Blacks, Latinos live with state’s dirtiest air

The Golden State is a world leader when it comes to clean-air policies and fighting climate change but we still suffer from the worst air quality in the nation and when it comes to who bears the greatest burden of our pollution there is a clear and disturbing color line.

A new report released by the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, a scientific arm of California’s Environmental Protection Agency, documents what environmental justice advocates have been saying for years — the racial makeup of communities suffering the worst environmental degradation in California are disproportionately Latino and African American.

These folks primarily live in low-income, disadvantaged communities often found near ports, warehouses, rail yards, and factories that foul the air, pollute the water and rain toxins down on playgrounds, parks and backyards.

Using Census data and Cal Enviro Screen, which maps every census tract by pollution and demographic factors, the state report paints a troubling picture of stark disparities that still separate Californians by race.

Nearly 1 in every 3 Latinos and African Americans lives in the top 20 percent of most pollution-impacted communities. Only 1 in 14 whites calls these places home.

Latinos 65 years and older make up 46 percent of the elderly population living in the top 10 percent of most heavily pollution-impacted communities, yet they comprise less than 20 percent of the state’s elderly. For African Americans, 15 percent live in these communities while they only make up 5 percent of the California’s graying population.

This trend was reversed for older white residents, who account for 62 percent of California’s elderly population but only 25 percent of those living in the worst polluted communities.

As for the children, Latinos make up a little more than half the state’s under-10 population but 81 percent of those living in the most highly polluted communities. African American and Asian children are also disproportionately represented. In contrast, white children account for 5 percent while statewide they’re at 26 percent.

A large body of research shows that exposure to pollution and stress can have adverse health impacts that vary based on race and ethnicity. For instance, a pregnant African American woman exposed to particulate and traffic-related pollution is more likely to give birth preterm than a white mother.

Science has long known that children and the elderly can be especially vulnerable to the adverse health impacts of pollutants. Asthma, stunted lung development, increased hospitalization and heart attacks are just a few of the ailments caused by pollution for these populations.

The state report demonstrates that advocates demanding environmental justice for lowincome, disadvantaged communities have a righteous cause but have a long way to go before they can rest. California’s environmentally unjust conditions call for vigorous policies to protect our lowincome communities of color, including a robust implementation of the new Community Air Protection Program under last year’s AB617 and heightened pollution-fighting investments in disadvantaged communities.