Hello!
Today I will talk about a bit of a heavy topic: TRI sites in Los Angeles. I know what you're thinking, what the heck is a TRI site?
TRI sites are any sites, like an industrial company in a particular location, that have to report to the Toxic Release Inventory Program, which is a part of the EPA. This TRI site must report how much of particular toxic chemicals were released into the environment or managed through some form of sustainability, like recycling. The data released to public includes some very specific information, such as where the site is exactly located, including address and latitude and longitudinal coordinates. A toxic chemical, for this TRI program includes any chemical that can cause "cancer or other chronic human health effects, significant adverse acute human health effects, or significant adverse environmental effects."
After combining some data, I've created the maps and data table below to show some interesting information regarding the location of these TRI sites and their relation to certain points of interest in Los Angeles County.
Below is a table that contains some important numbers that I will reference later on. I think it speaks for itself, but as you can tell, there are an alarming number of TRI sites near places they probably should not be.
Schools and TRI Sites
The map below shows most, but not all, of Los Angeles County. The schools, as indicated by yellow triangles, overlap with big red blobs, which indicate their proximity to a TRI site. In this case, each school below is within half of a mile from a TRI site. Of the 2,384 schools in Los Angeles County, 232 fall within that half of a mile range. Now, statistically speaking, that means that less than 1% of schools in Los Angeles County are near a TRI site. But many more, 784 to be exact, fall within the mile range of a TRI site, which is quite alarming.
A school should not be that close to a toxic site. These young students should not be breathing in or interacting with toxic chemicals. It seems wrong to expose children to terrible chemicals that may have an effect on them later in life, like carcinogens.
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| Data Sources: GIS Mapshare at UCLa, http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm# and TOXMAP, http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/ |
Recreational Sites and TRI Sites
Depicted below is a map of recreational sites within a mile of TRI sites. As you can tell by the location of the trees, there are several recreational sites that fall within the 1 mile range. To be exact, 29 of 374 recreational sites fall within this area. Recreational sites include golf courses, zoos, resorts, and others. Fewer of these recreational sites fall within the half-mile range around a TRI site. As you can imagine, these recreational sites probably attract a lot of people. Therefore, it probably is not the best idea to have such toxic sites so close to such an area.
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| Data Sources: GIS Mapshare at UCLa, http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm# and TOXMAP, http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/ |
Hispanic Population and TRI Sites
This map was the most difficult to make, but by far the most interesting. Sometimes minorities can get the short end of the stick and in some cases have poor living conditions. Not terribly surprisingly, this map connects with that idea.
As you can see, the big red blobs seem to be bundled up in the same area as the deep blue squares, which is where there is a higher Hispanic population. The yellow squares just show which census tracts are in a half of mile from a TRI site.
I think it is interesting and rather curious that the denser Hispanic populations seem to be where the TRI sites are. Keep in mind that I am pulling this data from two different sources and just trying to compare the data. Of the total Hispanic population in the county, which is 4,329,287 people, 1,597,882 live in a census tract near a TRI site. That is about 40% of the total Hispanic population in Los Angeles County living close to a TRI site.
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| Data Sources: GIS Mapshare at UCLa, http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm# and TOXMAP, http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/ |
Now I have complied this data from different sources and for all I know some of this data is completely unrelated to other data, but it does pose some interesting questions about environmental justice. Should TRI sites be so close to schools or recreational areas? And why are some TRI sites in areas of higher Hispanic populations? I think these maps prove that there definitely are some TRI sites to be cautious about. Of course, not all TRI sites produce the same amount of or the same chemicals. And how they dispose of those chemicals can vary. Therefore, it is not fair to say that TRI sites are completely evil. However, it is good to keep them in mind.
-The Green Sasquatch
Sources:
http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/
http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm#
http://www2.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/learn-about-toxics-release-inventory
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