Table 3.
Indicators in current tools to assess potential cumulative risk in communities.
| Draft CalEPA Cumulative Impacts Assessment [2] | NJDEP Preliminary Screening Method to Estimate Cumulative Environmental Impacts [5] | NJDEP Strategies for Addressing Cumulative Impacts in Environmental Justice Communities [3] | US EPA’s NJSEAT [75] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Measures of Sensitive Population and Social Indicators | |||
| Sensitive Populations | None | Social Determinants | Social Demographic Indicators |
| % of population under age 5 | Age of housing | % of population living in poverty | |
| % of population over age 65 | Proportion of population who are children | % of population counted as minority | |
| SES | Proportion of population over age 60 | % of population 25 years old and | |
| % Non-white residents | Poverty rate | over without a high school diploma | |
| Median household income | Median family income | % of population over 65 years of age | |
| % of residents living below 2X | Racial and ethnic composition of population | % of population under 5 years of age | |
| National Poverty Level | Unemployment rate | % of population of limited English proficiency | |
| Some measure of parks/recreational space | |||
| Measures of Environmental Exposure Burden | |||
| Exposures | Exposures | Pollution burden | Environmental indictors |
| PM2.5 concentrations | NATA cancer risk | Lead in blood of children age 6 or younger | NATA cancer risk |
| Ozone concentrations | NATA diesel exposure | RCRA sites | NATA non-cancer risk |
| Releases from industrial facilities (TRI data) | Estimated benzene emissions | TRI | NATA non-cancer diesel PM |
| Traffic (all) | US EPA National Priorities List sites | Toxic chemical emissions and transfers from industrial facilities | |
| Traffic (trucks) | Power plants | ||
| Density of major regulated sites | Treatment, storage, and disposal facilities | Population-weighted ozone monitoring data | |
| Density of known contaminated sites | Brownfields | ||
| Density of dry cleaners | Known contaminated sites | Population-weighted PM2.5 monitoring data | |
| Density of junkyards | Municipal incinerators | ||
| Resource recovery landfills | |||
| Incinerator ash landfills | |||
| Dry cleaners | |||
| Sewage treatment plants | |||
| Gasoline stations | |||
| Municipal solid waste landfills | |||
| Trash transfer stations | |||
| Environmental effects | Compliance indicators | ||
| Hazardous waste and cleanup sites | Inspections of major facilities | ||
| Leaking underground fuel tanks | Violations at major facilities | ||
| Formal actions at major facilities | |||
| Facility density based on all facilities in US EPA’s facility registry system | |||
| Measures of Existing Public Health Problems | |||
| Public health | Existing health problems | Human health indictors | |
| Low birth weight | Total cancer incidence rate | % infant mortality | |
| Cancer mortality rate | Total cancer death date | % low birth weight births | |
| Asthma hospitalization rate | Asthma: hospitalization rate | ||
| Asthma: emergency department visits | |||
| Chronic lower respiratory disease | |||
| Carbon monoxide poisonings | |||
| All-cause mortality rate | |||
| Coronary heart disease rate | |||
| Low birth weight rate | |||
| Infant mortality rate | |||
| Birth defect rate | |||
| Some measure of violence/crime | |||
| Other | |||
| Availability of preventive services | |||
| Childhood lead screening rate | |||
| Other? | |||
| Basic information | |||
| Total population of census tract | |||
| Size (area) of census tract | |||
NATA = National Air Toxics Assessments; RCRA = Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; TRI = Toxic Release Inventory.