Air Pollution Inequality in the Denver Metroplex and its Relationship to Historical Redlining

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 58; no. 9; pp. 4226 - 4236
• Main Authors: Bradley, Alexander C., Croes, Bart E., Harkins, Colin, McDonald, Brian C., de Gouw, Joost A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 05.03.2024
• Subjects: Air Pollutants - analysis; Air pollution; Air Pollution - analysis; Census; Censuses; Cities; Colorado; Emission analysis; Emission inventories; Environmental Exposure - analysis; Hispanic Americans; Humans; infrastructure; inventories; Latinos; Nitrogen dioxide; Nitrogen Oxides - analysis; Occurrence, Fate, and Transport of Contaminants in Indoor Air and Atmosphere; Particulate matter; Particulate Matter - analysis; Point source pollution; Pollution levels; Pollution sources; Populations; Race; Redlining; remediation; remote sensing; Roads & highways; Spatial distribution; traffic; Traffic analysis; United States; United States; Colorado; remote sensing; pollution; environmental justice; urban air; air quality
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c03230

Prior studies have shown that people of color (POC) in the United States are exposed to higher levels of pollution than non-Hispanic White people. We show that the city of Denver, Colorado, displays similar race- and ethnicity-based air pollution disparities by using a combination of high-resolution satellite data, air pollution modeling, historical demographic information, and areal apportionment techniques. TROPOMI NO2 columns and modeled PM2.5 concentrations from 2019 are higher in communities subject to redlining. We calculated and compared Spearman coefficients for pollutants and race at the census tract level for every city that underwent redlining to contextualize the disparities in Denver. We find that the location of polluting infrastructure leads to higher populations of POC living near point sources, including 40% higher Hispanic and Latino populations. This influences pollution distribution, with annual average PM2.5 surface concentrations of 6.5 μg m–3 in census tracts with 0–5% Hispanic and Latino populations and 7.5 μg m–3 in census tracts with 60–65% Hispanic and Latino populations. Traffic analysis and emission inventory data show that POC are more likely to live near busy highways. Unequal spatial distribution of pollution sources and POC have allowed for pollution disparities to persist despite attempts by the city to rectify them. Finally, we identify the core causes of the pollution disparities to provide direction for remediation.