Environmental equity: the demographics of dumping
Anderton, D.L.; Anderson, A.B.; Oakes, J.M.; Fraser, M.R.
Demography 31(2): 229-248
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0070-3370 PMID: 7926187 DOI: 10.2307/2061884Document Number: 289077
Research addressing "environmental equity" and "environmental racism" claims that facilities for treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes (TSDFs) are located disproportionately in minority areas. In the first comprehensive study of TSDFs to use census tract-level data, we find no nationally consistent and statistically significant differences between the racial or ethnic composition of tracts which contain commercial TSDFs and those which do not. TSDFs are more likely to be found in tracts with Hispanic groups, primarily in regions with the greatest percentage of Hispanics. Different geographic units of analysis elaborate on, but are consistent with, these results.