Grantee Research Project Results
2022 Progress Report: Toxic Tides: Risks and Resilience to Coastal Flooding of Contaminated Sites
EPA Grant Number: R840039Title: Toxic Tides: Risks and Resilience to Coastal Flooding of Contaminated Sites
Investigators: Cushing, Lara , Morello-Frosch, Rachel , Strauss, Benjamin
Current Investigators: Cushing, Lara
Institution: University of California - Los Angeles , University of California - Berkeley , Climate Central
Current Institution: University of California - Los Angeles
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: August 1, 2020 through May 13, 2025
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 1, 2021 through July 31,2022
Project Amount: $799,999
RFA: Contaminated Sites, Natural Disasters, Changing Environmental Conditions and Vulnerable Communities: Research to Build Resilience (2019) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Endocrine Disruptors , Safer Chemicals , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
Flooding events from tropical storms and sea level rise leading to unintentional releases of toxic substances are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change, posing potential health risks to residents living near sites that store or use hazardous materials. Across the country, low-income households and people of color experience greater harmful pollutant exposures and are more likely to live near hazardous waste sites and industrial facilities. Low-income communities often face additional challenges such as poor housing conditions, food insecurity, and pre-existing health conditions that may worsen the health effects of pollutant exposures. As a result, contaminant releases due to the flooding of hazardous sites are likely to disproportionately impact socially disadvantaged populations and present environmental justice concerns.
This research project integrates data on: 1) excess contaminant releases to air, land, and water during flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey in the Texas Gulf Coast; 2) projections of coastal flood risk due to rising sea levels across the United States; 3) the location of sites that contain, use, process, store, or emit hazardous materials, including sewage treatment plants, oil wells and refineries, cleanup and hazardous waste sites, industrial sites and large scale animal operations nationwide; and 4) neighborhood level sociodemographic data to estimate potential vulnerability to environmental health risks associated with flooding of contaminated sites. The overarching goal of this project is to advance scientific understanding of sea level rise and coastal flooding threats to environmental justice communities, and provide broadly accessible data and visualization tools that support regulatory, planning, and advocacy efforts to increase climate resilience in impacted communities.
Objective 1. Evaluate the extent of excess contaminant releases and spills of hazardous material during flooding resulting from the Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and estimate potentially impacted populations
Objective 2. Estimate the environmental health risks posed by coastal flooding of hazardous sites due to sea level rise to vulnerable populations across the United States
Objective 3. Broadly disseminate research findings through a customizable, bilingual online mapping tool and workshops with stakeholders in at-risk coastal communities
Progress Summary:
We compiled a comprehensive dataset of contaminant releases during Hurricane Harvey and completed preliminary analysis of the distribution of releases relative to population demographics and indicators of vulnerability. We released the first comprehensive statewide examination of the environmental justice implications of projected flood risk due to sea level rise at hazardous sites in California. Our community-based partners led the successful launch of a California Toxic Tides Mapping Tool through a series of virtual statewide and regional workshops. Improvements to the tool and a summary of policy recommendations were made in response to suggestions from workshop participants. Users of the tool can visualize the number of expected annual flood-risk events at individual facility locations, the concentration of at-risk facilities in census block groups across years (2050, 2100), toggle between different demographic variables (e.g., % living in poverty, % unemployment, % people of color, etc.) in census block groups with at least one at-risk facility by the year 2100, and learn about impacted communities through case study profiles. Fundamental to our progress was the community-academic partnership that sought to broadly communicate findings to inform decision-making related to climate resilience.
Future Activities:
Our research on the environmental health impacts of Hurricane Harvey will be extended to include an analysis of birth outcomes that seeks to understand if exposure to the storm and excess contaminant releases increased risk of adverse birth outcomes such as preterm birth. Using the methodology we developed for California, we are in the process of estimating flood risk at hazardous sites in all coastal states in the contiguous US, Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico. A national data visualization tool will build off lessons learned from the development of the California Toxic Tides Mapping Tool to provide access to data on at-risk sites and communities across the country in English and Spanish.
Journal Articles on this Report : 2 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 10 publications | 5 publications in selected types | All 5 journal articles |
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Cushing L, Jy Y, Kulp S, Depsky N, Karasaki S, Jaeger J, Raval A, Strauss B, Morello-Frosch R. Toxic Tides and Environmental Injustice: Soci a l Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise and Flooding of Hazardous Sites in Coastal California. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023;Epub |
R840039 (2022) |
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Depsky N, Cushing L, Morello-Frosch R. High-resolution gridded estimates of population sociodemographics from the 2020 census in California. PLOS ONE 2023;17(7):e0270746 |
R840039 (2022) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
climate change, sea level rise, GIS, environmental justiceRelevant Websites:
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.