Few and Far Between?: An Environmental Equity Analysis of the Geographic Distribution of Hazardous Waste Generation (ICPSR 1260)

Version Date: Aug 13, 2002

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Principal Investigator(s):
Mark Atlas, North Carolina State University

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR01260.v1

Version V1

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Summary

This article examines whether the generation of hazardous waste is concentrated in communities that are disproportionately minority or low-income. While much environmental equity research has focused on commercial facilities managing hazardous waste, facilities that generate and manage their own wastes -- which account for over 98 percent of hazardous waste volume -- have been ignored. The demographic characteristics were determined of people in geographic concentric rings around hazardous waste generators accounting for most of the country's 1997 hazardous waste volume. The author's analyses indicate no tendency for disproportionately minority communities to be near these facilities. In fact, relatively few people are near the locations where most hazardous waste is generated. While a few of these facilities have large numbers of minority people around them, most are in areas with higher than average white populations. There was, however, a tendency for low-income communities to be near these facilities. To the extent that there are potential risks from the presence of hazardous waste at facilities, most of this risk is in relatively unpopulated areas. The presence of hazardous waste is not concentrated in areas that are disproportionately minority or low-income.

Citation

Atlas, Mark. Few and Far Between?:  An Environmental Equity Analysis of the Geographic Distribution of Hazardous Waste Generation  . Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2002-08-13. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR01260.v1

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Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Data Collection Notes

  1. The files submitted are fewfar.txt, an ASCII data file, and read.me.pdf, a description of the dataset. These data are part of ICPSR's Publication-Related Archive and are distributed exactly as they arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.

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Original Release Date

2002-08-13

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • Atlas, Mark. Few and Far Between?: An Environmental Equity Analysis of the Geographic Distribution of Hazardous Waste Generation . ICPSR01260-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2002-08-13. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR01260.v1
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Notes

  • These data are flagged as replication datasets and are distributed exactly as they arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.