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Envl 3241 Air Quality Project
Envl 3241 Air Quality Project
Stockton University
Air Quality Project 2
Abstract:
This air quality project was broken up into three different objectives that all have a direct
correlation with environmental justice, and the air quality in lower income and minority
communities, and large cities. By looking at national data, we were able to discover a few things
about air quality. We discovered that there is a direct correlation between race/income and their
proximity to brownfield sites and brownfield grants.. It shows that lower income and minority
communities are the ones that live around these sites of interest. We also discovered that there is
a correlation between lower income and minority communities and having worse air quality than
better off neighborhoods. The final thing we discovered was that holidays in New York City,
especially on major holidays, have very high levels of particulate matter in their air.
Air Quality Project 3
Table of Contents
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………...2
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………....4
Methods…………………………………………………………………………………………...7
Results……………………………………………………………….……………………………8
References………………………………….………………………………………………...….24
Appendix……………………………….………………………………………………………..26
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Introduction
This project was designed to determine correlations and observe air quality from different
locations in New Jersey and New York City. The first objective was to determine if there was
any correlation between income/race and the proximity to superfund sites, brownfields,
highways, etc. The second objective was to compare lower income and minority communities air
quality by looking at all the parameters, but focusing on Ozone levels. The third objective was to
compare air quality data taken from New York City during major holidays in different seasons.
The first objective involved finding a correlation between income/race and their
proximity to superfund sites, brownfields, highways etc. For this objective we compare towns of
lower income and higher income in both Monmouth and Atlantic county, New Jersey. We also
compared the population of minorities to the lower and higher income towns in both of these
counties. With each of the towns in both counties, we looked at the location of superfund sites,
brownfields, highways, etc, and their proximity to the lower and higher income communities.
Liability Act (CERCLA) in 1980. CERCLA is informally called Superfund. It allows EPA to
clean up contaminated sites. It also forces the parties responsible for the contamination to either
perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work.”(EPA, 2018).
Compensation, and Liability Act, or it can on the CERCLA National Priority List (NPL) which
are sites that have broader requirements that CERCLA, and most have been recently
added/found. These sites have long lasting effects on not only the superfund location, but on the
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community surrounding it. Most of these superfund sites have been old factories, or dumping
grounds that the workers lived fairly close to their jobs. Historically, most of the jobs at these
locations were undesirable to most, and required tough working conditions to which those with
This trend can be found not only at Superfund sites, but also Brownfields, TRI locations,
RCRA locations, and highways. The maps of Superfund sites in Atlantic and Monmouth
2018).
Another part of this objective was to look at the relationship between highway locations
and income and race. The maps of Brownfields locations in Monmouth County can be found in
trucks that carry a vast amounts of contents that are sometimes involved with accidents.
Highways are also the location for people to litter, and with enough people discarding their litter
on these roads, it builds up. Maps for the highways in Monmouth and Atlantic county can be
“...tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human
health and the environment. U.S. facilities in different industry sectors must report annually how
much of each chemical is released to the environment and/or managed through recycling, energy
The maps of these sites in Atlantic county can be found in the appendix in Map 5.
For the second objective for this project was to compare income/race and air quality in
different towns in New Jersey. We compared all the parameters of air quality including carbon
dioxide, particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen, etc. However, we focused primarily on ozone for
this project.
Ozone is a gas found naturally in our atmosphere in the stratosphere. It is not natural in
the troposphere, where we are, and this is where ozone becomes a problem. Ozone is one
greenhouse gases that is having an influence on climate change. The sources of ozone can be
This gas also has very negative side effects on humans that are exposed to it. When
exposed to small amounts of ozone, it can cause coughing, throat irritation, shortness of breath,
and chest pain. Long term exposure of ozone could be permanent damage to lungs, development
The final objective of this project was to look at air quality data from New York City,
New York from different major holidays in different seasons. We looked specifically at
particulate matter in this data due to it being a major city. We compared the air quality on
holidays such a New Year’s Eve to Labor Day in New York City.
We also compared the air in New York City to other major cities in the United States.
Due to the high population density of major cities like New York, that also means that there are
more sources for air pollutants. When holidays come around, there is a large increase in visitors
to the cities, which also makes the sources of air pollutants increase.
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Methods
Data for the environmental justice section was found using the EPA’s environmental
justice tool. The tool is able to pinpoint superfund locations, brownfield sites and brownfield
grants. It then gave demographic information such as minority population and low income
population within a chosen radius of the site (1 mile). Highways were then outlined and
information within a 1 mile radius was shown. Since there is a lot of data on toxic release
inventory, only data from 2017 was looked at. This data for 2017 is found in the EPA’s toxic
release inventory website. The addresses of toxic release were entered into the tool and again a 1
Data for connecting the demographic and socioeconomic status with air quality was
found through the Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool found on the EPA’s
website. The side-by-side maps option was used to create a map showing the distribution of
minority populations to the air quality in that region. The EJSCREEN mapping tool was used to
pick forty cities at random throughout New Jersey and an EJSCREEN report was obtained with
information in a 1 mile radius of that city. The information of percent minority population,
percent low income population, and NATA Air Toxics Cancer Risk were transferred into an
excel file for statistical treatment. The EJSCREEN report was also used to get individual data on
five cities regarding the percent low income population, percent minority population,
tropospheric ozone concentration, particulate matter 2.5 concentrations and NATA Air Toxics
Cancer Risk, which was then transferred to an excel file in order to be analyzed.
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Data for the New York City Air Quality was found using the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation air monitoring website. There are historical records for each region
beginning in 2015. The type of of report, data range and other settings may be selected. The
different values were then compared to a air quality standard chart for New York specifically.
Usually, limits over the standard level is bad and focused on, but for particulate matter 2.5, the
limits below the standard is looked at because the smaller the particle the worse it is, which is
Results
Environmental Justice
Figures 1 and 2 focus on the brownfields grants in Atlantic county. The bar graph compares the
percentage of minorities, and percentage of low-income within a 1-miles radius of each grant. An
exception was made for the 13 grants in Atlantic City due to these sites being so close in
proximity. Instead of observing each site, a radius of 1.6 miles was observed that ecompasses
these 13 grants. The sites looked at are in Atlantic City, Pleasantville, and Hamilton. Atlantic
Figure 1 Figure 2
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Figures 3 and 4 display the data for the brownfield sites in atlantic county. It can be seen that
they nearly line up with the brownfield grants shown in figures 1 and 2. Again for the brownfield
sites in Atlantic City, a radius of 1.6 miles was observed that encompasses all 13 brownfield
sites. The only other site in Atlantic county, besides the 13 in Atlantic City, is in Absecon.
Figure 3 Figure 4
Figures 5 and 6 focus on the Brownfields sites in Monmouth county. There are 4 Brownfield
sites and all of them are located in Neptune City within a 1 mile radius of one another. Therefore
the minority percentage and low income percentage are very similar amongst each site.
Figure 5 Figure 6
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Figures 7 and 8 focus on the brownfields grants in Monmouth county. A 1-mile radius is looked
at for each site. The grants looked at are in Long Branch, Asbury Park, Neptune City, and Colts
Figure 7 Figure 8
Superfund sites in Atlantic County. A 1-mile radius is observed for each site. The currently
active Superfund sites in Atlantic County are the D’Imperio Property, Emmells Septic Landfill,
FAA Technical Center, Garden State Cleaners, Price Landfill, the South Jersey Clothing
Company, and Pomona Oaks. Delilah Road landfill and Mannheim Avenue landfill have since
Figure 9 Figure 10
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Figures 11 and 12 focus on the Superfund sites in Monmouth county. A 1-mile radius is
observed at each site. The active Superfund sites in Monmouth county are Burnt Fly Bog,
Imperial Oil Co., Lone Pine, Monitor Devices Inc., Naval Weapons Station Earle, Waldick
Aerospace Devices Inc., White Swan Cleaners, Zschiegner Refining Company, and Bog Creek
Farm. There are 9 active Superfund sites in Monmouth county. The Friedman Property and M&T
Figure 11 Figure 12
Figures 13 and 14 display the toxic release inventory for Atlantic County in 2017. The TRI data
displayed is from the EPA’s toxic release inventory dataset. Only 2017 data is looked at because
there would be over hundreds of locations to observe if all reported toxic release data is used.
Massarelli’s Lawn Ornaments released 1,347 pounds of styrene, SwimUSA Fiberglass pools
released 11,185 pounds of styrene, Viking Yacht Co. released 8,755 pounds of Styrene. A total
21,287 pounds of styrene were released in Atlantic county. American Galvanizing released 280
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pounds of zinc. A total 21,567 pounds of TRI were released in Atlantic county in 2017. These
Figure 13 Figure 14
Figures 14 and 15 display the toxic release inventory for Monmouth county in 2017. The TRI
data displayed is from the EPA’s toxic release inventory dataset. Only 2017 data is looked at
because there would be over hundreds of locations to observe if all reported toxic release data is
used. Nestle Inc released 3,315 pounds of ammonia, and 10 pounds of nitric acid. Preston
products released 32 pounds of certain glycol ethers, 138 pounds of ethylene glycol, and 820
pounds of methanol. Ralph Clayton & Sons released 1 pound of lead. Monmouth county released
a total of 4,316 pounds of TRI in 2017. These are all on-site, fugitive, and point source air
emissions.
Figure 14 Figure 15
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Figures 16 and 17 display the highways in Atlantic county. Only major, frequently traveled roads
Figure 16 Figure 17
Figures 18 and 19 display the highways in Monmouth county. Again, only major roads were
observed. There are a lot of major roads in Monmouth county, likely due to its close proximity to
Figure 18 Figure 19
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To determine a correlation between low income populations or minority populations, the first
thing was to look at the population’s dispersion in relation to the air quality of the region. Figure
20 shows the air quality measured through NATA Air Toxics Cancer Risk shown on the left
Figure 20
Although there is a connection between minority populations and the air quality of a
region, a look at the air quality for individual cities and their minority and low income
populations is necessary. Forty cities were picked at random throughout New Jersey as shown in
figure 21. Information on the demographic, socioeconomic, and air quality within a 1 mile radius
of the city was tabulated and graphed to see if there was any connection. The percent of minority
populations and percent of low income populations compared to the quality of air in the city is
shown in figures 22 and 23. Data for the 40 cities is shown in the appendix.
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Figure 24
city. The data collected is summarized in table 1. The concentration of ozone, particulate matter
2.5 and the overall air quality was also graphed by increasing
percentage of minority populations shown in figure 25 and increasing percentage of low income
populations as shown in figure 26. A trend line was added to see if there was any correlation of
Table 1
Figure 25
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Figure 26
The Department of Environmental Conservation has over 50 station sites across the state of
New York that measure different air pollutants in real time. The criteria pollutants measured are
ozone, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, PM 2.5, and meteorological data. Air quality in cities
are often times worse than suburban areas due to all of the movement and action in a densely
populated area. Traffic and idling cars,factories spewing chemicals, and airplanes constantly
departing and arriving are just some of the major factors contributing to the bad air quality.
When focusing on New York City, particulate air pollutants fell below standard levels on the
big holiday New York City is known for. On New Years Eve 2017, particulate matter 2.5 levels
went below the standard of 12 micrograms/m^3 multiple times as the day went on. As
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particulate matter gets smaller it has more negative effects, so numbers below the average are the
ones looked at here. PM 2.5 is released from multiple sources such as cars, airplanes, and power
plants. Since New York City is a popular place to go for the holiday, thousands of people head
there at once, releasing large amounts of fossil fuels in a short amount of time (DEC 2018). July
fourth and Labor Day 2018 were other times when PM 2.5 pollution got pretty bad, getting as
low as 4.7 micrograms/m^3. When compared to the standard of 12 that is a big difference. Both
instances can bee seen in figures 27, 28, and 29 when they are compared to the chart of standard
levels.
According to the American Lung Association, the top ten most ozone polluted cities are
mostly all in California,eight out of ten, but New York City did make the list shown in figure 30
(ALA 2018).
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Figure 30: 2018 most ozone polluted cities (American Lung Association)
On the fourth of July 2018, ozone exceeded the standard level of .070 ppm, it reached
.072 ppm at noon, usually the time when the sun is the strongest. This can be seen when
comparing figure 3 to the chart of standard levels. Labor Day 2018 was another time when ozone
levels were close to being met. Ozone is an important chemical in the stratosphere that protects
earth from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Ground ozone is bad and can cause adverse health effects.
Ground ozone is formed when sunlight reacts with volatile organic compounds and nitrogen
oxides (DEC 2018). These chemicals are coming from man made sources such as gasoline
pumps, auto body shops, print shops, and chemical plants (EPA 2018). It was 90 degrees on
Labor Day 2018, meaning the suns rays were very strong and also many people were off from
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work, so there is more driving and overall use of things that use energy, therefore more
and low income population in Atlantic county. All sites have minority populations that are well
above the state average. This also appears to be the same for Monmouth county. In both counties
it seems that all of the brownfields sites are heavily concentrated in the same area, which
Superfund sites in Atlantic County do not seem to have a correlation to minority population and
low-income population. There are sites with minority and low-income populations above the
state average, and there are also sites that are below the state average. The same holds true for
Monmouth county superfund sites. Toxic release inventory locations in Atlantic county have a
low-income population that is about average and a minority population that is about half of the
state average. In Monmouth county, toxic release inventory has a low-income and minority
populations that is average. Highways in Atlantic county have low-income and minority
populations that are average. Highways in Monmouth county seem to have low-income and
A look at the minority population and air quality side by side shows that there is a
connection between the two. The areas of higher cancer risk from inhalation coincide with the
areas of denser minority populations, but this also is related to the population densities of the
cities compared to the more rural areas of New Jersey. In order to determine if there is a
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connection regardless of the proximity to major metropolitan areas, individual cities were
analyzed. Even when cities were analyzed individually based on their minority population and
air quality, there is a weak correlation between low income populations and minority populations
with a coefficient of determination of 0.136 and 0.395 respectively. Although the coefficient of
determinations for these two data sets are low, many other factors can contribute to the deviation
populations, and air quality, and there is an obvious increasing trend line relating the three. Five
cities that are a good distance away from New York and Philadelphia were also analyzed to
mitigate the effects of population density on the results. The results also show the same
correlation. Ozone, particulate matter 2.5, and overall air quality was shown to increase with
increasing population. Although there were some cities that decreased in tropospheric ozone or
particulate matter if you look at two individual cities, the trend when looking at the five cities
together show an decrease in air quality as the minority and low income populations increase.
When is comes to air quality in New York City, residents are obviously directly effected,
but differently depending on age and state of health. Other factors that can play into how badly
someone can be affected are the specific locations they reside. Whether it may be on a heavily
populated main road, in a neighbor with less traffic flow, near the airport, or next to a
manufacturing company, the chemicals coming from these things are going to negatively affect
the ones close by constantly coming in contact with them. Not only do we have to worry about
humans health being affected by these chemicals, but the environmental effects are just as
PM 2.5 can cause serious health effects depending on the size of the particles. The
smaller the particle, the more dangerous it is because it is easier to breath in and get trapped in
lung tissue. These tiny particles are made up of microscopic solid or liquid droplets that can get
deep into lung cavities and even the bloodstream. Exposure can cause both lung and heart
problems such as premature death in people with heart or lung disease, nonfatal heart attacks,
aggravated asthma, and irregular heartbeat (EPA 2018). Environmental effects are another issue
because particles can be carried over long distances by wind and water and settle on ground or in
water far from the source. The different chemicals in the particles can cause adverse effects like
making bodies of water more acidic and depleting the nutrients in soils.
Ozone is harmful to humans and the environment. People breathing air containing ozone
who are most at risk are ones affected by asthma, children, older adults, and people who are
active outdoors or people who work outdoors. People with certain genetic characteristics and
reduced intake of nutrients like vitamin C and E can also be affected. Breathing in air containing
ozone can cause chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and airway inflammation. It can worsen
bronchitis, asthma, and emphysema and also reduce lung function and tissue. This can all lead to
Effects to the environment are just as serious. Ozone effects sensitive ecosystems such as
parks and wildlife refugees. When leaves on plants are exposed to ozone it can reduce
photosynthesis, slow the plants growth, and increase the risk from disease, pests, pollutants and
weather.
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References
https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/new-york-ny/10007/september-weather/349727
American Lung Organization (2018) State of the air: Most polluted cities then and now.
Department of environmental Conservation (2018) New York State air monitoring site.
Environmental Protection Agency (2018) Ground level ozone basics. Retrieved from
https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/ground-level-ozone-basics
Environmental Protection Agency (2018) Health and environmental effects of particulate matter.
Retrieved from
ttps://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/health-and-environmental-effects-particulate-matter-pm
Environmental Protection Agency (2018) Indoor air quality (IAQ). Retrieved from
https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/ozone-generators-are-sold-air-cleaners
Environmental Protection Agency (2018) Learn about the toxic release inventory. Retrieved
from
https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/learn-about-toxics-release-inventory
https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/overview-epas-brownfields-program
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https://www.epa.gov/ozone-pollution-and-your-patients-health/what-ozone
https://www.epa.gov/superfund/what-superfund
https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice
https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program
Mapping Tool
https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen
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Appendix
he map below shows the TRI Locations in Atlantic county, New Jersey.
Map 5: T
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he map below shows the superfund sites In Atlantic county, New Jersey.
Map 7:T
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he map below shows the superfund sites in Monmouth county, New Jersey.
Map 8:T
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Map 9: This map shows a map of New York City, NY and the boroughs that are found in the
city.
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Figure 31: A table of towns in New Jersey with their low income population percent, minority
population percent, and the NATA air toxic cancer risk per MM.