Despite the success of national legislation like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, pollutants still enter the environment at alarming rates. We can easily identify obvious sources of pollution—sulfur dioxide is bound to be coming out of a coal-fired power plant’s smokestacks—yet often less-obvious sources go unnoticed.
When pollution from any of these sources enters the environment, the substance likely enters either the air, local ground or surface water, or the soil; some of these substances may remain in these locations for many years. These chemicals have obvious effects: human and environmental health suffer in a variety of ways.
Nevertheless, the landscape of the region and the physical distance from a polluter means that some locations will experience only minimal levels of a pollutant. Wind and other weather patterns could transport a pollutant away from region and toward another; a city-dweller living next door to a factory will inhale many more toxic chemicals than will a rural farmer living kilometers away.
Luckily (or not, depending on your perspective) there is an online tool to determine which polluters exist in your locality. By visiting Scorecard, you can input your home or current zip code and get a list of polluters in your locality, the location of those polluters, how much pollutant they emit, and which pollutants are most prevalent where you live. For instance, I learned a company was emitting lead-based compounds from what I thought was an office building adjacent to the suburban neighborhood where I grew up! You can also see if any Superfund sites exist near you, determine the cleanliness of your local water, and learn what percentage of homes in your area have risk for hazardous levels of lead.
How many polluters are in your locality? Are you surprised at what you find out? Let us know in the comments!
I used the Scorecard and clicked around the website. I searched for Richmond Virginia and found that Toluene and Ammonia are the two chemicals that have been emitted in the local area. Toluene can effect the nervous system and ultimately lead to death with high levels of exposure.
I did a subsequent search of the top polluters in the 23229 area code (Henrico County) and found that Quebecor World and Kraft Foods were a the top of the list by a significant margin. Quebecor World was actually cited in the news as well as by the EPA for emitting the toxic agent, Tolouene. It is considered as a healthier, lower risk alternative to benzene however in the past six years the amount of Tolouene output has decreased significantly.
Since Matt already covered Richmond I looked up my home county, Queens, NY to see just how dirty New York City really is. One thing I learned is that although NYC proclaims to have the best tap water in the country (which it does), all of those old lead pipes installed in houses before the 1950s can make the water toxic to drink. 7% of homes in Queens County are at a high risk of lead hazards, ranking it in the 95th percentile for worst counties in the United States. Lead in drinking water can increase the amount of lead in the bloodstreams of small children and elevated amounts can result in lead poisoning, which has the potential to hinder mental development. Despite the fact that NYC really did clean up the Hudson and East Rivers and there are no Superfund sites located in Queens, the surface water remains pretty dirty ranking in the 90th percentile for worst impaired surface waterways. This statistic made me think of all the streams and cannels coated with a glossy green finish running through the industrial sector along the banks of the East River. Sure enough, five of the eleven top polluters in Queens are located in Long Island City. These statistics did surprise me a little considering the regulations of the Clean Water Act. It seems that in the case of Queens the Clean Water Act helped to improve the quality of life for the few fish residing in the East River or oil coated Zach’s Bay, but neglected the 156,151 (7% of the total population in Queens – 2,230,722) at a great risk for lead poisoning.
I did the scorecard for my zip code (Jefferson County, KY) and found out that in 2002, Jefferson county ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of total environmental releases and in 1999, Jefferson County ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of pm-2.5 emissions. Also based on current data, my county ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the US in terms of an average individual’s added cancer risk from hazardous air pollutants. All very encouraging… I was aware that we did have bad air quality and often deal with smog (along with a lot of the Ohio River Valley), but it was very interesting to be able to look at actual data that shows how bad the air quality is and the risk of toxic of toxic chemicals that we face when compared to the nation as a whole. The top three contributors to environmental releases are all gas and electric companies, with the Ford assembly plant in 4th.
After living in this county my entire life and being so unaware of the amount of pollution and the risk we have been in, I think it is important that information like this be made more public in order to encourage more of an effort to cut down on pollution.