You may have heard that Americans are pumping less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than we were a few years ago, which is great for mitigating climate change. But as Ben Adler pointed out in a post for Grist on Sunday, we still have a long way to go. CO2 isn’t the only greenhouse gas, and its often-overlooked “co-pollutants” have more immediate, localized effects on human health, particularly for poor communities and people of color. During an address to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation last month, EPA chief Gina McCarthy pointed out that emissions of co-pollutants such as nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, sulfur oxide, and soot contribute to as many as one in 10 deaths in urban areas. “That is not acceptable,” she said. “And we know that minorities are more likely to live near hazardous waste sites,” McCarthy added. “We know that respiratory and cardiac illnesses there are at a higher rate. For example, an African-American child is five times more likely than a white child to die from an asthma attack.” It’s not news that large polluting factories are often concentrated in communities where people of color and of low-income are the primary, if not the exclusive inhabitants. But an EPA report released last week drives this point home. The report, which documents greenhouse gas emissions from large facilities in 2012, is accompanied by interactive maps showing where those facilities are located (at least the ones that actually report to the EPA). Looking at those maps, I located five of the nation’s worst areas where waste processing plants, refineries, and power plants are bundled — much to the detriment of families living close by. (A factory icon represents a single large facility, while circled numbers indicate clusters of these facilities.) This picture says it all. From Houston to Galveston (in the lower right corner) to Port Arthur (just off the top right corner of the map), this is perhaps the most polluted, definitely the most clustered area in the nation. The Port Arthur area is where the Keystone XL pipeline would end, bringing tons of dirty tar sands and refinery waste to an already beleaguered community. http://grist.org/cities/5-highly-po...tter&utm_medium=tweet&utm_campaign=socialflow
lol according to this there is a gas refinery in the middle of midtown? and a natural gas production facility in the middle of downtown? right.
Actually you'd be surprised. There's one right behind BBVA compass. In the med center there's one. Probably one in midtown that I haven't seen but yea there are power production plants here and there.
I thought this was going to be about me eating at Wing Stop and then touching everything without washing my hands first
what do the numbers on the map quantify? I'm assuming the less, the better; in which case everything west of down town looks ok... i guess?
this map is exactly why people who live in Katy, Cypress, Sugarland, First Colony, Alief, Westside, or anything West of downtown don't ever go east of downtown unless we're going to galveston. no offense to those who reside on the other side...
Getting tired of people whining and downing this particular industry. All those black dots on that map represent THOUSANDS of jobs. From street sweepers all the way to multimillion dollar CEOs live, and make a living in it. White collar, blue collar, and gold collar. Necessary evil, this industry that people whine about is what seperates Tx from California and Detroit. Some of it good, some bad, deal with it.
We've got all the ****ing money, good food, and cheap living, get out of here with this pee-pee game ****. Too worried about being awesome to worry about this hipster ****.
Some of those places would not be what it is today without that East side. Do some homework on Sugarland and Woodlands.
