Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine logoLink to Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
. 2002 Dec 1;79(4):464–481. doi: 10.1093/jurban/79.4.464

Uncovering the historic environmental hazards of urban brownfields

Jill S Litt 1, Thomas A Burke 2,✉
PMCID: PMC3456720  PMID: 12468667

Abstract

In Baltimore, over 1,000 vacant industrial sites persist across its urban landscape, yet little is known about the potential environmental health risks that may undermine future cleanup and redevelopment activities and the health of those in communities near these sites. This study examined the characteristics of urban brownfield properties in southeast Baltimore, Maryland, and screened sites for their potential environmental bazards. In addition, demographic and health data were evaluated to profile the social and health status of those in brownfield communities. The results show that brownfields in southeast Baltimore represent a range of historic operations, including metal smelting, oil refining, warehousing, and transportation, as well as paints, plastics, and metals manufacturing. The screening method identified a range of substances associated with these properties, including heavy metals, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, all of which are suspected or recognized toxicants, and many of which are persistent in the environment. Spatially, these sites are concentrated in white, working class neighborhoods in which poverty levels exceed and educational attainment lags behind state and national averages. Moreover, these sites are concentrated in communities in which excess mortality rates due to respiratory disease, cancer, and heart disease exist when compared to the city, state, and national averages. This investigation demonstrated the usefulness of historic archives, real estate records, regulatory files, and national hazard-tracking systems based on standard industrial classification (SIC) to screen brownfield properties for their hazard potential. This analysis provides the foundation for further site monitoring and testing, cleanup and redevelopment priority setting, risk management strategies, and neighborhood planning, and it illustrates the need for increased health surveillance and disease prevention strategies in affected communities.

Keywords: Brownfields, Hazard screening, Urban redevelopment, Waste management

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (528.0 KB).

Footnotes

At the time of research she was with the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health

References

  • 1.United States Environmental Protection Agency. Brownfields Glossary of Terms 1997. Available at: www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/glossary-htm. Date accessed: September 15, 1997.
  • 2.Hardy RJ, Schroder GD, Cooper SP, Buffler PA, Prichard HM, Crane M. A surveillance system for assessing health effects from hazardous exposures. Am J Epidemiol. 1990;132:S32–S42. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115786. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Greenberg MR, Lowrie K, Solitare L, Duncan L. Brownfields, TOADs, and the struggle for neighborhood redevelopment. Urban Aff Rev. 2000;35:717–733. [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Greenberg MR, Lee C, Powers C. Public health and brownfields: reviving the past to protect the future. Am J Public Health. 1998;88:1759–1760. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.88.12.1759. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 5.Department of Health and Human Services. Brownfields and Public Health Strategy. 1997. Working Paper.
  • 6.Wernstedt K, Hersh R. Superfund spectacles on public participation at brownfield sites. Risk: Health, Safety, Environ. 1998;9:153–173. [Google Scholar]
  • 7.Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Relationship Between Environmental Protection and Opportunities for Inner City Economic Development: How to Promote Economic Reuse of Brownfields. 1995.
  • 8.ICF Consulting and the E. P. Systems Group, Inc. Assessment of State Initiatives to Promote Redevelopment of Brownfields. Washington, DC: US Dept Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy and Research Development; 1999. [Google Scholar]
  • 9.US Congress. Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002. Pub L 107–118 (January 12, 2002).
  • 10.McElligott TP. Environmental heresy—a new brownfields approach. Environ Reg Permitting. Summer 1997:101–105.
  • 11.Kibel PS. The urban nexus: open space, brownfields, and justice. Boston College Environ Aff Law Rev. 1998;25:589–589. [Google Scholar]
  • 12.Colten CE. Historical hazards: the geography of relict industrial wastes. Prof Geographer. 1990;42:143–156. doi: 10.1111/j.0033-0124.1990.00143.x. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 13.Hollander W. Abel Wolman: His Life and Philosophy. Chapel Hill, NC: Universal Printing and Publishing; 1981. [Google Scholar]
  • 14.Tarr JA. The Search for the Ultimate Sink: Urban Pollution in Historical Perspective. Akron, OH: The University of Akron Press; 1996. [Google Scholar]
  • 15.Bookspan S. Potentially responsible party searches: finding the cause of urban grime. Public Historian. 1991;13:25–34. doi: 10.2307/3378420. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 16.Colten CE. Historical questions in hazardous waste management. Public Historian. 1989;11:7–20. doi: 10.2307/3378610. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 17.Stirling D. Site histories in environmental site assessments: a new opportunity for public historians. Public Historian. 1990;12:45–52. doi: 10.2307/3378687. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 18.Melosi M. Public history and the environment. Public Historian. 1993;15:11–20. doi: 10.2307/3378632. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 19.Gorman H. Manufacturing brownfields: the case of Neville Island, Pennsylvania. Technol Culture. 1997;38:539–575. doi: 10.2307/3106854. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 20.Stine JK, Tarr JA. At the intersection of histories: technology and the environment. Technol Culture. 1998;39:601–640. doi: 10.1353/tech.1998.0101. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 21.Kitagawa E, Hauser PM. Differential Mortality in the United States. A Study in Socioeconomic Epidemiology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1973. [Google Scholar]
  • 22.Marmot MG, Bobak M, Smith GD. Explanations for social inequalities in health. In: Amick BC, Levine S, Tarlov AR, Walsh DC, editors. Society and Health. New York: Oxford University Press; 1995. pp. 172–210. [Google Scholar]
  • 23.Syme SL. Social determinants of disease. In: Last JM, Wallace RB, editors. Public Health and Preventive Medicine. 13th ed. Norwalk, CT: Appleton & Lange; 1992. pp. 688–700. [Google Scholar]
  • 24.Krieger N, Williams DR, Moss NE. Measuring social class in US public health research: concepts, methodologies, and guidelines. Annu Rev Public Health. 1997;18:341–378. doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.18.1.341. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 25.Jerrett M, Eyles J, Cole D. Socioeconomic and environmental covariates of premature mortality in Ontario. Soc Sci Med. 1998;47:33–49. doi: 10.1016/S0277-9536(98)00008-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 26.Hardy RJ, Schroder GD, Cooper SP, Buffler PA, Prichard HM, Crane M. A surveillance system for assessing health effects from hazardous exposures. Am J Epidemiol. 1990;132:S32–S42. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115786. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 27.Lybarger JA, Spengler RF. Introduction. In: Lybarger JA, Spengler RF, DeRosa CT, editors. Priority Health Conditions. Atlanta, GA: Dept of Health and Human Services; 1993. pp. 1–11. [Google Scholar]
  • 28.Rios R, Poje G, Detels R. Susceptibility to environmental pollutants among minorities. Toxicol Ind Health. 1993;9:797–820. doi: 10.1177/074823379300900507. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 29.Rothwell CJ, Hamilton CB, Leaverton PE. Identification of sentinel health events as indicators of environmental contamination. Environ Health Perspect. 1991;94:261–263. doi: 10.2307/3431320. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 30.Environmental Systems Research Institute . Arc View 3.2. 2001. Redlands, CA: ESRI; 2001. [Google Scholar]
  • 31.Shryock HS, Siegel JS, Stockwell EG. The Methods and Materials of Demography. New York: Academic Press; 1976. [Google Scholar]
  • 32.Daly LE, Bourke GJ. Interpretation and Uses of Medical Statistics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Sciences; 2000. [Google Scholar]
  • 33.Commissioner of Labor and Statistics, Maryland Department of Economic and Community Development, Maryland Department of Economic and Employment Development, Maryland Department of Labor. Directory of Maryland Manufacturers. Annapolis, MD: 1988.
  • 34.Office of Management and Budget . Standard Industrial Classification Manual. Springfield, VA: US Government Printing Office; 1987. [Google Scholar]
  • 35.US Environmental Protection Agency. Accidental Release Information Program. Available at: www.epa.gov/swercepp/tools/metaarip.txt.Date accessed: January 1, 2000.
  • 36.Tran N, Burke TA, Fox MA, Litt JS, Shalauta N, Ruscio B. Environmental health risk assessment methodology for overseas military deployment. Johns Hopkins APL Tech Digest. 1999;20:405–414. [Google Scholar]
  • 37.Swanson MB, Davis GA, Kincaid LE, et al. A screening method for ranking and scoring chemicals by potential human health and environmental impacts. Environ Toxicol Chem. 1997;16:372–383. doi: 10.1002/etc.5620160237. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 38.Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry . 1999 CERCLA Priority List of Hazardous Substances That Will Be the Subject of Toxicological Profiles and Support Document. Washington, DC: Dept of Health and Human Services; 1999. [Google Scholar]
  • 39.US Environmental Protection Agency . 1987-1996 Toxics Release Inventory, Landview III. Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency; 1999. [Google Scholar]
  • 40.Broetzman GG, Hadley PW, Rosenthal NJ. Case Studies of Selected States' Voluntary Cleanup/Brownfields Programs. Available at: www.ccem.com/pdf/bfields.pdf. Date accessed: June 1, 2001.
  • 41.National Research Council . Environmental Epidemiology: Public Health and Hazardous Wastes. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences; 1991. pp. 1–282. [Google Scholar]
  • 42.Litt JS, Tran NL, Burke TA. Examining urban brownfields through the public health “macroscope.”. environ Health Perspect. 2002;110(suppl 2):183–193. doi: 10.1289/ehp.02110s2183. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 43.Sanborn Map Company . Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. Teaneck, NJ: Chadwick-Healey; 1983. [Google Scholar]
  • 44.ICF Consulting and the E. P. Systems Group. Assessment of State Initiatives to Promote Redevelopment of Brownfields. Washington, DC: US Dept of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy and Research Development. HC 5966, Task Order 13, i-40.
  • 45.US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response . EPA Brownfields Program. Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency; 2002. [Google Scholar]
  • 46.Stiber NA, Small MJ, Fischbeck PS. The relationship between historic industrial site use and environmental contamination. J Air Waste Manage Assoc. 1998;48:809–818. doi: 10.1080/10473289.1998.10463736. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine are provided here courtesy of New York Academy of Medicine

RESOURCES