Search Results (5)

While multiple federal screening tools have previously been developed for mapping communities facing environmental injustice and health disparities, many states across the United States have seen value in developing state-specific screening tools. This article provides an overview of a recent addition to the list of state screening tools, the Connecticut Environmental Justice Screening Tool (CT EJScreen). CT EJScreen identifies communities disproportionately affected by environmental and socioeconomic burdens at the census tract level. The tool integrates geospatial data on potential pollution sources, exposures, health sensitivities, and socioeconomic factors to produce a cumulative Environmental Justice Index. This article describes the development process of the tool, its methodological framework, the multi-pronged public engagement during the development process, preliminary correlation analyses, lessons learned, and recommendations for future iterations. Spearman correlation and Principal Component Analysis were applied to assess variable relationships and guide indicator refinement. Stakeholder engagement with Connecticut’s environmental justice communities ensured that the tool reflects both quantitative data and lived experiences. CT EJScreen provides important information for policy implementation covering areas such as funding, public health issues, and permitting. The CT EJScreen process might serve as a useful template for other states looking to devise state-specific adjunct screening systems. Full article

Abandoned mining-related sites present threats to human health and the environment, while also being potentially valuable places for redevelopment. This paper examines whether successful sustainable redevelopment is more likely in metropolitan areas, and identifies site and population characteristics that make redevelopment more likely. We abstracted data on 143 abandoned mine sites from the U.S. EPA’s Superfund list, including information on site history and characteristics, remediation efforts and any continued contamination risk. Forty-one sites were located in metropolitan areas, and these underwent further document review. The EPA’s updated 2002 EJScreen database was used to identify populations at risk. Data were analyzed using matched pairs and discriminant analysis statistical tests. Follow-up studies of selected sites confirmed cleanup status and plans for sustainable re-use. We found that sites located in metropolitan areas were more likely than those in non-metropolitan ones to have undergone remediation and redevelopment. Multi-use sites were more likely to have completed remediation compared to single-use sites. A combination of site and population characteristics predicted the extent and type of redevelopment at most sites. It is likely that public pressure related to human and environmental health risks and high land values serve as an impetus for the remediation and re-use of abandoned mine sites in metropolitan areas. Full article

From 1850 through approximately 1920, wealthy entrepreneurs and elected officials created “grand avenues” lined by mansions in New York City, Chicago, Detroit, and other developing US cities. This paper examines the birthplaces of grand avenues to determine whether they have remained sustainable as magnets for healthy and wealthy people. Using data from the US EPA’s EJSCREEN system and the CDC’s 500 cities study across 11 cities, the research finds that almost every place where a grand avenue began has healthier and wealthier people than their host cities. Ward Parkway in Kansas City and New York’s Fifth Avenue have continued to be grand. Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C., Richmond’s Monument Avenue, St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, and Los Angeles’s Wilshire Boulevard are national and regional symbols of political power, culture and entertainment, leading to sustainable urban grand avenues, albeit several are challenged by their identification with white supremacy. Among Midwest industrial cities, Chicago’s Prairie Avenue birthplace has been the most successful, whereas the grand avenues of St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, and Buffalo have struggled, trying to use higher education, medical care, and entertainment to try to rebirth their once pre-eminent roles in their cities. Full article

Maryland residents’ knowledge of environmental hazards and their health effects is limited, partly due to the absence of tools to map and visualize distribution of risk factors across sociodemographic groups. This study discusses the development of the Maryland EJSCREEN (MD EJSCREEN) tool by the National Center for Smart Growth in partnership with faculty at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The tool assesses environmental justice risks similarly to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) EJSCREEN tool and California’s tool, CalEnviroScreen 3.0. We discuss the architecture and functionality of the tool, indicators of importance, and how it compares to USEPA’s EJSCREEN and CalEnviroScreen. We demonstrate the use of MD EJSCREEN through a case study on Bladensburg, Maryland, a town in Prince George’s County (PG) with several environmental justice concerns including air pollution from traffic and a concrete plant. Comparison reveals that environmental and demographic indicators in MD EJSCREEN most closely resemble those in EPA EJSCREEN, while the scoring is most similar to CalEnviroScreen. Case study results show that Bladensburg has a Prince George’s environmental justice score of 0.99, and that National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) air toxics cancer risk is concentrated in communities of color. Full article

Exposure to high air pollutant concentrations results in significant health risks. Many communities of color and low-income communities face disproportionately higher levels of air pollution exposure. Environmental justice (EJ) screening tools play a critical role in focusing early attention on areas with a high likelihood of disparate health impacts. In 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) released EJScreen, a screening tool with indicators of a range of pollution burdens across the US. However, little is known about the accuracy of the screening estimates of pollution exposure. This study compares EJScreen’s traffic proximity air quality metric to dispersion modeling results. Using the area around the Houston Ship Channel, we conduct fine-grained air pollution dispersion modeling to evaluate how closely EJScreen’s indicator approximates estimated roadway air pollution concentrations. We find low correlation between modeled concentrations and the EJScreen roadway air pollution indicator. We extend EJScreen’s roadway air pollution screening method in three ways: (1) using a smaller unit of analysis, (2) accounting for the length of each road segment, and (3) accounting for wind direction. Using the Houston region, we use two of the methods and show that the proposed extensions provide a more accurate transportation air pollution screening assessment at the regional and local level. Full article