Atlas library
Evidence, explanations, resources and support pathways — each item labelled with what kind of source it is. Nothing here is map data. Library material is reference context. It is stored and displayed separately from map data and is never used in any Atlas calculation.
This library offers public information and links to support resources. It does not provide medical, legal, mental-health, or crisis care. If you need urgent help, contact local emergency services or a qualified support provider.
Every entry links to the publisher's own page. The Atlas stores only titles, publishers, dates, links and short original summaries written for this library — no article text, audio, figures or paywalled material is copied or hosted here.
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47 items
- Official government source
Environmental Quality Index — technical report (2006–2010)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development · 2020 · United States
EPA's method for summarising county environmental conditions across five domains — air, water, land, built environment and sociodemographic — using principal component analysis of published measures. Explains why counties are also compared within rural/urban strata.
The index describes conditions for 2006–2010. It is not a risk score and carries no causal claim about any health outcome.
Open source - Nonprofit / community resource
Tap Water Database — search drinking-water testing results by ZIP code
Environmental Working Group · 2021 update · United States
A searchable non-government compilation of utility drinking-water testing results. Reports contaminants against EWG's own health guidelines, which are stricter than the federal legal limits a utility must meet.
Community reference only. Its values are not loaded into the Atlas and are never used in a comparison here. Legal compliance and EWG guideline exceedance are different things and must not be reported as the same finding.
Open source - Official government source
Consumer Confidence Reports — find the annual quality report for your own water system
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Ongoing · United States
Every community water system must publish an annual water-quality report. This is the official route from a household address to the tests done on the water it actually receives.
Reports are published per water system, not per county. Private wells are not covered.
Open source - Official government source
Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule — nationwide testing for contaminants without a federal limit
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · UCMR 5, 2023–2025 · United States
Nationwide sampling programme in which public water systems test for contaminants that have no enforceable federal standard yet, including PFAS and lithium. Results are published per water system and sampling point.
Detection above a reporting level is not a legal violation, because these contaminants have no federal limit. Non-detects are recorded as non-detects and must never be read as an absence of any risk.
Open source - Nonprofit / community resource
FracTracker Alliance — oil and gas data, maps and state-by-state reporting
FracTracker Alliance · Ongoing · United States
A nonprofit compilation and mapping of oil and gas infrastructure drawn from state regulator records, with state-level explainers on what each regulator does and does not publish.
Compiled from state regulator files with differing definitions. Context only; the Atlas maps regulator and federal compilations directly.
Open source - Official government source
CDC WONDER linked birth / infant death documentation
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (NCHS) · Ongoing · United States
Official documentation for the linked birth and infant death files, including how infant deaths are matched to birth records, which geographies are released, and how small counts are suppressed.
Defines the denominators and suppression rules the Atlas must preserve.
Open source - Official government source
Sudden unexpected infant death: cause-of-death definitions
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · Ongoing · United States
Explains how SIDS (R95), unknown or ill-defined cause (R99), and accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed (W75) are certified and counted separately.
Open source - Official government source
EPA Superfund and National Priorities List data documentation
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Ongoing · United States
Describes how Superfund sites are listed, what site status values mean, and how site location data is published.
A site record is a regulatory record, not a measured exposure.
Open source - Official government source
EPA ECHO compliance and enforcement data documentation
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Ongoing · United States
Reference for facility compliance, hazardous-waste and discharge-permit records, including known limitations of self-reported data.
Open source - Official government source
Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) documentation
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Ongoing · United States
Explains how public water systems are registered and reported, and why a system's administrative point is not a tap or contamination location.
Open source - Official government source
EPA Air Quality System (AQS) monitor data documentation
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Ongoing · United States
Documentation for regulatory air-monitor measurements, monitor siting, and the sparse coverage of rural areas.
Open source - Official government source
Census TIGER/Line geography documentation
U.S. Census Bureau · Ongoing · United States
Reference for state, county and place boundary files and the FIPS/GEOID identifiers used to join data across sources.
Open source - University research
Yale School of Public Health — Environmental Health Sciences
Yale University · Ongoing · United States
University research department page covering environmental exposure science and maternal and child health research programmes.
Research programme page. Individual studies must be verified before citation.
Open source - University research
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health — Environmental Health
Harvard University · Ongoing · United States
University department page covering air pollution, water contamination and population-health research methods.
Open source - Book
Petroleum-238: Big Oil's Dangerous Secret and the Grassroots Fight to Stop It
Justin Nobel · 2024 · United States
Investigative book reporting on radioactivity in oil and gas waste and the communities organising around it. Context and reporting, not a health-outcome dataset.
Not a health-outcome dataset. Not eligible for quantitative analysis.
Open source - Commentary / reference
PCIST.net community reference
PCIST.net · Ongoing · United States
Community-maintained reference material held for context only. It is disabled in map analytics and is not used in any calculation.
Context/reference only. Not eligible for quantitative analysis. Disabled by default in map analytics.
Open source - Official government source
West Virginia Department of Health — public health programmes
State of West Virginia · Ongoing · West Virginia
State health department information, including maternal and child health programmes and vital statistics.
Open source - Official government source
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
State of West Virginia · Ongoing · West Virginia
State environmental agency information covering permits, inspections and public environmental records.
Open source - Nonprofit / community resource
Share Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support
Share Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support, Inc. · Ongoing · United States
Nonprofit offering peer support groups and bereavement resources for families after pregnancy or infant loss. Support information, not medical care.
Open source - Official government source
Safe infant sleep guidance
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development · Ongoing · United States
Government public-health guidance on infant sleep practices and reducing sleep-related infant death risk.
Open source - Commentary / reference
How to read area-level rates responsibly
Project Theodore · 2026 · United States
Atlas explainer on unstable small-area rates, suppression, the ecological fallacy, and why geographic co-occurrence is not causation.
Open source - Nonprofit / community resource
FracTracker Alliance
FracTracker Alliance · Ongoing · United States
Nonprofit organisation that maps and documents oil, gas and petrochemical infrastructure and publishes analyses with communities affected by it.
Nonprofit compilation, not a federal release. Linked for context; any figure must be traced back to the underlying state or federal record before use.
Open source - Nonprofit / community resource
FracTracker data and downloads
FracTracker Alliance · Ongoing · United States
Documented datasets and downloads covering wells, pipelines, compressor stations, waste facilities and violations, compiled from state and federal records.
Candidate onboarding source. Terms of use, attribution and update cadence must be verified before any layer is released on the map.
Open source - Nonprofit / community resource
FracTracker national maps and analyses
FracTracker Alliance · Ongoing · United States
Interactive maps and written analyses of drilling and petrochemical infrastructure at national, state and community scale.
Open source - Nonprofit / community resource
EWG Tap Water Database
Environmental Working Group · Ongoing · United States
Nonprofit compilation of utility-reported drinking-water testing results, searchable by public water system and ZIP code.
Uses nonprofit health guidelines that differ from federal legal limits. Compare definitions before drawing any conclusion.
Open source - Official government source
CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Network
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · Ongoing · United States
Federal portal joining environmental measures with health indicators at state and county level, with published measure definitions.
Open source - Official government source
EPA EJScreen environmental and demographic indicators
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Ongoing · United States
Screening indicators combining environmental and demographic data. Documentation states explicitly that it is a screening tool, not a measure of individual risk.
Open source - Official government source
ATSDR PFAS information and toxicological profiles
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry · Ongoing · United States
Federal toxicology and exposure reference for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, including what is and is not established about health effects.
Open source - Official government source
CDC birth defects data and statistics
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · Ongoing · United States
Federal reference on birth-defect surveillance, case definitions and the limits of prevalence comparisons between states.
Open source - Official government source
NIEHS children's environmental health research
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences · Ongoing · United States
Federal research institute overview of what is known about environmental exposures during pregnancy and early childhood.
Open source - Official government source
MSHA mine data retrieval system
U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration · Ongoing · United States
Official register of mine locations, operator records, inspections and violations used as the mining layer reference.
Open source - Peer-reviewed study
Hydraulic fracturing and infant health: new evidence from Pennsylvania
Currie, Greenstone & Meckel — Science Advances · 2017 · Pennsylvania
Population study reporting associations between residential proximity to hydraulic fracturing and lower birth weight, using administrative birth records.
Individual-level birth records with distance measures. The Atlas cannot reproduce this design: it holds area-level rates only.
Open source - Peer-reviewed study
Birth outcomes and maternal residential proximity to natural gas development in rural Colorado
McKenzie et al. — Environmental Health Perspectives · 2014 · Colorado
Study examining associations between counts of nearby gas wells and congenital heart defects and other birth outcomes in rural Colorado.
Proximity is a spatial proxy, not measured personal exposure.
Open source - Peer-reviewed study
Unconventional natural gas development and birth outcomes in Pennsylvania
Casey et al. — Epidemiology · 2016 · Pennsylvania
Cohort study of births near unconventional gas activity, reporting associations with preterm birth and physician-recorded high-risk pregnancy.
Open source - Peer-reviewed study
Perinatal outcomes and unconventional natural gas operations in southwest Pennsylvania
Stacy et al. — PLOS ONE · 2015 · Pennsylvania
Retrospective study of birth records in three counties examining associations with an index of nearby well activity.
Open source - Peer-reviewed study
Association of air pollution and heat exposure with preterm birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth in the US
Bekkar et al. — JAMA Network Open · 2020 · United States
Systematic review of U.S. studies on air pollution and heat exposure during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes.
Open source - Peer-reviewed study
Superfund cleanups and infant health
Currie, Greenstone & Moretti — American Economic Review · 2011 · United States
Economic study comparing birth outcomes near Superfund sites before and after cleanup, using timing of remediation for comparison.
Open source - Peer-reviewed study
Elevated blood lead levels in children associated with the Flint drinking water crisis
Hanna-Attisha et al. — American Journal of Public Health · 2016 · Michigan
Study documenting increases in children's blood lead levels after a change in municipal water source, and the spatial pattern of those increases.
Open source - University research
Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health · Ongoing · United States
Long-running birth-cohort research centre studying prenatal and early-childhood environmental exposures.
Open source - University research
UC Berkeley Center for Environmental Research and Community Health
University of California, Berkeley · Ongoing · United States
University centre running community-partnered cohort studies on pesticide and chemical exposures in pregnancy and childhood.
Open source - University research
University of Pittsburgh — environmental epidemiology in shale regions
University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health · Ongoing · Pennsylvania
University programme page for studies of health outcomes in communities near unconventional gas development in Appalachia.
Open source - Investigative journalism
Poison in the air — industrial hot spots reporting
ProPublica · 2021 · United States
Investigative series modelling industrial air emissions across the United States and reporting on affected communities.
Newsroom modelling of reported emissions. Journalism context, never an Atlas data layer.
Open source - Investigative journalism
Inside Climate News — fossil fuel and public health reporting
Inside Climate News · Ongoing · United States
Nonprofit newsroom covering energy infrastructure, pollution and the communities living beside it.
Open source - Podcast / audio
Environmental Health Chat (podcast)
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences · Ongoing · United States
Federal research institute podcast on environmental health science and community-engaged research. Free, publicly hosted episodes.
Linked to the publisher's own page. No audio is copied, hosted or transcribed by the Atlas.
Open source - Podcast / audio
Public Health On Call (podcast)
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health · Ongoing · United States
University public-health podcast covering environmental exposures, maternal and child health and how to read health statistics.
Publisher-hosted link only.
Open source - Podcast / audio
Living on Earth (public radio programme and podcast)
PRX / Living on Earth · Ongoing · United States
Long-running environmental news programme with publicly available episodes on pollution, water and community health.
Open source - Podcast / audio
Drilled (investigative podcast)
Critical Frequency · Ongoing · United States
Investigative audio series on the fossil fuel industry and affected communities. Journalism context, not a data source.
Publisher-hosted link only. Not eligible for quantitative analysis.
Open source