Estimating the Influence of Oil and Gas Emissions on Urban Ozone and Associated Health Risks

Abstract:

Tropospheric ozone (O₃) degrades air quality, impacting human health and public welfare. The National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) is designed to limit these impacts, but certain areas in the continental U.S. exceed this standard. Mitigating O₃ NAAQS exceedances by designing emissions controls can be complicated in urban areas because of the long-range transport of ozone and its gaseous precursors as well as the complex mix of local emissions sources. Recent growth of unconventional oil and gas development near urban areas in Colorado, Texas, and the northeastern corridor has exacerbated this problem.

To estimate the contribution of emissions from oil and gas development to urban O₃ issues, we apply the CMAQ adjoint, which efficiently elucidates the relative influence of emissions sources on select concentration-based metrics. Specifically, the adjoint is used to calculate the spatially-specific relative contributions of emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) throughout the continental U.S. to O₃ NAAQS exceedances and to ozone-related health risks in select urban areas. By evaluating these influences for different urban areas, including one in California that has been managing air quality with adjacent oil and gas development for a longer period of time, we are able to compare and contrast the emissions control strategies that may be more effective in particular regions. Additionally, the resulting relationships between emissions and concentrations provide a way to project ozone impacts when measurements provide refined estimates of emissions from this sector.