Satellite Detection of Air Pollution: Air Quality Impacts of Shale Gas Development in Pennsylvania
This paper estimates the impact of shale gas development on local pollution by examining a setting in Pennsylvania.
Abstract
We estimate the impact of shale gas development on particulate matter pollution using a quasi-experimental setting in Pennsylvania where some wells were developed to produce natural gas whereas other wells were permitted but not drilled. In doing so, we utilize a novel empirical approach drawing upon insights from atmospheric chemistry to account for windblown pollution spillovers in a difference-in-differences framework. Utilizing a high frequency, high resolution satellite-based measure of PM pollution between 2000 and 2018, we identify causal increases in PM2.5 concentration ranging from 0.017 μg/m3 to 0.062 μg/m3 in the vicinity of over 20,000 wells, resulting in approximately 20 additional deaths between 2010 and 2017.
Authors
Ruohao Zhang
Department of Ecoonomics, Binghamton University
Huan Li
Department of Economics, North Carolina A&T State University
Neha Khanna
Department of Economics, Binghamton University
Elaine Hill
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester
Daniel Sullivan
J.P. Morgan Chase
