Center for Energy Studies

Map: Energy, Environment, and Policy in the United States

About the Map

The "Energy, Environment and Policy in the U.S." map is developed by Kenneth B. Medlock III and Elsie Hung at the Center for Energy Studies as an online, interactive tool to visualize and highlight the geospatial nexus of energy, environment, policy, and society in the United States. The map displays the nation’s critical energy infrastructure, environmental points of interest, and relevant election and demographics statistics at different levels of granularity. Users can select each layer to hide/display and explore the facility level details with clickable tool tips. In 2023, we also released a drilled-down community map to highlight additional data on environmental justice and energy transitions at the Census block group level.

We hope to stimulate and facilitate pertinent discussions and research with this interactive tool. More importantly, it allows the users to effectively navigate key energy and environmental issues with a clear and complete picture of the nation’s infrastructure and demography. The map will be updated regularly to incorporate additional, relevant layers and reflect the most recent data available.

Please share feedback and suggestions you might have by contacting the authors at elsie.hung@rice.edu.

Map Versions and Updates

US National Level Map: The latest update to the map layers and interfaces was made on January 13, 2023.
New layers include:

Active mines
Direct emitters 2021
2021 unemployment rate by education level by county

US Drilled-down Community Map: The map was released on January 13, 2023.
Data coverage period for individual layers are listed in the table below.

User Interactivity

[New] location search geocoder: Fly to the input location.
Checkbox layer filtering and dynamic legend display: Legends only appear under the checked layers for filled maps with Census data
Clickable facility-level detail tooltip
Dynamic cluster display: Select point layers are displayed in dynamic clusters by zoom level. Zoom in to see all facilities

Layers and Data Sources

Two map layer sections are displayed on the right-side bar of the map:

Infrastructure and Points of Interest contains critical energy infrastructure and facilities of environmental importance, and
Census Data and Raster Layers include complex raster layers such as NASA Earth At Night and select Census demographic data at congressional district and county levels.

Layer name	Geometry	Description	Data Period	Update Date	Data Sources
Infrastructure and Points of Interest
Crude Oil Pipelines	Line	Crude oil pipelines with status, operator, type (interstate/intrastate), and capacity details	2022	1/13/2023	Energy Web Atlas
Refined Product Pipelines	Line	Refined product pipelines with status, operator, type (interstate/intrastate), and capacity details	2022	1/13/2023	Energy Web Atlas
Natural Gas Pipelines	Line	Natural gas pipelines with status, operator, type (interstate/intrastate) and capacity details	2022	1/13/2023	Energy Web Atlas
Petroleum Refineries	Point	Existing petroleum and petrochemical refineries with operator, plant type and capacity details	2021	1/13/2023	EIA and Energy Web Atlas
Gas Processing Plants	Point	Gas processing plants with status, operator, plant type, and capacity details	2021	1/13/2023	Energy Web Atlas
LNG Facilities	Point	LNG facilities of all status with operator and gas origin details	2022	1/13/2023	Energy Web Atlas
Active Mines	Point	Active mining sites with details on operator, development stage, primary commodity, and mine type.	2022	1/13/2023	Capital IQ
Coal Mines	Point	Existing coal mines	2022	1/13/2023	EIA
Hydrogen Facilities	Point	Hydrogen facilities with status, operator, type/color, and technology details	2022	1/13/2023	Energy Web Atlas
Power Plants - All and By Fuel	Point	Existing power plants with operator, fuel type and capacity details. Bubble color is assigned by fuel type and the size of the bubble indicates the power plant nameplate capacity.	2021	11/1/2021	EIA
Electric Transmission Lines	Line	Electric Transmission Lines with status, operator, type, and voltage class details	2022	1/13/2023	HIFLD
Direct Emitters 2021	Point	Facilities that are considered large greenhouse gas emission sources by EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. The layer includes NAICS industry category and 2021 direct emissions details. The size of the bubbles indicates the scale of GHG emissions by facility in 2021.	2021	1/13/2023	EPA
Direct Emitters 2019	Point	Facilities that are considered large greenhouse gas emission sources by EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. The layer includes NAICS industry category and 2019 direct emissions details. The size of the bubbles indicates the scale of GHG emissions by facility in 2019.	2019	11/1/2021	EPA
Superfund Sites	Point	Contaminated sites governed and funded by the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The layer includes the site status details.	2022	1/13/2023	EPA
Census Data and Raster Layers
Earth at Night	Raster	Satellite images of earth at night captured by NASA	2016	11/1/2021	NASA Earth Observatory
Active Oil and Gas Wells	Raster	Rasterized points of active oil and gas wells as of January 2023	2023	1/13/2023	Enverus (DrillingInfo)
2020 House Election Results	Polygon	Winning parties by Congressional District during the 2020 House election.	2020	11/1/2021	MIT Election Data Science Lab
2021 Median Household Income by Congressional District	Polygon	Median household income by 116th Congressional District in 2021 by Census American Community Survey. Data is classified into five steps using natural breaks (Jenks) method.	2021	1/13/2023	Census American Coommunity Survey
2021 Median Household Income by County	Polygon	Median household income by county in 2021 by Census American Community Survey. Data is classified into five steps using natural breaks (Jenks) method.	2021	1/13/2023	Census American Coommunity Survey
2021 Unemployment Rate by County	Polygon	Unemployment rate in percentage for population age 16 and over by county in 2021 by Census American Community Survey. Data is classified into five steps using natural breaks (Jenks) method.	2021	1/13/2023	Census American Coommunity Survey
2021 % of Employment in Upstream Fossil Fuel and Mining Industry by County	Polygon	Percentage of employment in oil and gas extraction, mining, and quarrying by county in 2021 by Census American Community Survey. Data is classified into five steps using natural breaks (Jenks) method.	2021	1/13/2023	Census American Coommunity Survey
2021 Population Density by County	Polygon	Population density by county in number of people per square miles. Data is classified into six steps using the logarithmic scale method.	2021	1/13/2023	Census American Coommunity Survey
2021 Unemployment Rate for People with less than High School Diploma by County	Polygon	Unemployment rate in percentage for population age between 25 and 64 with less than a high school diploma by county in 2021 by Census American Community Survey. Data is classified into five steps based on overall unemployment rate.	2021	1/13/2023	Census American Coommunity Survey
2021 Unemployment Rate for People with High School Diploma by County	Polygon	Unemployment rate in percentage for population age between 25 and 64 with a high school diploma or equivalent by county in 2021 by Census American Community Survey. Data is classified into five steps based on overall unemployment rate.	2021	1/13/2023	Census American Coommunity Survey
2021 Unemployment Rate for People with Associate Degree by County	Polygon	Unemployment rate in percentage for population age between 25 and 64 with an associate degree or equivalent by county in 2021 by Census American Community Survey. Data is classified into five steps based on overall unemployment rate.	2021	1/13/2023	Census American Coommunity Survey
2021 Unemployment Rate for People with Bachelor Degree or Higher by County	Polygon	Unemployment rate in percentage for population age between 25 and 64 with a bachelor degree or higher by county in 2021 by Census American Community Survey. Data is classified into five steps based on overall unemployment rate.	2021	1/13/2023	Census American Coommunity Survey
2021 Dominant Fuel for Home Heating by County	Polygon	Color displays the most used heating fuel by county in 2021 Census American Community Survey. Note that the percentage of most used fuel ranges from 21.85% to 100%. See Census ACS Table S25040 for original data.	2021	3/6/2023	Census American Coommunity Survey

Additional Layers Included in the Drilled-down Community Map

Layer name	Geometry	Description	Data Period	Update Date	Data Sources
Infrastructure and Points of Interest
Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs)	Point	RCRA-regulated treatment, storage, and disposal facilities with details on operator, status, and waste management type.	2023	1/13/2023	EPA RCRAinfo
Public Transit Routes	Line	Public transit service routes as of September, 2022 extracted from the National Transit Map.	2022	1/13/2023	Department of Transportation
Census Data and Raster Layers
Tribal and Native Lands	Polygon	Boundaries of American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian reservation areas and home lands. See source page for more information.	2020	1/13/2023	US Census
% People of Color by Block Group	Polygon	Percentage of population by block group who are not identified as non-Hispanic white-alone individuals.	2021	1/13/2023	EPA EJSCREEN
% of Low Income Population by Block Group	Polygon	Percentage of population by block group in households where the household income is less than or equal to twice of the federal poverty level.	2021	1/13/2023	EPA EJSCREEN
% of Less Than High School Degree Population by Block Group	Polygon	Percentage of population by block group over age 25 whose education level is less than high school diploma.	2021	1/13/2023	EPA EJSCREEN
% of Linguistically Isolated Population by Block Group	Polygon	Percentage of population by block group living in limited English speaking households. (All members speaking a non-English language and having difficulty with English)	2021	1/13/2023	EPA EJSCREEN
% of Under Age 5 Population by Block Group	Polygon	Percentage of population by block group under age 5.	2021	1/13/2023	EPA EJSCREEN
% of Over Age 64 Population by Block Group	Polygon	Percentage of population by block group over age 64.	2021	1/13/2023	EPA EJSCREEN