Understanding Self-Rated Health and Unconventional Oil and Gas Development in Three Colorado Communities

Abstract

Domestic, onshore oil and gas production has increased substantially in the United States in the last ∼20 years, creating a range of positive and negative impacts on communities. In this paper, we add to the growing literature on unconventional oil and gas production (a.k.a., “fracking”) and well-being by evaluating the association between self-reported stress induced by local oil and gas development and subjective well-being in the form of self-rated health. We also ask how the intensity of local drilling and trust in regulators influences self-rated health. Using novel survey data, we compare three Colorado communities with differential amounts of oil and gas development. Results from ordinal logistic regression models suggest that living in a community that hosts extraction is associated with lower self-rated health and that stress from local oil and gas operations is associated with lower self-rated health. To some degree, trust in regulators seems to improve self-rated health. We discuss implications for research and policy.

Keywords:

• Community
• fracking
• oil and gas
• quality of life
• self-rated health

Dislosure statement

Any opinions, findings conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NIEHS, the National Institutes of Health, or the NSF.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) [R21-ES025140-01] and data and resources were obtained from the AirWaterGas Sustainability Research Network funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. [CBET-1240584].