Date of Award
Spring 4-29-2020
Semester of Degree
May
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Degree Name
M.S. in Chemistry
Department
Chemistry
Major Professor
Jaime Mirowksy
Steering Committee Member
Mark Teece
Steering Committee Member
Mary Collins
Abstract
It has been demonstrated that certain demographic groups – particularly minorities and low-income individuals – live disproportionately closer to polluting facilities. Therefore, we investigated the chemical releases from Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) facilities in four counties in Upstate New York (Albany, Erie, Monroe, and Onondaga Counties). Using hierarchal clustering, we created seven unique residential clusters from nine population demographics. We geocoded the polluting facilities into our residential clusters to determine if any demographic group was disproportionately exposed to the presence of TRI facilities. Next, the quantity, in pounds, of chemicals released were calculated, the chemicals released were weighted based upon their potential toxicity, and the Facility Scores from EPA’s Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) Model were obtained; the top five facilities with the highest Facility Scores per cluster were examined in detail to determine if any population demographic were disproportionately exposed to more severe chemicals.
Recommended Citation
Charette, Amanda, "Assessing Residential Socioeconomic Factors Associated With Pollutant Releases Using EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory" (2020). Dissertations and Theses. 155.
https://digitalcommons.esf.edu/etds/155
Included in
Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Environmental Health and Protection Commons