Fossil fuels & mining

What fossil fuels and mining are

Fossil fuels are carbon-based energy sources formed over millions of years from the buried remains of plants and animals. There are three: coal, a solid mined from the ground; oil, a liquid pumped from underground reservoirs; and natural gas, which is drawn from the same formations that hold oil. All three release energy when burned, and all three release pollution along with it.

Mining and extraction are the first step. Coal comes out of the ground through underground mines and through surface mining, including mountaintop removal, which strips away the rock above a coal seam. Oil and gas come up through wells, and since the mid-2000s, most new US production has relied on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which injects a high-pressure mix of water, sand, and chemicals underground to crack open rock and release the fuel trapped inside. The EIA reports that fracking accounts for the majority of US oil and natural gas production today. Each method disturbs the land, uses large volumes of water, and leaves waste behind.

How extraction and combustion affect local air and water

Extraction pollutes before a single unit of fuel is burned. Coal mining exposes rock that reacts with air and water to form acid mine drainage, which the U.S. Geological Survey identifies as a major source of stream contamination in mining regions, carrying iron, aluminum, and heavy metals into waterways. Mountaintop removal buries streams under the rock it displaces. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that valley fills from this practice have buried more than 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams.

Oil and gas add their own load. Fracking uses between 1.5 million and 16 million gallons of water per well, the USGS reports, and the wastewater that returns to the surface carries salts, chemicals, and naturally occurring radioactive material that must be disposed of or reinjected underground. Wells and pipelines leak methane, and the EPA reports that oil and gas systems are the largest industrial source of methane emissions in the country. Combustion is where the largest air pollution comes. Burning coal and gas at power plants releases sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, fine particulate matter, and mercury, and the EPA identifies the power sector as a leading source of the pollution that forms smog and soot.

The pollution from fossil fuels does not stay near the mine or the smokestack. It reaches homes through 3 main paths: the air people breathe, the water they drink, and the climate that shapes every other exposure.

Air is the most direct. Fine particulate matter and ozone from power plants and vehicles drift into neighborhoods and seep indoors through windows, doors, and the gaps in every building, so the pollution from burning fossil fuels becomes part of the air in a living room. Water is the second path. Communities near coal mines, ash ponds, and fracking operations face contamination of the groundwater and surface water that supplies their taps, and the EPA has documented cases where drinking water sources near these operations showed elevated contaminants. Climate is the third and widest. Fossil fuel combustion is the largest US source of the greenhouse gases driving climate change, the EPA reports, and that warming intensifies the heat waves, wildfire smoke, and flooding that reach households as their own exposures. The fuel that powers a home also shapes the environment that surrounds it.

Health effects on nearby communities

Living near fossil fuel infrastructure carries a measurable health cost, and the pollutants responsible are well documented. Fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, is the most dangerous. Particles this small travel deep into the lungs and pass into the bloodstream, and a 2023 study in the journal Science estimated that pollution from coal-fired power plants was associated with 460,000 deaths in the United States between 1999 and 2020. Ozone, which forms when pollution from combustion reacts with sunlight, inflames the airways and triggers asthma attacks, the EPA reports.

Heavy metals add a longer-term threat. Coal combustion releases mercury, which settles into water and builds up in fish, and coal ash holds arsenic, lead, and other metals that can leach into groundwater from disposal ponds. The EPA links these metals to cancer, nervous system damage, and developmental harm in children. People living near oil and gas operations face added exposure to benzene and other volatile organic compounds, and research published in Environmental Health Perspectives has associated proximity to fracking with higher rates of respiratory and cardiovascular problems and adverse birth outcomes. The health effects follow the same pattern across fuels: the closer a household sits to extraction or combustion, the heavier the load it carries.

Who is most at risk

Fossil fuel pollution does not fall evenly. Low-income communities and communities of color are far more likely to live near power plants, refineries, coal ash sites, and drilling operations, and they carry a disproportionate share of the resulting health burden. A 2021 study in the journal Science Advances found that Americans of color are exposed to higher levels of fine particulate pollution than white Americans across nearly every major source of it, including industry and vehicles.

The pattern traces back to decisions about where infrastructure was built. Fossil fuel facilities have historically been sited in neighborhoods with less political power to oppose them, and the effect compounds over generations. The stretch of the lower Mississippi River known as "Cancer Alley," lined with more than 150 petrochemical and industrial plants, runs through predominantly Black communities where the EPA has measured some of the highest cancer risks from air pollution in the country. Children in these communities face the greatest danger, since they breathe faster relative to their body size and their lungs are still developing, and pregnant women face added risk from exposures that reach a developing fetus. The households with the least ability to move away from the pollution are often the ones living closest to it.

The link between fossil fuels and a household runs through the monthly energy bill and the reliability of the grid. About 60% of US electricity came from fossil fuels in 2023, the EIA reports, with natural gas alone supplying about 43%. That dependence ties household energy costs directly to the price of these fuels, which swing with global markets, weather, and supply disruptions.

Volatility is the cost most households feel. When natural gas prices spiked in 2022, the EIA reported that residential electricity prices rose faster than they had in decades, and heating bills climbed for millions of homes. Fossil fuel plants also strain under extreme weather, the same weather their emissions intensify. During Winter Storm Uri in 2021, natural gas supply failures were a leading cause of the Texas grid collapse that left millions without power, according to the federal review by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. The reliance on fossil fuels leaves households exposed on both ends: the pollution that reaches their air and water, and the price swings and grid failures that reach their bills and their heat.

What a household can do

Cut your own fossil fuel demand first, because using less lowers both your exposure and your bill. Sealing air leaks, adding insulation, and upgrading to an efficient heating and cooling system reduce the energy a home draws from the grid, and the Department of Energy estimates that weatherization can cut a household's energy use significantly. Switching gas appliances to electric ones, including heat pumps and induction stoves, removes combustion from inside the home, which also improves indoor air quality by eliminating the nitrogen dioxide a gas stove releases.

Shift toward cleaner power where you can. Many utilities offer green power programs that let households buy electricity from renewable sources, and rooftop solar makes sense in some homes and regions, often with federal tax credits that lower the cost. Reduce vehicle emissions by combining trips, using transit where it exists, and considering an electric or hybrid vehicle when replacing a car. Protect your household from the pollution that remains: check the Air Quality Index at AirNow.gov before outdoor activity, run a HEPA air cleaner on high-pollution days, and test your water if you live near mining or drilling operations. Use your voice on siting and energy decisions too, since power plant permits, pipeline routes, and utility rate cases are decided in public proceedings where residents can comment, and those decisions determine what gets built near which neighborhoods and who pays for it.