HEI Energy

With leaders in regions across the United States engaged in the critical task of planning for the best mix of energy sources to promote energy security, cultivate strong economies, and enhance operational efficiencies and emissions reduction, there is an opportunity to simultaneously improve public health. HEI created its Energy research program to provide impartial science that helps to answer questions about population exposure and health effects associated with energy production. 

The HEI Energy research program funds population-level exposure and health research in multiple U.S. regions that is broadly useful to decision-making by government, industry, nongovernmental organizations, researchers, and communities. 

HEI Energy receives joint funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the oil and gas industry. Other public and private organizations periodically provide support.

For more information, check out HEI's Strategic Research Plan and the HEI Energy Factsheet.
 

To Accomplish Its Goals, HEI Energy:

• Identifies and competitively funds high-priority areas for research
• Empanels committees of experts to select, oversee, and review the research projects independently of our sponsors
• Engages widely in study locations, with engagement beginning as we plan for research and continuing at key intervals thereafter
• Communicates and interprets the results to public and private policymakers

Please check the Research page for more information about the research funded by HEI Energy.

 

Our History:

Prior to launching HEI Energy, the Health Effects Institute convened the Special Committee on Unconventional Oil and Gas Development (UOGD) to prepare a Strategic Research Agenda to help guide future research about the potential impacts from the onshore development of oil and natural gas from shale and other unconventional resources in the United States. 

To prepare the Research Agenda, the Special Committee evaluated peer-reviewed and grey literature. In addition, it hosted three workshops where various stakeholders and experts shared their expertise and recommendations to better understand the issues and research gaps surrounding UOGD. Information and slide presentations regarding those workshops can be found here. 

HEI Energy was formed to address a subset of questions from the Research Agenda about potential population exposures and health effects associated with UOGD. To ensure that the research it funds contributes important knowledge, the HEI Energy Research Committee oversees periodic reviews of the exposure and health literature.

 

Past Projects:

Air Quality Trends
Because a couple of decades have passed since the rapid rise in oil and gas development began in the United States, HEI’s Energy Research Committee sought research to understand trends in air quality over this period in major oil- and natural gas-producing regions of the United States. These studies assessed air quality trends in the Marcellus region, Texas, and Colorado. Investigators considered whether evolving oil and gas development governance and industrial, industrial practices (e.g., as technology changes), or other factors might explain any observed trends.

Air Emissions and Noise 
This research consists of a collaboration of three teams who conducted air quality and noise research in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and part of the Marcellus region overlapping Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The research collaboration assessed potential links between short and long-term population exposures and specific unconventional oil and gas development processes. They developed and evaluated a new model called TRAcking Community Exposures and Releases (TRACER). The model is designed to predict chemical emissions and their effects on local and regional air quality. They also conducted air quality and noise monitoring to improve the understanding and quantifications of potential short- and long-term human exposures in multiple regions of the United States. A subset of the air quality data were used to evaluate and refine the TRACER model.

Water-Related Exposure 
HEI Energy funded three water quality research studies—one study conducted in two parts—that combine existing data and statistical modeling to assess potential links between unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) and contamination of surface water and groundwater. The research contributes to a better understanding of the nature, extent, and frequency of potential exposures related to UOGD effects on water quality.

Cumulative Impact Assessment 
The health of people living in any community can be affected by a range of environmental, social, and economic factors. These assessments have and continue to occur in the context of several national, state, and local regulatory decisions, but they hold promise for non-regulatory, educational, and research purposes. To contribute to ongoing efforts to advance the practice of cumulative impact assessment in the United States, HEI Energy formed a Special Panel on Cumulative Impact Assessment to inform a set of considerations for assessing cumulative exposures, which are outlined in a special report entitled: “Roadmap to Health: Assessing Adverse and Beneficial Environmental, Social, and Economic Cumulative Exposures” and accompanying checklist.