Using GoodGuide's Scorecard, I was able to answer the following questions about Alameda County:
- Who and what are the top polluters in your zip code?
- The top 3 polluters in Alameda County and the amount of pollutants they each release are: New United Motor MFG Inc. (499,459 pounds), Arch Mirror West (44,985 pounds), and Pacific Galvanizing Inc. (23,445 pounds). The top 5 chemical pollutants released in Alameda County are: glycol ethers, xylene, n-butyl alcohol, toluene, and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene.
- What percent of the homes in your zipcode have lead-based paint?
- 3% of houses in Alameda County have a high risk for lead.
- Are there Superfund sites in your zip?
- The Superfund was created by Congress in 1980 to clean up the most hazardous and polluted waste sites.
- There are 4 Superfund sites in Alameda County. They are: Alameda Navy Air Station, AMCO Chemical, Lawrence Livermore Lab Site 300 (USDOE), and Lawrence Livermore Lab Site 300 (USDOE).
- What can you tell us about the Superfund sites that are near where you live?
- Two of the four Superfund sites in Alameda County contaminated the drinking water source.
- What did you learn about the air quality in your zip code?
- Alameda County ranked among the top 10% of dirtiest/worst counties in the U.S. as far as number of days that the national air quality standard for ozone was exceeded. Despite this, the report also says there is good air quality 86% of days (poses little to no health hazard) and moderate air quality 13% of days (poses moderate health hazard to a select few)
- How about the water quality?
- Alameda County ranked in the top 20% for dirtiest/worst counties in percentage of surface waters with impaired or threatened uses. Pesticides make up for 80% of impairments, followed by mercury (16%) and metals (12%) among other pollutants. The county also ranks above average for the number of impaired waterbodies.
- How did your zip code fair on a social justice / environmental justice basis?
- People of color were worse off than whites in releases of toxic chemicals (OR 1.06), cancer risks from hazardous air pollutants (OR 1.12), and facilities emitting criteria air pollutants (OR 1.83). Low-income families were worse off than high-income families in cancer risks from hazardous air pollutants (OR 1.11) and facilities emitting criteria air pollutants (OR 1.96).
The most surprising thing I was so shocked to read was that "Two of the four Superfund sites in Alameda County contaminated the drinking water source."
ReplyDeleteEspecially coming from Michigan where the famous Flint water crisis happened, this can be particularly scary for residents. What would do without clean water? We put all of our trust in the testing process and city regulations told to us that is can impossible to not believe what they are telling us is not valid!
How do you feel about that? I am not surprised by the environmental justice facts you listed, but frustrated. To me there it looks so unfair: most of the research data shows that people of color and low-income classes have lower health than educated and wealthy individuals. However, on top of the challenges, which low-income individuals face, they are also exposed to more hazards. One one hand it is understandable, but so unfair.
ReplyDelete