The Refinery Risk Map, developed by researchers at PSE Healthy Energy and academic partners, combines emissions data, air pollution modeling and health impact estimates for nearly every oil refinery in the contiguous United States. The tool includes Mountain West refineries in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
Users can click on individual refineries to view information about emissions, estimated health impacts and nearby populations. The map also highlights schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities that may be especially vulnerable to air pollution.
"The strength of this tool is that it provides data behind some of those lived experiences," said Sofia Bisogno, an air quality scientist with PSE Healthy Energy.
Bisogno said the map can help quantify concerns that residents living near refineries may already have.
"If you live near a refinery, you probably have seen plumes of smoke coming out of the flares," she said. "You maybe have smelled that rotten egg smell that hydrogen sulfide has."
The tool estimates health impacts associated with fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, a form of air pollution linked to respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Researchers stress that the map's mortality estimates are not counts of actual deaths, but statistical estimates based on established public health methods that link air pollution exposure to increased mortality risk.
According to the researchers, the map is the first publicly available tool to estimate and visualize PM 2.5-related mortality impacts associated with emissions from nearly all oil refineries in the contiguous United States.
The map is designed not only for residents, but also for policymakers and regulators.
Bisogno said regulators can use the tool to identify pollution hotspots, where refinery impacts may be concentrated, and prioritize actions at facilities affecting the greatest number of people.
Researchers also found that refinery-related health burdens are not shared equally. Their analysis estimates that Asian, Black and Latino populations experience a disproportionate share of refinery-related mortality impacts compared with their share of the overall U.S. population.
The Refinery Risk Map is available online and free to the public.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between KUNR, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
