Air Pollution Research Group Analysis of 1999 TRI Data to Identify High Environmental Risk Areas of Ohio by Amit Joshi

Air Pollution Research Group Objective To shortlist the zip codes based on their impact on the environment

Air Pollution Research Group Need for Hazard Screening System 1.Lack of continuous monitoring data 2.Highly varying properties of chemicals 3.The dearth of tools that can provide information on the human health and environmental hazards caused by hazardous chemical releases from industrial facilities, products and hazardous materials sites

Air Pollution Research Group Literature Review Focus Areas 1. Ranking of the chemicals (Wu et al., 2001) 2. Ranking of facilities (Neumann et al., 1998) 3. Optimal selection of pollution prevention actions (Whaley et al., 2000)

Air Pollution Research Group Literature Review (contd..) Ranking of Chemicals (Wu et al., 2001) Compilation of Air Toxics emissions inventory for the year 1996 Ranking was based on mass of emissions and by an index comprised of emissions divided by the health benchmark. Implication was that interpretation of toxic emissions inventory data required additional information beyond the mass of emissions

Air Pollution Research Group Literature Review (contd..) Ranking of Facilities (Neumann et al., 1998) A Chronic Toxicity index (CI) based on oral toxicity factors and total mass was calculated for each reported on- site TRI chemical release CIs were aggregated on a media-, facility-, and chemical- specific basis Chemicals & TRI facilities were ranked based on the CI

Air Pollution Research Group Literature Review (contd..) Optimal selection of pollution prevention actions (Whaley et al., 2000) Interpretation of relative hazard from industrial emissions to air and water, to identify communities most vulnerable to environmental contamination Identification of those industrial source-vulnerable community pairs where use of pollution prevention had the greatest potential for reducing significant hazardous exposures

Air Pollution Research Group Summary from Literature Review Use of “emission data” has been the most important criteria used by a number of researchers Most of the screening methods have used only one or two hazard indices

Air Pollution Research Group Methodology Devised Methodology Rank and choose suitable number of units High-Ranking Zip Codes Short-listed units based on indicators Chemical Release Data Health Indicators Unit of Analysis Time Scale Reference Hazard Values DataProcessingResults Calculate

Air Pollution Research Group Methodology (contd..) Applied Methodology DataProcessingResults Calculate Rank and choose suitable no. of units Zip code as unit of analysis Five-year period ( ) Six health indicators along with TRI emissions Reference Hazard Values for all six categories Top Ten Zip Codes Short-listed Zip codes based on reference hazard values EPA’s TRI Database

Air Pollution Research Group Environmental Indicators  Human Toxicity Potentials  Carcinogenic Toxicity Potential  Non-Carcinogenic Toxicity Potential  Global Warming Potential  Ozone Depletion Potential  Smog Formation Potential  Acid Rain Formation Potential

Air Pollution Research Group Environmental Indicators (contd..) Human Toxicity Potentials Index reflecting potential harm of a unit of chemical released into the environment Emissions are aggregated in terms of reference compound

Air Pollution Research Group Environmental Indicators (contd..) Human Toxicity Potentials (contd..) Carcinogenic Toxicity  Key Parameter- Slope Factor  Slope Factor (SF)- Excess Cancer vs. Administered Dose Data  SF α Carcinogenic Toxicity  Benchmark Compound- Benzene

Air Pollution Research Group Environmental Indicators (contd..) Human Toxicity Potentials (contd..) Non-Carcinogenic Toxicity  Key Parameters – RfDs and RfCs  RfDs and RfCs – Reference Dose and Reference Concentration for Ingestion and Inhalation Route  LD50 and LC50 – Substitutes for RfDs and RfCs  Benchmark Compound – Toluene

Air Pollution Research Group Environmental Indicators (contd..) Global Warming Potential  Cumulative infrared energy capture from the release of 1 kg of a greenhouse gas relative to that from 1 kg of carbon dioxide  Benchmark Compound – CO 2

Air Pollution Research Group Environmental Indicators (contd..) Ozone Depletion Potential  Predicted time - and height - change in stratospheric ozone caused by the release of a specific quantity of the chemical relative to that caused by the same quantity of a benchmark compound  Benchmark Compound – CFC-11

Air Pollution Research Group Environmental Indicators (contd..) Acid Rain Potential  Potential for acidification of any compound- number of moles of H + created per number of moles of compound emitted  Benchmark Compound – SO 2

Air Pollution Research Group Environmental Indicators (contd..) Smog Formation Potential  Key Parameter: Incremental Reactivity  Incremental Reactivity: Change in moles of ozone formed as a result of emissions into an air shed of one mole of the VOC  Benchmark Compound- Reactive Organic Gases (ROG)

Air Pollution Research Group Indices and No. of Chemicals Used for Analysis Carcinogenic Toxicity (73 chemicals) Non-Carcinogenic Toxicity (145 chemicals) Ozone Depletion (8 chemicals) Global Warming (8 chemicals) Acid Rain (19 chemicals) Smog Formation (2 chemicals)

Air Pollution Research Group Coverage by the selected chemicals Category Percentage Carcinogenic Toxicity 67% Non-Carcinogenic Toxicity 85%

Air Pollution Research Group Why top 10 zip codes? Ratio of Equivalent Emissions of 10 th Ranked to 1 st Ranked Zip Code

Air Pollution Research Group Results

Air Pollution Research Group Results (contd..)

Air Pollution Research Group Results (contd..)

Air Pollution Research Group Results (contd..)

Air Pollution Research Group Results (contd..)

Air Pollution Research Group Results (contd..)

Air Pollution Research Group Results (contd..)

Air Pollution Research Group Conclusions List of top 10 zip codes based on the emissions, environmental impact, and risk

Air Pollution Research Group Conclusions (contd..) High-risk zip codes are identified for future pollution prevention activities Caution: Each of the identified zip codes should be reexamined using other available data and methods

Air Pollution Research Group Recommendations for Future Research Examination of water and land releases Availability of online tool for industries for impact and risk assessment Use of AERMOD and UAM to develop concentration contours for refined impact assessment Determination of potentials Availability of continuous monitoring data for toxic chemicals