Grantee Research Project Results

2024 Progress Report: Toxic Tides: Risks and Resilience to Coastal Flooding of Contaminated Sites

EPA Grant Number: R840039
Title: 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
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: August 1, 2020 through May 13, 2025
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 1, 2023 through July 31,2024
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 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 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.

The overarching goal of this project is to advance scientific understanding of sea level rise and coastal flooding threats to environmental justice communities. We combine and analyze secondary data on the location of hazardous sites, historical tide gauge records, self-reported excess contaminant release data from industrial facilities, and administrative birth records, as well as probabilistic modelling of future flood risk under different scenarios of sea level rise. Results from this project will include 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 past hurricanes in Texas 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
Objective 4. Assess the impact of Hurricane Harvey on the risk of spontaneous preterm and early-term birth in Greater Houston.

Progress Summary:

We published findings from our examination of excess contaminant releases to air, land, and water during three major hurricanes affecting the Texas Gulf Coast. We found that two-to-three times as many excess contaminant releases were reported during hurricanes Rita (2005), Ike (2008), and Harvey (2017), compared to other periods. We also showed that neighborhoods with higher proportions of Hispanic residents were more likely to be located near hurricane-related air emissions releases, and that higher percentages of renters and rates of poverty were associated with a higher likelihood of a release to land or water. We published an analysis of projected flood risk at hazardous sites in California in which we found that disadvantaged communities were more likely to reside near one or more of over 400 hazardous sites at risk of future flooding due to sea level risk by the end of the century. We presented preliminary results from our national analysis of flood risk at hazardous sites at two scientific conferences. We also published results from our retrospective analysis of adverse birth outcomes in Greater Houston associated with Hurricane Harvey in which we find that hurricane exposure during pregnancy was associated with 14% higher odds of spontaneous early-term birth in the following week. Risks were even higher among neighborhoods with severe flooding and foreign-born Hispanics compared to other racial/ethnic groups.
This suggests that exposure to extreme weather events may disproportionately impact immigrant populations and result in higher rates of early-term birth, which can lead to longer term health consequences.

Future Activities:

We will publish our national analysis of flood risk at hazardous sites and release an expanded, national version of our webtool containing customizable maps and data downloads for all coastal US states and Puerto Rico in English and Spanish in 2025. We are also finalizing the development of a census tract-level indicator of flood risk at hazardous sites for incorporation into the National Equity Atlas, an online national report card of racial and economic inequality across US cities.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 10 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

climate change, sea level rise, GIS, environmental justice

Relevant Websites:

Coastal Risk Screening Tool Exit

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

The 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.