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Environmental injustice in America: Racial disparities in exposure to air pollution health damages from freight trucking

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  • Priyank Lathwal
  • Parth Vaishnav
  • M. Granger Morgan

Abstract

PM2.5 produced by freight trucks has adverse impacts on human health. However, it is unknown to what extent freight trucking affects communities of color and the total public health burden arising from the sector. Based on spatially resolved US federal government data, we explore the geographic distribution of freight trucking emissions and demonstrate that Black and Hispanic populations are more likely to be exposed to elevated emissions from freight trucks. Our results indicate that freight trucks contribute ~10% of NOx and ~12% of CO2 emissions from all sources in the continental US. The annual costs to human health and the environment due to NOx, PM2.5, SO2, and CO2 from freight trucking in the US are estimated respectively to be $11B, $5.5B, $110M, and $30B. Overall, the sector is responsible for nearly two-fifths (~$47B out of $120B) of all transportation-related public health damages.

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  • Priyank Lathwal & Parth Vaishnav & M. Granger Morgan, 2022. "Environmental injustice in America: Racial disparities in exposure to air pollution health damages from freight trucking," Papers 2204.06588, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2022.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2204.06588
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Peter Tschofen & Inês L. Azevedo & Nicholas Z. Muller, 2019. "Fine particulate matter damages and value added in the US economy," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(40), pages 19857-19862, October.
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