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Historical red-lining is associated with fossil fuel power plant siting and present-day inequalities in air pollutant emissions
Environmental Studies and ForestryNature Energy

Historical red-lining is associated with fossil fuel power plant siting and present-day inequalities in air pollutant emissions

L. J. Cushing, S. Li, et al.

A new study reveals that historical racial biases in housing investment risk assessments may have led to environmental inequalities today, where communities of color face higher burdens of air pollution from fossil fuel power plants. This insightful research sheds light on the longstanding impacts of 'red-lining' in the U.S., conducted by Lara J. Cushing and her colleagues.... show more
GeneralSummaryMetrics
Abstract
Stationary sources of air pollution are disproportionately located in communities of colour, but the causes for this disparity are unclear. Here we assess whether racialized appraisals of investment risk ('red-lining') undertaken by the US federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s influenced the subsequent siting of fossil fuel power plants. Across 8,871 neighbourhoods in 196 US urban areas, we observed a stepwise correlation between risk grade, number of power plants and cumulative quantity of power plant emissions upwind and within 5 km. Controlling for pre-existing power plants, neighbourhoods deemed 'hazardous' (D grade, 'red-lined') had a higher likelihood of a fossil fuel power plant being sited between 1940 and 1969 (72%), 1970 and 1999 (20%) and 2000 and 2019 (31%), and higher average present-day emissions of nitrous oxides (82%), sulfur dioxide (38%) and fine particulate matter (63%) compared with 'declining' (C-graded) neighbourhoods. Our results suggest racism in the housing market contributed to inequalities in present-day power plant emissions burdens.
Publisher
Nature Energy
Published On
Jan 15, 2023
Authors
Lara J. Cushing, Shiwen Li, Benjamin B. Steiger, Joan A. Casey
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01162-y
Tags
air pollutionred-liningfossil fuel power plantsenvironmental justiceracial disparitieshistorical policies
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