The report, “Still Toxic After All These Years: Air Quality and Environmental Justice in the San Francisco Bay Area”, released over the weekend at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has implications beyond the Bay Area. It joins a growing body of literature about pollution and real life effects on the health of those who live in poorer areas of the state.
This is the first published analysis of the overall state of environmental disparity in a nine-county region (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma) around the bay. It was researched and written by Manuel Pastor of the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community (CJTC) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Its 24 pages, with many maps, graphs, and charts, are well written and understandable to the lay person. There is a technical appendix for those who really want to go into the scientific details and there is a great list of other references including those on the web.
Among its key findings:
• Two-thirds of residents who live within one mile of an EPA Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) facility are people of color, while nearly two-thirds of people who live more than 2.5 miles are white.
• Recent immigrants are nearly twice as likely to live within one mile of a TRI facility as they are to live 2.5 miles away from one.
• Although the likelihood of living near a TRI facility declines as income rises, racial disparity exists at every level of income.
The report also presents estimates of cumulative lifetime cancer and respiratory risks associated with air toxics exposure. Areas at higher risk for cancer and respiratory hazards have higher proportions of minority and immigrant residents, as well as higher percentages of land devoted to industrial, commercial, and transportation uses, the authors found.
The main author, Pastor, says: “In the Bay Area, more than 70 percent of estimated cancer risk from ambient air toxics comes from traffic. Many neighborhoods are already well over the regulatory goal of 10 cancers in a million that is used in regulating new facilities, pointing out the need for a cumulative approach to exposure management. A little risk here, a little risk there, and soon you have health risks that are orders of magnitude above the benchmarks considered to be of regulatory concern.”
Pastor called for a comprehensive approach that focuses on reducing persistent inequalities and preventing exposures and health risks before they occur. “Surely, the Bay Area can develop an environmental justice policy that leads the state. As we witnessed in the Katrina disaster, leaving some of us less protected ultimately poses environmental risks for everyone” he said in a press released issued with this report.
Among the policy guidelines discussed in the report:
• Consider cumulative impacts because air pollution and environmental hazards may accumulate and interact to impact community health in ways that are poorly understood.
• Consider social vulnerability because evidence suggests that environmental hazards have gravitated over time to places with the least economic, social, and political power.
• Promote meaningful community participation to generate trust and help regulators, activists, and policy makers establish common ground.
• Take meaningful action to protect the public health.
The authors also called on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) to increase access to data and to collaborate more with cities, counties, and public stakeholders.
In addition to Pastor, the report was coauthored by James Sadd, associate professor of environmental science at Occidental College, and Rachel Morello-Frosch, an assistant professor at the Center for Environmental Studies and the Department of Community Health at Brown University. The study was a partnership of CJTC and the Bay Area Environmental Health Collaborative (BAEHC), with support from the California Endowment, the California Wellness Foundation, the San Francisco Foundation, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
