Study links oil and gas industry pollution in Alberta to negative health outcomes

A new peer-reviewed study on the health impacts of pollution from Alberta's oil and gas sector has found the odds of having negative respiratory and cardiovascular health outcomes increase by nine to 21 per cent, depending on the number of oil and gas wells a person lives near.

Although there are known effects on health from air pollution, the lead author of the study said there's been a lack of research in Canada compared to that in the U.S. on impacts from the oil and gas industry.

"Now we can put a number … on it," said Martin Lavoie, with St. Francis Xavier University's FluxLab team of environmental science researchers in Antigonish, N.S.

Still, more field measurements and data on pollutants are needed, Lavoie said. He pointed to previous research the lab conducted that found emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, had been significantly underestimated.

"There is a lot we don't know," Lavoie said. "When we start having better measurements … we learn that [sometimes] the picture we thought we had is different than actual reality."

Alberta accounts for more than 80 per cent of Canada's oil production and the province was responsible for 61 per cent of the country's natural gas production in 2023, the study said.

The study also estimated where pollutants were concentrated and the demographics of people who lived near oil and gas wells.

Those living in rural areas and Indigenous people were more likely to be exposed to activity from the industry.

The isolation of some of these communities may be a reason for the lack of research, said Dr. Joe Vipond, past president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment advocacy group.

"If the oilsands and its tailing ponds existed within the city limits of Calgary, you'd be damn sure that we'd have studies looking at what the health impacts of that are." 

Population-wide studies like the one done by St. FX are also important because they help identify broader trends that can be hard to see on an individual level, said Vipond, who is also an emergency physician in Calgary.

For example, if a patient experiences an asthma attack, the factors that caused it are "literally impossible to determine … at the bedside," he said. 

Vipond hopes this study will spur more research into the health impacts of oil and gas industry pollution.

Stricter regulation on processes like flaring and venting that release pollutants could help reduce emissions and protect those most vulnerable, Lavoie said. Flaring is the burning off of excess natural gas associated with oil production, while venting is the controlled release of unburned gases into the atmosphere.