{"id":2336,"date":"2014-01-14T16:57:35","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T16:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/?p=2336"},"modified":"2014-01-14T16:57:35","modified_gmt":"2014-01-14T16:57:35","slug":"the-pollution-next-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/the-pollution-next-door\/","title":{"rendered":"The pollution next door"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Noelle Wyman Roth<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the spirit of the New Year, we\u2019ve been writing about remediation of hazardous waste sites. You may be thinking \u201clearning about remediation is all well and good, but there\u2019s no pollution where I live.\u201d In all probability, you\u2019d be wrong to assume that pollution is someone else\u2019s problem. Hazardous sites are everywhere, and if you live in an urban or suburban area (which most of us do), it\u2019s highly likely you live near a Superfund site, brownfield, or facility that\u2019s releasing (or previously released) hazardous chemicals into the surrounding environment.<\/p>\n<p>There are roughly 1700 <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Superfund\">Superfund<\/a> sites on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/superfund\/sites\/npl\/\">National Priority List<\/a>, which are the sites the EPA considers to be most hazardous and prioritizes for cleanup using Superfund money. National priority sites are selected from tens of thousands hazardous waste sites nationwide; EPA tracks this information in an <a href=\"http:\/\/cumulis.epa.gov\/supercpad\/cursites\/srchsites.cfm\">online database<\/a>. Here\u2019s a map of proposed and active NPL sites in the continental US:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-2337\" alt=\"pollution post fig1\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig1-1024x547.png\" width=\"1024\" height=\"547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig1-1024x547.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig1-300x160.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig1.png 1496w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Superfund program only addresses a small number of sites where hazardous waste is stored, dumped, or otherwise released into the environment. The <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/RCRA\">Resource Conservation and Recovery Act<\/a> (RCRA) regulates the disposal of hazardous waste, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Toxics_Release_Inventory\">Toxics Release Inventory<\/a> (TRI) program requires certain types of facilities to report information about emissions and management of toxic chemicals to the EPA.<\/p>\n<p>Taken together, these statutes and programs can give you a pretty good idea of whether there are hazardous sites or toxic chemicals in use near where you live, work, and play, and where those sites are located. Many mapping and informational tools exist to help you find these sites. Here are just a few:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/superfund\/sites\/query\/queryhtm\/nplmapsg.htm\">Superfund NPL Map<\/a> from EPA<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/toxmap.nlm.nih.gov\/toxmap\/main\/index.jsp\">TOXMAP: Environmental Health e-Map<\/a> from NIH<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/superfund.ciesin.columbia.edu\/sfmapper\/mapviewer.jsf?width=1200&amp;height=950\">NPL Superfund Footprint<\/a> from Columbia University<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/ofmpub.epa.gov\/apex\/cimc\/f?p=cimc:63:0:::::\">Cleanups in My Community<\/a> from EPA<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.epa.gov\/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program\">My Right-to-Know TRI Mapper<\/a> from EPA (scroll to bottom of page)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/scorecard.goodguide.com\/env-releases\/land\/\">Scorecard<\/a>, an independent clearinghouse for information on toxic pollution<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/myenvironment\/\">My Environment Maps<\/a> from EPA<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let\u2019s explore what\u2019s in your neighborhood. We\u2019re going to use the My Environment mapping tool because it pulls together information from multiple databases.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to the website, and enter information for the location in which you\u2019re interested. In our case, we\u2019ll do our hometown of Durham, North Carolina.<\/li>\n<li>Then click on \u201cMy Maps\u201d on the left-hand side of the page. This will bring up a map of the location you\u2019ve entered in Step 1.<\/li>\n<li>In the upper right-hand corner, you can select the data in which you\u2019re interested. We\u2019re going to choose:\n<ol>\n<li>Air &gt; Toxic Releases to Air (TRI)<\/li>\n<li>Water &gt; Toxic Releases to Water (TRI)<\/li>\n<li>Land &gt; Superfund Sites (CERCLIS); Hazardous Waste (RCRAInfo); Toxic Releases to Land (TRI); Brownfield Properties (ACRES)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That\u2019s it! Our map now looks like this:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-2338\" alt=\"pollution post fig2\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig2-1024x661.png\" width=\"614\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig2-1024x661.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig2-300x193.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 614px) 100vw, 614px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>From this picture, we can see that there are dozens of facilities near Raleigh-Durham that are regulated by the EPA. According to this map, there are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>153 sites reporting toxic releases to air<\/li>\n<li>44 sites reporting toxic releases to water<\/li>\n<li>25 Superfund sites (using the Superfund NPL Map, we determined there are 5 NPL sites within 30 miles of Durham)<\/li>\n<li>1909 facilities managing hazardous waste under RCRA<\/li>\n<li>119 sites reporting toxic releases to land<\/li>\n<li>71 brownfields properties<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you hover the mouse over the icons, the map will display links to more information about each of the facilities reporting to the EPA. (Tip: if you zoom in or out, be sure to click \u201cupdate contents on page\u201d to prompt the map to refresh.) For example, we wanted to learn more about the Ward Transformer Superfund Site, located near the Raleigh-Durham Airport. We clicked on the link, which then advised us we could find out more about Ward Transformer through <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/region04\/superfund\/sites\/npl\/northcarolina\/wardtrnc.html\">its page<\/a> on the EPA\u2019s Superfund website. We were able to learn more about the current site status, cleanup plan, and that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.atsdr.cdc.gov\/toxfaqs\/tf.asp?id=140&amp;tid=26\">PCBs<\/a> are the major contaminant of concern.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not all bad news out there, though. We wanted to learn more about cleanups that are happening in the Raleigh-Durham area, so we created this map using <a href=\"http:\/\/ofmpub.epa.gov\/apex\/cimc\/f?p=cimc:63:0:::::\">Cleanups in My Community<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-2339\" alt=\"pollution post fig3\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig3-1024x606.png\" width=\"1024\" height=\"606\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig3-1024x606.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig3-300x177.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/files\/2014\/01\/pollution-post-fig3.png 1980w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This map tells us that action is being taken to remediate or improve hazardous waste management at numerous locations nearby, including at the Ward Transformer site. Over time, these sites will become less toxic to human and environmental health.<\/p>\n<p>We encourage you to try out these tools and see what you can find out about your community! We bet you\u2019ll learn a lot about what\u2019s happening near where you live, and hopefully gain insight into why remediation is such an important topic. In the coming weeks, we\u2019ll be writing more about remediation, including the remediation efforts at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/reg3hwmd\/npl\/VAD990710410.htm\">Atlantic Wood Industries<\/a> Superfund site on the Elizabeth River, where <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/research\/project-3-pah-exposures-and-development\/\">Project 3<\/a> studies the effects of PAHs on Atlantic killifish.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Noelle Wyman Roth In the spirit of the New Year, we\u2019ve been writing about remediation of hazardous waste sites. You may be thinking \u201clearning about remediation is all well [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[117,118,119,120,121,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-2336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-dusrc-blog","7":"tag-remediation2014","8":"tag-polluted-sites","9":"tag-myenvironment","10":"tag-superfund-sites","11":"tag-tri","12":"tag-mapping","13":"czr-hentry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2336"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2343,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions\/2343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nicholas.duke.edu\/superfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}