M3.4 Air Pollution

I currently live in Pinole, California, zip code 94564.

After inputting this in the scorecard.org website, it provided the following information about Contra Costa county:
  • Who and what are the top polluters in your zip code?
    • Shell, Tesoro Refining, and Chevron are the top three polluters in Contra Costa county, each with around 1 million pounds of pollution released.
  • What percent of the homes in your zip code have lead-based paint?
    • 1% of houses in Contra Costa county are at high risk for lead hazard.
  • Are there Superfund sites in your zip?  (In your BLOG, make sure to tell us what a Superfund Site is)
    • Superfund sites are sites that produce the worst kind of toxic waste. In Contra Costa county, there are three: Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS), GBF, Inc., and United Heckathorn. However, Contra Costa county ranks among the 20% cleanest counties in all the country when it comes to number of superfund sites.
  • What can you tell us about the Superfund sites that are near where you live?
    • None of the superfund sites are actually in Pinole. The ones listed are in the county and the closest one is United Heckathorn. The CNWS, located in Concord, releases many contaminants that have been detected in the surface water, including: Anthracene, Arsenic, DDT, and Lead, among others. GBF Inc., located in Pittsburgh, also releases contaminants in both surface water and ground water that include: Asbestos, DDT, Cyanide compounds, and Zinc, among others. United Heckathorn, located in Richmond, was found to release DDD, Gamma-Lindane, and Xylene, among others, into the surface water, and DDT into both the surface water and air.
  • What did you learn about the air quality in your zip code?
    • Contra Costa County is among the 10% worst counties in the country both in terms of smog and soot, and other pollutants that cause cancer and other risks.
  • How about the water quality?
    • 50% of surface waters are reported to have problems. Contra Costa county ranks among the top 10% worst counties in terms of water quality.
  • How did your zip code fair on a social justice / environmental justice basis?
    • The distribution of burdens by Race/Ethnicity, Income, Poverty, Childhood Poverty, Education, and Job Classification are all higher among People of Color, Low Income Families, Families below Poverty, Kids below Poverty, Non-Highschool Graduates, and Working Class People, respectively. The highest disparity of all was in the Superfund Site location category, where there was an average ratio of 3 from less privileged to more privileged people.

Comments

  1. USF MPH ClassSeptember 11, 2018 at 4:50 PM

    Hi,
    You have a similiar zip code to my zip of 94526. We both have contra costa county and I was pleased with the result although improvements could definitely be made. The refinery and Chevron are the major players and I am not sure resident of contra costa even are aware of their Air quality, I sure wasn't. I was really shocked at the water statistic. I thought we would be great near all the mountains.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sandy TanSeptember 16, 2018 at 2:56 PM

    Hi Hugo,
    I am shocked at how many pounds of pollution Chevron is releasing, compared to my city where Chevron releases about 13,000 pounds! The distribution of burdens for Superfunds is shocking as well, being 3 times the burden.

    ReplyDelete

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