My Backyard
Drinking Water Injustice: Racial Disparity in Regulatory Enforcement of Safe Drinking Water Act Violations
Junghwan Bae, Soyoung Kang & Michael Lynch
Race and Justice, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study assessed regulatory enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) within the political-economic context that examined the impacts of community characteristics on length of time a water system remains in noncompliance with SDWA regulations. Our findings indicate that noncompliant water systems in counties with higher proportion of both Black and Hispanic residents take longer to be returned to compliance with the SDWA. Conversely, water systems serving a larger percentage of White residents are in noncompliance for shorter time period, and as the percent White in an area increases, time to compliance decreases. The findings indicate that minority communities are not given equal attention with respect to managing compliance with the SDWA. This study suggests that the legacy of racialized urban planning and long-term disinvestment in water infrastructure are responsible for the longer duration of water system noncompliance in areas with higher percentage of minority population.
Assessing the feasibility of the Inflation Reduction Act's EV critical mineral targets
Jenna Trost & Jennifer Dunn
Nature Sustainability, June 2023, Pages 639-643
Abstract:
Electric vehicle batteries contain many internationally sourced critical minerals. Seeking a stable mineral supply, the US Inflation Reduction Act sets a market-value-based target for battery critical mineral content. In 2027, for an electric vehicle to be tax-credit eligible, 80% of the market value of critical minerals in its battery must be sourced domestically or from US free-trade partners. We determined that the target may be achievable for fully electric vehicles with nickel cobalt aluminium cathode batteries, but achieving the target with lithium iron phosphate and nickel cobalt manganese batteries would be challenging. We also note that a mass-based target could avoid some of the challenges posed by a market-value target, such as volatile market prices. We further conclude that the approach the Act has taken ignores the environmental effects of mining, non-critical minerals supply, support for recycling and definitions that avoid gamesmanship.
Hazed and Confused: Prenatal Pollutant Exposure and CEO Risk-Taking
Raghavendra Rau, YiLin Wu & Lok-Si Ieong
University of Cambridge Working Paper, July 2023
Abstract:
Over the past several decades, a growing literature has documented the adverse health effects of pollution at the individual level. In this paper, we document the detrimental impact of prenatal exposures to pollution on CEOs. Specifically, we draw on the extensive medical literature documenting the cognitive and behavioral outcomes caused by developmental toxicants released by the most hazardous Superfund sites in the U.S., which were plausibly unknown when the CEOs were in utero. We find that CEOs with greater prenatal exposure to Superfund sites take more risks, but the risks do not pay off, adversely affecting the firms' performances and the CEOs' careers. Our results point to a large indirect effect of pollution on society beyond the immediate health effects, and demonstrate the role that prenatal exposure to pollution plays in affecting CEO risk-taking.
Spillover benefits of carbon dioxide cap and trade: Evidence from the Toxics Release Inventory
Linh Pham & Travis Roach
Economic Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to meet climate goals, but these emissions are not the only harmful bi-products of fossil-fuel combustion. This paper shows how a regional cap-and-trade program designed to regulate CO2 emissions affects the release of federally-regulated toxins in the Toxics Release Inventory. We find that the program reduces toxic releases from coal-fired electric plants by 78%, and that harmful metal releases (e.g., lead, mercury) have fallen by 54%. There is no evidence of spillovers into non-adopting areas. This unintended beneficial effect of the carbon dioxide cap-and-trade policy provides compelling evidence of the co-abatement of harmful compounds alongside greenhouse gas emissions.
Pollution Risk and Business Activity
George Zhe Tian, Buvaneshwaran Venugopal & Vijay Yerramilli
University of Houston Working Paper, June 2023
Abstract:
We use major toxic chemical spills as shocks to the pollution risk of their local neighborhoods and examine the consequent effects on local small businesses. A key finding is that pollution shocks contribute to increases in business concentration in their local economy because of their disproportionate adverse effects on smaller establishments compared to larger establishments. Specifically, in every sector, establishments in the smallest size quartile experience large reduction in sales, modest reduction in employment, and significant increase in likelihood of exit following exposure to major spills, whereas those in the largest size quartile experience increase in sales and employment. Business exposed to major spills obtain lower amounts through Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, and consistent with tightening of supply of credit, these loans have lower SBA guarantees and feature higher interest rates. Counties exposed to major spills experience decline in aggregate sales, increase in establishment exits, and increase in the number of bankruptcies among small businesses. There is a significant and persistent migration of population and income away from counties that experience major toxic spills, which may explain the persistent adverse effects on local small businesses.
Cumulative Neurotoxicological Air Pollution Exposure Is Associated with Lower Reading Improvement and Diminished Benefits of Literacy Interventions for Urban Elementary Students of Color
Rouzbeh Rahai & Gary William Evans
Journal of Urban Health, June 2023, Pages 493-503
Abstract:
The cognitive and behavioral deficits associated with air pollution exposure may have far-reaching negative effects on children's scholastic achievement. Moreover, air pollution may be conditioning the success of educational investments that support students who face greatest levels of societal adversity. This study examined the direct main effects of cumulative neurotoxicological exposure on annual reading improvement. We also tested the statistical interaction (i.e., moderation) of neurotoxicological exposure and academic intervention sessions on annual reading improvement for a large sample of ethnic minority (95%) elementary school children (n = 6080, k-6th grade) enrolled in a standard literacy enrichment program. These children were all behind grade level in reading and attended predominantly low-income schools (n = 85) in urban settings across the state of California. Multi-level modeling assessments accounted for random effects associated with school and neighborhood environments, and incorporated extensive individual, school, and community level covariates. Findings show individual elementary students of color to progress less in reading when exposed to greater accumulations of neurotoxin air pollution in their home and school environments, with the average deficit equivalent to 1.5 weeks of learning delay per year. Findings also show neurotoxicological exposure to diminish the efficacy of literacy intervention sessions received on reading improvement throughout the school year. Results suggest that pollution abatement can be a salient strategy to help bridge the child educational achievement gap. In addition to several methodological strengths, this study is one of the first to show that ambient pollution can undermine program efficacy of a literacy enrichment program.
Historical DNA reveals climate adaptation in an endangered songbird
Sheela Turbek et al.
Nature Climate Change, July 2023, Pages 735-741
Abstract:
To cope with climate change, species may shift their distributions or adapt in situ to changing environmental conditions. However, clear examples of genetic changes via adaptation are limited. We explore evolutionary responses to climate change in the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) through whole-genome comparisons between historical specimens, collected from 1888 to 1909 near San Diego, California, United States, and contemporary individuals from across the breeding range. Genomic analyses revealed that introgression into San Diego increased adaptive potential over time and shifted genome-wide population structure towards that of neighbouring populations. In contrast, loci linked to climate (dew point temperature and precipitation) shifted away from neighbouring populations and in a direction consistent with adaptation to climate change in southern California. This research highlights the role of admixture in facilitating adaptive shifts through its impact on genome-wide genetic variation and represents one of the few studies to document climate adaptation in a wild population.
Weird winter weather in the Anthropocene: How volatile temperatures shape violent crime
Christopher Thomas & Kevin Wolff
Journal of Criminal Justice, July-August 2023
Methods: This study explores the association between sudden temperature anomalies (both upward and downward) and the daily incidence of homicide, robbery, and aggravated assault in 28 U.S. cities from 2015 to 2021 using multivariable two-way fixed-effects negative binomial panel regression models.
Results: We find temperature volatility is significantly associated with the incidence of violence. Upward departures in temperature are associated with increases in robbery and homicide, while downward departures are associated in the opposite direction. These associations are more robust in winter, with unexpectedly warmer winter weather associated with larger increases in robbery.
Conservation Priorities and Environmental Offsets: Markets for Florida Wetlands
Daniel Aronoff & Will Rafey
NBER Working Paper, July 2023
Abstract:
We introduce an empirical framework for valuing markets in environmental offsets. Using newly-collected data on wetland conservation and offsets, we apply this framework to evaluate a set of decentralized markets in Florida, where land developers purchase offsets from a small number of long-lived producers that restore wetlands over time. We find that offsets led to substantial private gains from trade, creating about $2.2 billion of net surplus from 1995-2018 relative to a historical conservation mandate. Offset trading also led to large differences in hydrological outcomes, driven by significant differences between restored and existing wetlands in terms of area and location. A locally differentiated Pigouvian tax on offset transactions would have prevented $1.3 billion of new flood damage while preserving more than two-thirds of the private gains from trade.