From 1990-1998 industrial facilities in MA emitted 164,385,598 pounds of toxic chemical waste, more than the weight of the Titanic, into our air, ground and water. The report shows that in addition to placing new toxic facilities and dump sites in poorer communities and communities of color, housing for people of color and low-income populations are sometimes located on top of pre-existing hazardous waste sites and/or near to polluting facilities.
The report concludes that striking inequities in the distribution of polluting sites and facilities are placing lower-income and people of color populations at substantially greater risk of exposure to environmental health hazards.
This report provides evidence that working class communities and communities of color are disproportionately impacted by toxic waste disposal, incinerators, landfills, trash transfer stations, power plants, and polluting industrial facilities.
Major Findings on Class-Based Unequal Exposure: While lower-income communities (average median household income of less than $40,000) comprise 50.8% of all communities in Massachusetts, they received 78.7% of all chemical emissions from large-scale industries reporting under the Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA) between 1990-1998.
· Low-income communities average two-to-three times more DEP hazardous waste sites than communities with an average annual income greater than $30,000. They also average over four times as many waste sites per square mile.
· Communities with median household incomes of less than $30,000 average nearly seven times as many pounds of chemical emissions from polluting industrial facilities per square mile (during the period 1990-1998) as compared to communities with median household incomes of over $40,000.
· On average, communities with median household incomes of less than $30,000 face a cumulative exposure rate to all environmentally hazardous sites and facilities which is more than 3 times greater than all other communities in the state.
· 14 of the 15 most intensively overburdened towns are of lower-income status (less than $40,000).
Major Findings on Racially-Based Unequal Exposure: Although higher-minority communities (where 15% or more of the population are people of color) comprise just 5.4% of all communities in the state, they are home to 18.2% of all active power plants and 23.4% of all proposed power plants in the state.
· High-minority communities, where 15% or more of the population is made up of people of color, average well over four times as many hazardous waste sites per town as low-minority communities. They also average more than nine times the number of hazardous waste sites per square mile than low-minority communities.
· Communities where people of color make up 25% or more of the total population average nearly 5 times as many pounds of chemical emissions from polluting industrial facilities per square mile as compared to communities where less than 5% of the population are people of color.
· On average, communities where people of color make up 25% or more of the population face a cumulative exposure rate to all environmentally hazardous sites and facilities which is nearly nine times greater than communities where less than 5% of the population are people of color.
· Nine of the fifteen most intensively overburdened towns are of higher minority status (15% or more people of color.)
