Results: The proportion of people of color living less than 5 kilometers from a disposal well was 1.3 times higher than was the proportion of non-Hispanic Whites. Adjusting for rurality, disposal wells were 2.04 times (95% confidence interval = 2.02, 2.06) as common in areas with 80% people of color or more than in majority White areas. Disposal wells are also disproportionately sited in high-poverty areas.

Conclusions: Wastewater disposal wells in southern Texas are disproportionately permitted in areas with higher proportions of people of color and residents living in poverty, a pattern known as "environmental injustice."

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Area and Location of Permits for Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction Wells: Eagle Ford Shale Region, TX, 2007–2014
FIGURE 2—
FIGURE 2—
Prevalence Ratios Comparing the Percentage of People Living Near an Oil and Gas Disposal Well in Census Block Groups With ≥ 20% People of Color vs Those With < 20% People of Color, Unadjusted and Adjusted for Rurality: Eagle Ford Shale Region, TX, 2007–2014 Note. The adjustment uses a cubic polynomial of the natural logarithm of population density. Error bars depict 95% confidence intervals.
FIGURE 3—
FIGURE 3—
Prevalence Ratios Comparing the Percentage of People Living Near a Disposal Well in Census Block Groups With ≥ 20% People of Color vs Those With < 20% People of Color, Adjusted for Rurality and Rurality With Poverty: Eagle Ford Shale Region, TX, 2007–2014 Note. Dichotomized into high and low poverty on the basis of the mean census block group level. Error bars depict 95% confidence intervals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hamer G. Solid waste treatment and disposal: effects on public health and environmental safety. Biotechnol Adv. 2003;22(1–2):71–79. - PubMed
    1. Griffith J, Duncan RC, Riggan WB, Pellom AC. Cancer mortality in US counties with hazardous waste sites and ground water pollution. Arch Environ Health. 1989;44(2):69–74. - PubMed
    1. Norton JM, Wing S, Lipscomb HJ, Kaufman JS, Marshall SW, Cravey AJ. Race, wealth, and solid waste facilities in North Carolina. Environ Health Perspect. 2007;115(9):1344–1350. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lowman A, McDonald MA, Wing S, Muhammad N. Land application of treated sewage sludge: community health and environmental justice. Environ Health Perspect. 2013;121(5):537–542. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bullard RD, Mohai P, Saha R, Wright B. Toxic wastes and race at twenty: why race still matters after all of these years. Envtl L. 2008;38(2):371–411.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources