Air pollution from oil and gas production contributes to thousands of premature deaths and childhood asthma cases each year, according to new research.

Megan Kemp, advocacy manager for Healthy Air and Water Colorado, works directly with health professionals, and said across the board, they report seeing increased emergency room visits and hospitalizations due to exacerbated respiratory illness, as well as cardiovascular impacts such as heart attacks and strokes.

"Folks from research backgrounds, public health officials as well as clinical health professionals, all of them are seeing the direct ties of oil and gas air pollution to health impacts," Kemp explained.

The situation is especially dire along Colorado's Front Range, which has now reached severe nonattainment of federal air quality standards, largely for ozone pollution. Oil and gas production is the biggest contributor to ground-level ozone in Colorado, followed by the transportation sector. The study showed health costs from oil and gas pollution in the U.S. have reached $77 billion annually.

Despite global promises to transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, oil and gas production is nearing record levels in the U.S.

Kemp argued the Environmental Protection Agency has an opportunity to blunt the worst health impacts of oil and gas pollution in its expected methane rules.

"And by updating federal methane standards, especially through this EPA rule making, we can see immediate benefits for health," Kemp emphasized. "This should be the most critical component that the EPA is considering."

Nitrogen dioxide, fine particulate matter and ozone all contribute to air pollution, and all are released during oil and gas production. The report found the industry contributed to 7,500 excess deaths, more than 400,000 asthma attacks and 2,200 new cases of childhood asthma across the U.S. in a single year, back in 2016.


get more stories like this via email

Advocates are urging Maryland lawmakers to support a bill that would approve medical aid in dying for people who are terminally ill.

A poll last December found more than 70% of Marylanders supported medical aid-in-dying legislation - and more than 60% said they want that option for themselves if they were terminally ill.

Donna Smith, campaign director with the end-of-life care advocacy group Compassion & Choices, said the End of Life Option Act is about creating options for people -- options that are available to those in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

"It's just an option. No one is forced to do anything," said Smith. "The doctors aren't forced to be involved, to write a prescription; the pharmacists aren't forced to do anything. It's just an option for the very few who need it."

Opponents of the bill worry some people may be coerced into pursuing aid in dying, and some religious groups believe it violates what they view as the sanctity of life.

Advocates have tried to pass medical aid-in-dying legislation for 11 years in Maryland. In 2019, the legislation failed on the floor of the Senate in a 23-23 tie. The bill did narrowly pass in the House of Delegates.

Smith said this time, early whip counts of lawmakers show the legislation has the support to pass the General Assembly.

Smith said many of her volunteers have been terminally ill people, who spend their last days advocating for this legislation. She added she is trying to explain to lawmakers the consequences of not approving the bill.

"Their inaction leads directly to people suffering, and I want them to understand that," said Smith. "Because, personally, I'm tired of going to funerals and sending flowers because they have not acted."

Medical aid-in-dying legislation has strong support across party lines. Polling shows more than two-thirds of Republicans support the legislation, as do more than 70% of Democrats and Independents.

Open enrollment for health insurance from the online marketplace is over, but Wyoming experts are reminding tribal members that they qualify to enroll at any time.

As a health insurance navigator with Enroll Wyoming, Molly Holt helps people in her district sign up for coverage - including many from the Wind River Reservation.

Over the last seven years, Wyoming tribes have replaced all federal Indian Health Service units with tribally-operated ones.

The Northern Arapaho Tribe operates Wind River Family and Community Health Care facilities in three locations - and the Eastern Shoshone Tribe recently transformed the former-IHS Fort Washakie clinic to Warm Valley Health Care.

Holt said members often don't realize that being insured can benefit the Tribe.

"If you have insurance, then they can do a third-party billing," said Holt, "and so those funds will come back into the organization and it will help everybody."

According to the most recent Department of Health and Human Services report, the uninsured rate among non-elderly American Indians and Alaska Natives nationally was about 20% in 2022.

Tribal members qualify for a special enrollment period, which lasts all year. More information is online at enrollwyo.org.

People without a tribal affiliation may also qualify for a special enrollment period this year. Holt said she and other navigators can help people find out if they qualify.

"Individuals can sign up outside of the open enrollment period if you've had certain life-changing events," said Holt, "which include losing health coverage, moving, getting married, having a baby, or adopting a child. Those are a few of them."

Other qualifying changes include divorce or abandonment through domestic violence, loss of job-based coverage, leaving incarceration, certain changes in residence, or a death that would affect health coverage.

Health officials across Texas remain on high alert after a deadly measles outbreak in the South Plains region.

The state health department said one child has died and 146 people have been diagnosed with the illness. A majority of those infected are unvaccinated children.

Dr. Donna Persaud, medical director for homeless outreach medical services at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, said they have seen a steady decline in vaccinations in recent years.

"The vaccine rate amongst kindergartners has decreased throughout the 2000s, and part of that has been the inclusion and addition of nonmedical exemptions," Persaud explained. "They've fallen to rates where outbreaks are likely."

She pointed out the vaccine rate among kindergartners is less than 95%. Among the victims, 70 are between the ages of 5 and 17.

Most of the current patients live within a Mennonite community but cases are also being diagnosed in other parts of the state. Measles is an airborne illness and highly contagious. Persaud emphasized the medical community is concerned.

"All the clinics and health care entities, we're about to convene a special committee," Persaud noted. "We're looking at putting up signs, posters and looking at the CDC recommendations. These are now the questions: What about adults? Should I get another vaccine? Should I get a booster?"

Persaud stressed if you have had the measles, if you were born in or before 1957, or if you have proof of receiving two vaccines, you are immune. She added some measles vaccines in the '60s were not effective, and anyone born during that decade should check with their doctor.


get more stories like this via email