The Experts below are selected from a list of 216 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Rüdiger Pethig - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Supply-Side Climate Policy: On the Role of Exploration and Asymmetric Information
Environmental and Resource Economics, 2019Co-Authors: Thomas Eichner, Rüdiger PethigAbstract:In the world economy with interdependent markets for Fossil Fuel Deposits and extracted Fossil Fuel, a coalition of countries may fight climate change by purchasing Fossil Fuel Deposits for preservation. Harstad (J Polit Econ 120:77–115, 2012 ) has shown that the coalition’s supply-side climate policy implements the first-best. The present paper focuses on the role exploration and asymmetric information with respect to climate damage plays for the efficiency of unilateral supply-side climate policy. Under the assumption of non-strategic exploration and truthful reporting of climate damage, the deposit policy turns out to be efficient. If exploration is used strategically or the coalition misreports its climate damage, however, the deposit policy becomes inefficient.
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bottom up world climate policies preserving Fossil Fuel Deposits vs capping Fuel consumption
Canadian Journal of Economics, 2019Co-Authors: Thomas Eichner, Rüdiger PethigAbstract:The policy of purchasing Fossil Fuel Deposits for preservation is an alternative to the demand‐side climate policies that predominate in practice and in professional studies. This paper analyzes the deposit purchase approach and compares it to the standard demand‐side policy in a model with international trade and non‐cooperative governments that account for the effects of their policies on equilibrium prices. We investigate how the two regimes differ with respect to their equilibrium allocations and, in particular, with respect to the countries’ mitigation effort and welfare. If countries are symmetric, mitigation is stronger in the demand‐side than in the supply‐side regime and the transition from the latter to the former is welfare enhancing for all countries. If countries have different endowments of Deposits in a two‐country economy, the country with higher extraction costs does not purchase Deposits for preservation, and the country with lower extraction costs is better off with the supply‐side than with the demand‐side policy. Finally, we consider the case of combined policies and find surprisingly that no equilibrium in pure strategies exists, when heterogeneous countries apply both policy instruments. Politiques climatiques mondiales ascendantes : preservation des gisements de combustibles Fossiles par opposition a la limitation de la consommation de carburant. La politique d’achat de gisements de combustibles Fossiles aux fins de preservation represente une alternative aux politiques climatiques axees sur la demande predominant a la fois dans la pratique mais aussi dans les etudes professionnelles. Cet article analyse l’approche fondee sur l’achat de gisements et la compare a la politique standard axee sur la demande dans un modele de commerce international et de gouvernements non cooperatifs prenant en compte les effets de leurs politiques sur les prix d’equilibre. Nous avons recherche en quoi les deux regimes differaient relativement a leur repartition de l’equilibre, et notamment relativement a l’effort d’attenuation et a la protection sociale. Si les pays sont symetriques, l’attenuation est plus prononcee dans un systeme axe sur la demande comparativement a un systeme axe sur l’offre, et la transition du second au premier systeme permet d’ameliorer la protection sociale pour tous les pays. Dans une economie a deux pays differemment dotes en matiere de gisements, le pays ayant les couts d’extraction les plus eleves n’achete pas de gisements a des fins de preservation, tandis que le pays ayant les couts d’extraction les moins eleves se retrouve en meilleure posture dans une politique axee sur l’offre plutot que sur la demande. Pour terminer, nous examinons le cas des politiques combinees et, etonnamment, nous constatons qu’il n’existe aucun equilibre en matiere de strategies pures lorsque des pays heterogenes appliquent les deux moyens d’action.
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Trade in Fossil Fuel Deposits for preservation and strategic action
Journal of Public Economics, 2017Co-Authors: Thomas Eichner, Rüdiger PethigAbstract:Abstract In the world economy with interdependent markets for Fossil Fuel Deposits and extracted Fossil Fuel, some coalition of countries may fight climate change by purchasing and preserving Fossil Fuel Deposits, which would be exploited otherwise. Assuming that Deposits are traded on a market with a uniform price, we find that the outcome is efficient if the coalition is a price taker in both markets, but inefficient if it acts strategically in the deposit market but not in the Fuel market, or acts strategically in both markets. The latter result demonstrates that Harstad ’s ( 2012 , Theorem 1) ‘efficiency-despite-strategic-action result’ is not robust with respect to changes in the concepts of the deposit market and market (or bargaining) power. In a simplified parametric version of the game, a strategically acting coalition buys fewer Deposits, consumes more Fuel, and puts up with higher climate damage than in first-best.
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Buy coal and act strategically on the Fuel market
European Economic Review, 2017Co-Authors: Thomas Eichner, Rüdiger PethigAbstract:Abstract A coalition of given size fights climate change by a policy of purchasing Fossil Fuel Deposits, and it seeks to manipulate the Fuel price in its favor. Assuming that non-signatories are price takers in the Fuel market, Harstad (2012) designs a policy of trading Deposits that attains efficiency despite the coalition’s option to act strategically in the Fuel market. The deposit transactions constituting that policy include the trade of Deposits which the non-signatories would have exploited and the coalition will exploit. The present paper shows that in a proper subset of economies a simpler policy is (also) efficient that consists of deposit purchases for preservation only. In these economies the coalition is unable to raise its welfare above the level in the benchmark case of Fuel price taking. In the economies, where the efficient policy requires deposit transactions for exploitation, the coalition is better off and the non-signatories are worse off than in case of price taking.
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Buy coal for preservation and act strategically on the Fuel market
2016Co-Authors: Rüdiger Pethig, Thomas EichnerAbstract:In Harstad’s (2012) model, climate damage only hits one group of countries, called the coalition, and the coalition’s climate policy consists of capping own Fuel de- mand and supply combined with the purchase of Fossil Fuel Deposits for preserva- tion. Harstad’s Theorem 1 states that if the deposit market clears the coalition’s strategic Fuel-cap policy implements the first-best. The present paper reconstructs that efficiency result and argues that the deposit market equilibrium as defined in Harstad (2012) fails to be attained, unless the non-coalition countries act cooper- atively on the deposit market. Without such cooperation, the coalition’s strategic action on the Fuel market distorts the allocation to its own favor.
Michael H. Huesemann - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Can Advances in Science and Technology Prevent Global Warming?
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2006Co-Authors: Michael H. HuesemannAbstract:The most stringent emission scenarios published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) would result in the stabilization of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO_2) at concentrations of approximately 550 ppm which would produce a global temperature increase of at least 2 ^^C by 2100. Given the large uncertainties regarding the potential risks associated with this degree of global warming, it would be more prudent to stabilize atmospheric CO_2 concentrations at or below current levels which, in turn, would require more than 20-fold reduction (i.e., ≥95%) in per capita carbon emissions in industrialized nations within the next 50–100 years. Using the Kaya equation as a conceptual framework, this paper examines whether CO_2 mitigation approaches such as energy efficiency improvements, carbon sequestration, and the development of carbon-free energy sources would be sufficient to bring about the required reduction in per capita carbon emissions without creating unforeseen negative impacts elsewhere. In terms of energy efficiency, large improvements (≥5-fold) are in principle possible through aggressive investments in R&D and the removal of market imperfections such as corporate subsidies. However, energy efficiency improvements per se will not result in a reduction in carbon emissions if, as predicted by the IPCC, the size of the global economy expands 12–26-fold by 2100. Terrestrial carbon sequestration via reforestation and improved agricultural soil management has many environmental advantages, but has only limited CO_2 mitigation potential because the global terrestrial carbon sink (ca. 200 Gt C) is small relative to the size of Fossil Fuel Deposits (≥4000 Gt C). By contrast, very large amounts of CO_2 can potentially be removed from the atmosphere via sequestration in geologic formations and oceans, but carbon storage is not permanent and is likely to create many unpredictable environmental consequences. Renewable energy can in theory provide large amounts of carbon-free power. However, biomass and hydroelectric energy can only be marginally expanded, and large-scale solar energy installations (i.e., wind, photovoltaics, and direct thermal) are likely to have significant negative environmental impacts. Expansion of nuclear energy is highly unlikely due to concerns over reactor safety, radioactive waste management, weapons proliferation, and cost. In view of the serious limitations and liabilities of many proposed CO_2 mitigation approaches, it appears that there remain only few no-regrets options such as drastic energy efficiency improvements, extensive terrestrial carbon sequestration, and cautious expansion of renewable energy generation. These promising CO_2 mitigation technologies have the potential to bring about the required 20-fold reduction in per capita carbon emission only if population and economic growth are halted without delay. Therefore, addressing the problem of global warming requires not only technological research and development but also a reexamination of core values that equate material consumption and economic growth with happiness and well- being.
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CAN ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PREVENT GLOBAL WARMING? A Critical Review of Limitations and Challenges
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2006Co-Authors: Michael H. HuesemannAbstract:The most stringent emission scenarios published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) would result in the stabilization of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) at concentrations of approximately 550 ppm which would produce a global temperature increase of at least 2 ^C by 2100. Given the large uncertainties regarding the potential risks associated with this degree of global warming, it would be more prudent to stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentrations at or below current levels which, in turn, would require more than 20-fold reduction (i.e., ≥95%) in per capita carbon emissions in industrialized nations within the next 50–100 years. Using the Kaya equation as a conceptual framework, this paper examines whether CO2 mitigation approaches such as energy efficiency improvements, carbon sequestration, and the development of carbon-free energy sources would be sufficient to bring about the required reduction in per capita carbon emissions without creating unforeseen negative impacts elsewhere. In terms of energy efficiency, large improvements (≥5-fold) are in principle possible through aggressive investments in R&D and the removal of market imperfections such as corporate subsidies. However, energy efficiency improvements per se will not result in a reduction in carbon emissions if, as predicted by the IPCC, the size of the global economy expands 12–26-fold by 2100. Terrestrial carbon sequestration via reforestation and improved agricultural soil management has many environmental advantages, but has only limited CO2 mitigation potential because the global terrestrial carbon sink (ca. 200 Gt C) is small relative to the size of Fossil Fuel Deposits (≥4000 Gt C). By contrast, very large amounts of CO2 can potentially be removed from the atmosphere via sequestration in geologic formations and oceans, but carbon storage is not permanent and is likely to create many unpredictable environmental consequences. Renewable energy can in theory provide large amounts of carbon-free power. However, biomass and hydroelectric energy can only be marginally expanded, and large-scale solar energy installations (i.e., wind, photovoltaics, and direct thermal) are likely to have significant negative environmental impacts. Expansion of nuclear energy is highly unlikely due to concerns over reactor safety, radioactive waste management, weapons proliferation, and cost. In view of the serious limitations and liabilities of many proposed CO2 mitigation approaches, it appears that there remain only few no-regrets options such as drastic energy efficiency improvements, extensive terrestrial carbon sequestration, and cautious expansion of renewable energy generation. These promising CO2 mitigation technologies have the potential to bring about the required 20-fold reduction in per capita carbon emission only if population and economic growth are halted without delay. Therefore, addressing the problem of global warming requires not only technological research and development but also a reexamination of core values that equate material consumption and economic growth with happiness and well- being.
Thomas Eichner - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Supply-Side Climate Policy: On the Role of Exploration and Asymmetric Information
Environmental and Resource Economics, 2019Co-Authors: Thomas Eichner, Rüdiger PethigAbstract:In the world economy with interdependent markets for Fossil Fuel Deposits and extracted Fossil Fuel, a coalition of countries may fight climate change by purchasing Fossil Fuel Deposits for preservation. Harstad (J Polit Econ 120:77–115, 2012 ) has shown that the coalition’s supply-side climate policy implements the first-best. The present paper focuses on the role exploration and asymmetric information with respect to climate damage plays for the efficiency of unilateral supply-side climate policy. Under the assumption of non-strategic exploration and truthful reporting of climate damage, the deposit policy turns out to be efficient. If exploration is used strategically or the coalition misreports its climate damage, however, the deposit policy becomes inefficient.
-
bottom up world climate policies preserving Fossil Fuel Deposits vs capping Fuel consumption
Canadian Journal of Economics, 2019Co-Authors: Thomas Eichner, Rüdiger PethigAbstract:The policy of purchasing Fossil Fuel Deposits for preservation is an alternative to the demand‐side climate policies that predominate in practice and in professional studies. This paper analyzes the deposit purchase approach and compares it to the standard demand‐side policy in a model with international trade and non‐cooperative governments that account for the effects of their policies on equilibrium prices. We investigate how the two regimes differ with respect to their equilibrium allocations and, in particular, with respect to the countries’ mitigation effort and welfare. If countries are symmetric, mitigation is stronger in the demand‐side than in the supply‐side regime and the transition from the latter to the former is welfare enhancing for all countries. If countries have different endowments of Deposits in a two‐country economy, the country with higher extraction costs does not purchase Deposits for preservation, and the country with lower extraction costs is better off with the supply‐side than with the demand‐side policy. Finally, we consider the case of combined policies and find surprisingly that no equilibrium in pure strategies exists, when heterogeneous countries apply both policy instruments. Politiques climatiques mondiales ascendantes : preservation des gisements de combustibles Fossiles par opposition a la limitation de la consommation de carburant. La politique d’achat de gisements de combustibles Fossiles aux fins de preservation represente une alternative aux politiques climatiques axees sur la demande predominant a la fois dans la pratique mais aussi dans les etudes professionnelles. Cet article analyse l’approche fondee sur l’achat de gisements et la compare a la politique standard axee sur la demande dans un modele de commerce international et de gouvernements non cooperatifs prenant en compte les effets de leurs politiques sur les prix d’equilibre. Nous avons recherche en quoi les deux regimes differaient relativement a leur repartition de l’equilibre, et notamment relativement a l’effort d’attenuation et a la protection sociale. Si les pays sont symetriques, l’attenuation est plus prononcee dans un systeme axe sur la demande comparativement a un systeme axe sur l’offre, et la transition du second au premier systeme permet d’ameliorer la protection sociale pour tous les pays. Dans une economie a deux pays differemment dotes en matiere de gisements, le pays ayant les couts d’extraction les plus eleves n’achete pas de gisements a des fins de preservation, tandis que le pays ayant les couts d’extraction les moins eleves se retrouve en meilleure posture dans une politique axee sur l’offre plutot que sur la demande. Pour terminer, nous examinons le cas des politiques combinees et, etonnamment, nous constatons qu’il n’existe aucun equilibre en matiere de strategies pures lorsque des pays heterogenes appliquent les deux moyens d’action.
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Trade in Fossil Fuel Deposits for preservation and strategic action
Journal of Public Economics, 2017Co-Authors: Thomas Eichner, Rüdiger PethigAbstract:Abstract In the world economy with interdependent markets for Fossil Fuel Deposits and extracted Fossil Fuel, some coalition of countries may fight climate change by purchasing and preserving Fossil Fuel Deposits, which would be exploited otherwise. Assuming that Deposits are traded on a market with a uniform price, we find that the outcome is efficient if the coalition is a price taker in both markets, but inefficient if it acts strategically in the deposit market but not in the Fuel market, or acts strategically in both markets. The latter result demonstrates that Harstad ’s ( 2012 , Theorem 1) ‘efficiency-despite-strategic-action result’ is not robust with respect to changes in the concepts of the deposit market and market (or bargaining) power. In a simplified parametric version of the game, a strategically acting coalition buys fewer Deposits, consumes more Fuel, and puts up with higher climate damage than in first-best.
-
Buy coal and act strategically on the Fuel market
European Economic Review, 2017Co-Authors: Thomas Eichner, Rüdiger PethigAbstract:Abstract A coalition of given size fights climate change by a policy of purchasing Fossil Fuel Deposits, and it seeks to manipulate the Fuel price in its favor. Assuming that non-signatories are price takers in the Fuel market, Harstad (2012) designs a policy of trading Deposits that attains efficiency despite the coalition’s option to act strategically in the Fuel market. The deposit transactions constituting that policy include the trade of Deposits which the non-signatories would have exploited and the coalition will exploit. The present paper shows that in a proper subset of economies a simpler policy is (also) efficient that consists of deposit purchases for preservation only. In these economies the coalition is unable to raise its welfare above the level in the benchmark case of Fuel price taking. In the economies, where the efficient policy requires deposit transactions for exploitation, the coalition is better off and the non-signatories are worse off than in case of price taking.
-
Buy coal for preservation and act strategically on the Fuel market
2016Co-Authors: Rüdiger Pethig, Thomas EichnerAbstract:In Harstad’s (2012) model, climate damage only hits one group of countries, called the coalition, and the coalition’s climate policy consists of capping own Fuel de- mand and supply combined with the purchase of Fossil Fuel Deposits for preserva- tion. Harstad’s Theorem 1 states that if the deposit market clears the coalition’s strategic Fuel-cap policy implements the first-best. The present paper reconstructs that efficiency result and argues that the deposit market equilibrium as defined in Harstad (2012) fails to be attained, unless the non-coalition countries act cooper- atively on the deposit market. Without such cooperation, the coalition’s strategic action on the Fuel market distorts the allocation to its own favor.
Christopher D. Kassotis - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Endocrine-Disrupting Activities and Organic Contaminants Associated with Oil and Gas Operations in Wyoming Groundwater
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 2018Co-Authors: Christopher D. Kassotis, Chung-ho Lin, Jennifer N. Cornelius-green, Sharyle Patton, Susan C. NagelAbstract:Unconventional oil and natural gas (UOG) operations couple horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing to access previously inaccessible Fossil Fuel Deposits. Hydraulic fracturing, a common form of stimulation, involves the high-pressure injection of water, chemicals, and sand to fracture the target layer and release trapped natural gas and/or oil. Spills and/or discharges of wastewater have been shown to impact surface, ground, and drinking water. The goals of this study were to characterize the endocrine activities and measure select organic contaminants in groundwater from conventional oil and gas (COG) and UOG production regions of Wyoming. Groundwater samples were collected from each region, solid-phase extracted, and assessed for endocrine activities (estrogen, androgen, progesterone, glucocorticoid, and thyroid receptor agonism and antagonism), using reporter gene assays in human endometrial cells. Water samples from UOG and conventional oil areas exhibited greater ER antagonist activities than water samples from conventional gas areas. Samples from UOG areas tended to exhibit progesterone receptor antagonism more often, suggesting there may be a UOG-related impact on these endocrine activities. We also report UOG-specific contaminants in Pavillion groundwater extracts, and these same chemicals at high concentrations in a local UOG wastewater sample. A unique suite of contaminants was observed in groundwater from a permitted drinking water well at a COG well pad and not at any UOG sites; high levels of endocrine activities (most notably, maximal estrogenic activity) were noted there, suggesting putative impacts on endocrine bioactivities by COG. As such, we report two levels of evidence for groundwater contamination by both UOG and COG operations in Wyoming.
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Unconventional oil and gas chemicals and wastewater-impacted water samples promote adipogenesis via PPARγ-dependent and independent mechanisms in 3T3-L1 cells.
The Science of the total environment, 2018Co-Authors: Christopher D. Kassotis, Susan C. Nagel, Heather M. StapletonAbstract:Abstract Unconventional oil and natural gas (UOG) operations have contributed to a surge in domestic oil and natural gas production in the United States, combining horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing to unlock previously inaccessible Fossil Fuel Deposits. >1000 organic chemicals are used in the production process, and wastewater is produced following injection and for the life of the producing well. This wastewater is typically disposed of via injecting into disposal wells for long-term storage, treatment and discharge from wastewater treatment plants, and/or storage in open evaporation pits; however, wastewater spill rates are reported at 2–20% of active well sites across regions, increasing concerns about the environmental impacts of these wastewaters. This study assessed adipogenic activity (both triglyceride accumulation and pre-adipocyte proliferation) for a mixture of 23 commonly used UOG chemicals and a small subset of UOG wastewater-impacted surface water extracts from Colorado and West Virginia, using 3T3-L1 cells and a peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) reporter assay. We report potent and efficacious adipogenic activity induced by both a laboratory-created UOG chemical mixture and UOG-impacted water samples at concentrations below environmental levels. We further report activation of PPARγ at similar concentrations for some samples, suggesting a causative molecular pathway for the observed effects, but not for other adipogenic samples, implicating PPARγ-dependent and independent effects from UOG associated chemicals. Taken together, these results suggest that UOG wastewater has the potential to impact metabolic health at environmentally relevant concentrations.
Susan C. Nagel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Endocrine-Disrupting Activities and Organic Contaminants Associated with Oil and Gas Operations in Wyoming Groundwater
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 2018Co-Authors: Christopher D. Kassotis, Chung-ho Lin, Jennifer N. Cornelius-green, Sharyle Patton, Susan C. NagelAbstract:Unconventional oil and natural gas (UOG) operations couple horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing to access previously inaccessible Fossil Fuel Deposits. Hydraulic fracturing, a common form of stimulation, involves the high-pressure injection of water, chemicals, and sand to fracture the target layer and release trapped natural gas and/or oil. Spills and/or discharges of wastewater have been shown to impact surface, ground, and drinking water. The goals of this study were to characterize the endocrine activities and measure select organic contaminants in groundwater from conventional oil and gas (COG) and UOG production regions of Wyoming. Groundwater samples were collected from each region, solid-phase extracted, and assessed for endocrine activities (estrogen, androgen, progesterone, glucocorticoid, and thyroid receptor agonism and antagonism), using reporter gene assays in human endometrial cells. Water samples from UOG and conventional oil areas exhibited greater ER antagonist activities than water samples from conventional gas areas. Samples from UOG areas tended to exhibit progesterone receptor antagonism more often, suggesting there may be a UOG-related impact on these endocrine activities. We also report UOG-specific contaminants in Pavillion groundwater extracts, and these same chemicals at high concentrations in a local UOG wastewater sample. A unique suite of contaminants was observed in groundwater from a permitted drinking water well at a COG well pad and not at any UOG sites; high levels of endocrine activities (most notably, maximal estrogenic activity) were noted there, suggesting putative impacts on endocrine bioactivities by COG. As such, we report two levels of evidence for groundwater contamination by both UOG and COG operations in Wyoming.
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Unconventional oil and gas chemicals and wastewater-impacted water samples promote adipogenesis via PPARγ-dependent and independent mechanisms in 3T3-L1 cells.
The Science of the total environment, 2018Co-Authors: Christopher D. Kassotis, Susan C. Nagel, Heather M. StapletonAbstract:Abstract Unconventional oil and natural gas (UOG) operations have contributed to a surge in domestic oil and natural gas production in the United States, combining horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing to unlock previously inaccessible Fossil Fuel Deposits. >1000 organic chemicals are used in the production process, and wastewater is produced following injection and for the life of the producing well. This wastewater is typically disposed of via injecting into disposal wells for long-term storage, treatment and discharge from wastewater treatment plants, and/or storage in open evaporation pits; however, wastewater spill rates are reported at 2–20% of active well sites across regions, increasing concerns about the environmental impacts of these wastewaters. This study assessed adipogenic activity (both triglyceride accumulation and pre-adipocyte proliferation) for a mixture of 23 commonly used UOG chemicals and a small subset of UOG wastewater-impacted surface water extracts from Colorado and West Virginia, using 3T3-L1 cells and a peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) reporter assay. We report potent and efficacious adipogenic activity induced by both a laboratory-created UOG chemical mixture and UOG-impacted water samples at concentrations below environmental levels. We further report activation of PPARγ at similar concentrations for some samples, suggesting a causative molecular pathway for the observed effects, but not for other adipogenic samples, implicating PPARγ-dependent and independent effects from UOG associated chemicals. Taken together, these results suggest that UOG wastewater has the potential to impact metabolic health at environmentally relevant concentrations.