How do resource extracting industries affect life expectancy?

June 27, 2011 — Re: Life getting shorter for women in hundreds of U.S. counties. It would be interesting to see this map with an overlay of the coal mining areas of our country and another with an overlay of the areas, which are affected by hydraulic fracking. Poverty will account for the obesity levels due to the fact the USDA subsidies the production of junk food and not the production of healthy foods. However, the concentration of resource extracting industries, which deny responsibility for the poisoning of the environments surrounding their operations, are the other part of this equation.

— G. Ann Talbot (Huntley, Illinois)