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Statistical Measures of Inequality in Disadvantaged Communities to Underground Storage Tanks
Citation:
Murray, A., A. Hall, F. Kremer, AND D. Riveros-Iregui. Statistical Measures of Inequality in Disadvantaged Communities to Underground Storage Tanks. Presented at Fall American Geophysical Union 2021 (AGU Fall meeting 2021), Cincinnati, OH, December 14 - 17, 2021.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation asks the question whether underground and leaking underground storage tanks have environmental justice concerns. Through a series of statistical measure impacts to disadvantaged communities are teased out of natoinal datasets on underground storage tanks and socio-demographic infomation. We find that minority and low-income popualtions are orders of magnitude more likely to live near this infrastructure than there conterpart. Also discussed is what sort of data driven information can we provide to help target inspections and cleanups in the pursuit of EJ.
Description:
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, there have been 555,000 confirmed leaking underground storage tanks (LUSTs) in the US from 1989-2019. 65,000 of these releases remain active. These releases occurred from a universe of 2.3 million underground storage tank (UST) systems, storing petroleum and hazardous substances, over the same time period. Releases of these toxic substances can cause petroleum vapor intrusion into structures, contaminate soil, and pollute public and private drinking water supplies, resulting in deleterious effects to human health and the environment. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has recently published data on where these UST, UST facility, and UST releases are located in all fifty states (including tribal territories), Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.
URLs/Downloads:
STATISTICAL MEASURES OF INEQUALITY IN DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES TO UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS.PDF (PDF, 16 pp, 7087 KB, about PDF)https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm21/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/824280
