Industrial Pollution, Social Trust, and Civic Engagement: A Nationwide Study of the Socioenvironmental Nature of Social Capital

I conduct a nationwide investigation of the relationship that toxic industrial pollution and the facilities that produce it have with trust and civic engagement within communities. Data on pollution exposure come from the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators Geographic Microdata (RSEI-GM) and Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data sets for the years 1995 to 1999. Data on trust and civic engagement come from the 2000 restricted-access Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey (SCCBS). Statistical analyses provide strong support for Freudenburg and Jones’ conceptualization of corrosive communities and indicate that exposures to more toxic air pollution associate negatively with various measures of trust, and that increased numbers of TRI facilities associate negatively with various measures of civic engagement. The implication is that exposure to toxic industrial air pollution and the facilities that produce it not only adversely affect the physical health of nearby communities, but also their social well-being and underlying capacities for collective action.

Regulation-Induced Pollution Substitution

Environmental regulations may cause firms to reoptimize over pollution inputs. By regulating air emissions in particular counties, the Clean Air Act (CAA) gives firms incentives to substitute toward polluting other media, like waterways, and toward pollution from plants in other counties. I test these hypotheses using the EPA Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Regulated plants increase their ratio of water-to-air emissions by 177% (102 log points) and their level of water emissions by 105% (72 log points). Regulation of an average plant increases air emissions at unregulated plants within the same firm by 11%.

Pollutant release registers are key tools to help curb air pollution

Recent articles highlighting potential weakening of air pollution regulations in the United States should be a cause for concern for public health worldwide. Environmental regulations to curb air pollution, particularly fine-particle pollution, should be based on sound scientific evidence, not politics. Unfortunately, members of the public seldom read scientific articles published in reputable journals, but they do listen to politicians. However, members of the public can learn more about atmospheric pollutant releases, including fine-particulate matter from industrial facilities under ‘right-to-know’ legislation and public disclosure principles, using Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs). PRTRs are a key policy tools designed to curb air pollution and are used widely in many countries and help support enforcement of environmental pollution control regulations. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) launched the first PRTR, the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) in 1987 and Canada followed suit with the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) in 1993. Whilst PRTRs have been criticised for data accuracy and under reporting, they are still effective tools to curb air pollution through increased public understanding and engagement in decision-making.

Pollutant release registers are key tools to help curb air pollution

Recent articles highlighting potential weakening of air pollution regulations in the United States should be a cause for concern for public health worldwide. Environmental regulations to curb air pollution, particularly fine-particle pollution, should be based on sound scientific evidence, not politics. Unfortunately, members of the public seldom read scientific articles published in reputable journals, but they do listen to politicians. However, members of the public can learn more about atmospheric pollutant releases, including fine-particulate matter from industrial facilities under ‘right-to-know’ legislation and public disclosure principles, using Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs). PRTRs are a key policy tools designed to curb air pollution and are used widely in many countries and help support enforcement of environmental pollution control regulations. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) launched the first PRTR, the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) in 1987 and Canada followed suit with the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) in 1993. Whilst PRTRs have been criticised for data accuracy and under reporting, they are still effective tools to curb air pollution through increased public understanding and engagement in decision-making.

Effectiveness of the national pollutant release inventory as a policy tool to curb atmospheric industrial emissions in Canada

To curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce concentrations of toxic substances in Canada’s atmosphere, many pieces of environment legislation are targeted at reducing industrial emissions. Traditional regulation prescribes penalties through fines to discourage industries from polluting, but in the past two decades, alternative forms of environmental regulation like the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) have been introduced. NPRI is an information management tool which requires industries to self-report emissions data based on a set of guidelines determined by Environment and Climate Change Canada, a federal agency. The tool works to inform the public regarding industry emissions and provides a large database that can be analyzed by researchers and regulators to inform emissions trends in Canada. These tools have seen some success in other jurisdictions (e.g., United States and Australia). However, some research assessing the U.S Toxic Release Inventory suggests there are fundamental weaknesses in the self-reported nature of the data, and incidences of under-reporting. This preliminary study aimed to explore NPRI in Canada and test its effectiveness against the National Air Pollutant Surveillance Network (NAPS), an air quality monitoring program administered by the federal government. While instances of under-reporting were undetected, their study identified areas of weakness in the NPRI tool and instances of increasing emissions across various industrial sectors in Canada.

Effectiveness of the national pollutant release inventory as a policy tool to curb atmospheric industrial emissions in Canada

To curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce concentrations of toxic substances in Canada’s atmosphere, many pieces of environment legislation are targeted at reducing industrial emissions. Traditional regulation prescribes penalties through fines to discourage industries from polluting, but in the past two decades, alternative forms of environmental regulation like the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) have been introduced. NPRI is an information management tool which requires industries to self-report emissions data based on a set of guidelines determined by Environment and Climate Change Canada, a federal agency. The tool works to inform the public regarding industry emissions and provides a large database that can be analyzed by researchers and regulators to inform emissions trends in Canada. These tools have seen some success in other jurisdictions (e.g., United States and Australia). However, some research assessing the U.S Toxic Release Inventory suggests there are fundamental weaknesses in the self-reported nature of the data, and incidences of under-reporting. This preliminary study aimed to explore NPRI in Canada and test its effectiveness against the National Air Pollutant Surveillance Network (NAPS), an air quality monitoring program administered by the federal government. While instances of under-reporting were undetected, their study identified areas of weakness in the NPRI tool and instances of increasing emissions across various industrial sectors in Canada.

Spatial Environmental Inequality in Lubbock, Texas

Environmental inequality assumes a near proximity of environmental health hazards, hazardous waste processing and releasing facilities to minority and low-income communities. Research in environmental inequality and environment justice over the past twenty years suggests that hazardous waste facilities are often located near minority and low-income neighborhoods. We conducted a study evaluating and quantifying environmental inequality in Lubbock County, Texas. Our study analyzed both spatial and statistical relationships between population demographics and spatial proximity to hazardous waste releasing facilities. Hazardous waste facility data used in the study were collected from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Population statistics from the U.S. Census comprise the demographic data for this analysis. Spatial regression models were estimated to evaluate the relationship between distance from TRI sites and neighborhood / census block group demographics. A statistically significant relationship with proximity to hazardous waste facilities was found in communities having significant minority populations.

Visualizing Relative Potential for Aquatic Ecosystem Toxicity Using the EPA Toxics Release Inventory and Life Cycle Assessment Methods

The U.S. EPA Toxic Release Inventory has been available since 1987 as a record of industrial releases of toxic chemicals following the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. Combining this release data with estimates of relative toxicity of these chemicals to aquatic systems increases the value of the database by providing a common basis for comparison. The Tool for Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals and Other Environmental Impacts is a database of characterization factors to assess environmental impacts. It was used to develop relative ecotoxicity impacts and interpreted using Life Cycle Assessment concepts. The visualization software Tableau was used to generate representations of the preliminary results in this communication. The major potential sources of aquatic toxicity have been identified for South Carolina by industry type and by year over the period 1987–2016. The possibility of toxicity from releases of zinc compounds from power generation and pulp and paper mills far exceeds all other sources. Zinc compounds dominated the potential ecotoxicity over the full time period 1987–2016.