Impacts of Extractive Activities on Drinking Water and Population Health

Abstract

Extractive activities such as coal mining and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) are common throughout the United States. Much research has found that extractive activities have negative impacts on both ecosystem health and population health. To understand the impacts that coal mining and fracking pose, two studies were conducted. Both studies used a spatial econometric model, spatial lag of X (SLX), to control for spatial spillover effects in the regression analyses. The first study analyzed the relationship between coal mining and fracking and drinking water quality in the United States from 2010-2019. It was found that year-on-year within county changes in coal mining and fracking are not associated with drinking water quality violations. The second study analyzed the impacts of abandoned coal mines on mortality in West Virginia from 1990-2020. Within county models were not found to be statistically significant, but between county models were in the cases of age-adjusted circulatory and respiratory disease mortality. Overall, there appears to be possible factors or specific characteristics, such as the presence of active mining or housing prices, of a place that may be influencing the results. Future research in coal mining and fracking must look to determine these factors or characteristics.