Layers of injustice: A distributional assessment of toxic chemical facilities, releases, and cleanups

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) is a cornerstone of environmental policy in the United States. The law regulates the generation, transportation, storage, and disposal of hazardous chemicals. Unfortunately, hazardous releases are known to occur due to flawed equipment, human error, and dated historical practices. Releases are investigated and remediated through what is collectively known as a Corrective Action (CA). Using Census data and a novel dataset of RCRA facilities across the contiguous US, we examine the possibility of systematic inequities with regards to the (i) siting of RCRA facilities, (ii) occurrence of releases and CAs, (iii) duration of CAs, and (iv) permanence of remediation methods. We find evidence of disproportionate impacts across racial, ethnic, and income dimensions. The results vary, however, depending on the different aspects of the siting and cleanup process, thus emphasizing the need for multi-layered analyses to identify and fully understand potential inequities associated with environmental programs. Key Words: chemical, cleanup, environmental justice, equity, hazardous waste, RCRA