Oil and Gas Smog Projected to Cause 140,000 Asthma Attacks in Kids
Smog formed as a result of oil and gas pollution will send more than 300 Texans to the emergency room, cause over 140,000 asthma attacks in children and result in about 105,000 missed school days in 2025. That’s according to a new report published Wednesday that modeled future oilfield emissions and their projected health effects.
Published by the environmental nonprofit Clean Air Task Force, the study found that three Texas metropolitan areas — Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio — would be among the top 10 U.S. cities with the highest number of asthma attacks in 2025. Nationally, the group’s researchers attributed more than 750,000 asthma attacks in children and 2,000 ER visits in 2025 to breathing smog formed as a result of oil and gas activity.
“It’s the first report that quantifies the national health impacts from ozone produced by pollution from the oil and gas industry,” said Lesley Fleischman, a technical analyst at the Clean Air Task Force and lead author of the report. “It is very important to understand the health impact that this pollution is having both in the vicinity of oil and gas facilities but also far downwind of those facilities.”
Ozone — a primary component of smog — is formed when volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants such as methane combine under specific atmospheric conditions. Those pollutants are emitted from oil and gas facilities but are also generated by vehicles and power plants.
Read more: https://www.texasobserver.org/smog-study-clean-air-task-force/
