Toxic Release Inventory Facilities in Metropolitan Atlanta: Evaluating Variation by Community Socio-Demographics

Purpose Past studies have documented that low income and minority populations often reside in communities with disproportionate exposure to hazardous chemicals. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relevance of... [ view full abstract ]

Purpose
Past studies have documented that low income and minority populations often reside in communities with disproportionate exposure to hazardous chemicals. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relevance of sociodemographic characteristics on the presence of Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) facilities, emissions, as well as the incidence and resolution of facility complaints in the 20-county Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).

Methods
We extracted year 2000 census tract data from the US Census and mapped TRI facilities. We applied regression models to examine the association between census tract level race/ethnicity and socioeconomic variables with TRI facility presence; amount of air toxics released; number of releases; and amount of chemicals emitted per release. Additionally, we investigated the relationship with TRI facility complaints and responses.

Results
In census tracts with TRI facilities, on average there were 4.7% more minority residents. Controlling for race/ethnicity, the odds ratio for the presence of a TRI facility was 0.89 (p<0.01) for each 1% increase in females with a college degree and 2.4 (p<0.01) for each 1% increase in households with an income of $22-$55,000. A 1% increase in females with a college degree was associated with an 18.5 pound (p<0.01) reduction in the amount of chemicals emitted per release. Census tracts that had multiple complaints had 4.3% fewer minority residents than census tracts with no complaints (p=0.009). However, more complaints (OR=1.02, p=0.01) and a longer time to resolution were associated with a higher Hispanic population (OR=1.03, p=0.01).

Conclusion
In the Atlanta MSA, education was significantly associated with TRI facility location and emissions, while census tracts with higher Hispanic populations had more complaints and took longer to resolve. These findings have not been documented previously and suggest that non-White and lower SES communities may be disproportionately exposed to air toxics and receive slower responses to complaints.