Date of Award

January 2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health (MPH)

Department

School of Public Health

First Advisor

Nicole Deziel

Abstract

Abandoned oil and gas wells are those that are no longer active but are not properlysealed, potentially releasing toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases to air and water. This study examines the sociodemographic distribution of abandoned oil and gas wells across the state of Ohio, assessing potential environmental justice disparities in their spatial clustering. Using data from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and the U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS), we analyzed 58,355 abandoned wells across 3,162 census tracts, evaluating associations with seven sociodemographic variables: percent minority, poverty, unemployment, educational attainment, English proficiency, household crowding, and vehicle access. We conducted four different statistical models to estimate odds ratios (OR), rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).

Our findings reveal a complex environmental justice landscape. Tract-levelsocioeconomic vulnerability strongly predicted well density which was consistent with literature on active wells. When comparing tracts with no abandoned wells to tracts with at least one abandoned well, all sociodemographic variables were significantly different. However, when separating tracts into those with a low density of wells and those with a high density of wells, not all sociodemographic variables were significantly different. Tracts with higher poverty (RR = 1.02, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.04) and lower educational attainment (RR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.092) had significantly more wells. Contrary to conventional expectations, tracts with higher minority populations were significantly less likely to contain abandoned wells (OR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.950, 0.961), reflecting Ohio’s urban-rural divide where minority communities are concentrated in urban cities historically excluded from drilling. Spatial analysis identified clustering in eastern Ohio’s Appalachian region, where economically disadvantaged, predominantly white communities face compounded risks from unplugged wells.

These results offer a narrative of environmental injustice that demonstrates how race,class, and geography interact differently across contexts. While minority urban populations may face other environmental hazards, rural communities with limited resources bear disproportionate burdens from abandoned wells. The study highlights the need for policy interventions that prioritize remediation in high-vulnerability tracts and calls for expanded frameworks in environmental justice research to account for rural disadvantage.

Comments

This thesis is restricted to Yale network users only. It will be made publicly available on 06/16/2027

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