HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Environmental Justice
Investment in Somerville transit is not just economic common sense.†It is also consistent with and compelled by federal and state environmental justice principles. Environmental justice requires that minority, immigrant, and low-income citizens be treated fairly.
Somerville deserves the full attention of regional transportation planners and decision makers. We have had the most people per square mile in New England for over a century. As of 2000, that translates into nearly 19,000 residents per square mile, and nearly 7,000 non-English speaking residents per square mile (second only to Chelsea). We have more multi-family properties compared to single-family properties of any city in the state.
In addition, even with poor rail-based transit service, Somerville's residents rely heavily on public transit. 29% of us use public transit to get to and from work. That's a higher percentage than any other city except Boston itself. 27% of Somerville households don't even have a car.
More effective public transit would cut down on the pollution impacts suffered by Somerville and also provide a desperately needed boost to all residents' mobility.†Entry-level service workers and immigrants, who must rely on buses frequently stuck in congestion and complex connections, would be far better served.†But so would Somerville's increasingly educated white collar workers and our environmentally conscious artisans. The economic resurgence that has resulted from the Red Line T-stop at Davis Square and the emerging immigrant rich small business district on Somerville's Lower Broadway, close to Sullivan Square, could both be replicated several times over through the provision of rail-based transit to Assembly Square and to Union Square. Dense neighborhoods and smaller commercial squares would be well-served by rail-based transit along the Lowell Line corridor. Somerville's diversity, pre-existing density, and proximity to Boston's commercial core would ensure both expanded environmental justice and cost-effective use of the state's limited transportation resources.
Check out EJ News, a newsletter from the EPA New England Environmental Justice Council.
Lung Cancer and Heart Attacks
Somerville has the most excess lung cancer and heart attack deaths per square mile of any of Massachusetts' 350 cities and towns. As the chart below shows, no other Massachusetts communities come close. Pollution from excess traffic is having a profound affect on our health.
Compare Somerville to Cambridge. Cambridge is the third densest city in the state, but is among the healthiest 10%. Why? Because it's had the benefit of extensive subway systems and a generation of Clean Air Act attention.
WHAT'S NEW
October 21, 2009
WBUR on Somerville's air pollution research project
"On The Streets Of Somerville, An RV On A Mission"
Air pollution is a big problem in the city. In fact, Somerville has some of the highest rates of lung cancer and heart attack deaths in the state, and some researchers think that’s partly due to poor air quality caused by highways.
June 25, 2009
Somerville air quality testing begins soon
Somerville News: "Comprehensive air quality testing for one year begins soon"
The Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership, a group of concerned Somervillians, has partnered with Tufts University to devise and implement a study of air quality in neighborhoods just off major highways in Somerville. It is thought that the added pollution from passing cars negatively affects the residents' cardiovascular health.
April 12, 2009
STEP partners with Tufts on study of highway health risks
Do "ultrafine particles" from combustion engines harm our health, especially for people living close to highways? Early research is already suggesting the answer is yes. STEP is proud to be participating in a local study of this issue, run by the Tufts Community Research Center. The CAFEH (Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health) study, among the first of its kind in the country, will measure ultrafine pollutants and collect and map heart disease data from residents - in Somerville and in Chinatown. Keep an eye on the CAFEH website.
Boston Globe: "Road hazard? Tufts researchers study health risks highways may pose in neighborhoods"
"Since we see associations with asthma and cardiovascular disease with people living near highways, you have to ask what's causing that," said Doug Brugge, director of the Tufts Community Research Center and the scientist leading the study, which will begin this summer. "There is a lot of smoke suggesting that there is a fire."
If you want to learn a whole lot more about this issue. a good place to start is the EPA Particulate Matter site.
STEP's Wig Zamore presents to EPA on transportation-related pollution
On April 2, Wig Zamore made a presentation to the EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee on transportation-related air pollution. The slides provide specific data on local communities and existing studies of the relationship between highway pollutants and health problems. Download the study (PDF or PowerPoint).
November 20, 2008
Studies on Somerville pollution near highways
The following presentations were given at the recent Conference of the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology and the International Society of Exposure Analysis (ISEE ISEA).
"Traffic-Related Air Pollution in a Densely Populated Urban Area"
"Community Oriented Reuse and Refinement of Available Transportation, Air Quality and Public Health Data to Shape Regional Equity Discussions and Healthier Development Outcomes in Somerville, Massachusetts" (not yet available for download)
June 19, 2008
New highway pollution and health study in Somerville gets funding
Tufts University researchers and five Boston-area community groups (including STEP) received a 5-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the health effects of pollution exposure in neighborhoods adjacent to major highways.
February 27, 2008
Dangers of fine particulate traffic pollution
U.S. News & World Report: "The Smallest of Pollutants Are Linked to Outsize Health Risks"
Sitting in traffic triples a person's short-term heart-attack risk. Living in a city with heavy air pollution such as Los Angeles is as risky for the heart as being a former smoker. And having a house near a highway ups the risk of hardened arteries by some 60 percent. In each case, tiny "ultrafine" particles in the air may be a key culprit.
February 18, 2008
Traffic pollution's effects on children's IQ
A study from the Harvard School of Public Health found that kids who live in neighbourhoods with heavy traffic pollution have lower IQs and score worse on other tests of intelligence and memory than children who breathe cleaner air. Read more.
February 02, 2008
Land use and pollution issues on SCAT
Ellin Reisner and Wig Zamore of STEP, along with Rep. Denise Provost, appeared on "Talking About Somerville" on Somerville Community Access Television in a talk about land use, transportation, and vehicle pollution. The engaging discussion was facilitated by Bob Nesson, also a member of STEP.
Watch the video.
December 06, 2007
Wig Zamore's remarks to the EPA on Particulate Matter
STEP's Wig Zamore spoke to the EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and Particulate Matter (PM) Panel last Friday, where the topic was the proposed EPA framework for the next national PM standard setting process.
Identification: My name is Wig Zamore. I speak as a concerned citizen and live in Somerville, Massachusetts where I work with two all volunteer community groups, the Mystic View Task Force and Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership. I also serve on regional land use and transportation planning committees, have presented to the Massachusetts Clean Air (SIP) Steering Committee and represent the City of Somerville on Mass DPH and FAA committees concerned with airport related emissions, health and noise impacts.
Major PM Review Concern: My overwhelming concern is consideration of the impacts of large regional transportation systems on adjacent neighborhoods’ health, including but not limited to chronic mortality impacts from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease and lung cancer. And how this gets into your framework as the methods for that are unclear.
September 12, 2007
Study: Traffic pollution and exercise risks
"Study: Pollution Raises Exercise Risks"
"People with heart disease may want to steer clear of heavy traffic when exercising or simply take their workout indoors to avoid breathing polluted air."
August 21, 2007
Connecting near-highway pollutants with health problems
A new article on the health risks of near-highway pollution is available from a team at Tufts. From the conclusion: "The most susceptible (and overlooked) population in the US subject to serious health effects from air pollution may be those who live very near major regional transportation routes, especially highways."
Boston Now: "Tufts researchers warning it can be dangerous to live near highways"
"One California study indicated children who live near a highway from under the age of two may be 70 to 80 percent more likely to develop asthma."
Read the original article: "Near-highway pollutants in motor vehicle exhaust: A review of epidemiologic evidence of cardiac and pulmonary health risks."
August 16, 2007
Cancer risk tied to railway pollution
NPR reported on "Railways' Toxic Emissions Tied to Higher Cancer Risk".
July 29, 2007
More plane noise and pollution over Somerville
Think you've heard more planes overhead recently? You're right. Data shows that takeoffs from runway 33L, which come up the Mystic River and then turn over Somerville and Cambridge, are way up. In 2006, 33L accounted for 7% of all takeoffs. Now it's 24%, an increase of 243% year over year.
July 25, 2007
Hearing on the health effects of particulate matter
This morning there was a hearing on a bill sponsored by Denise Provost that would explore the health effects of particulate matter, which is suspended particles in tailpipe exhaust. House Bill 2227 would have the Department of Public Health conduct a study on the health effects of this type of pollution, including mapping the distribution and concentration of particulate matter aorund high-traffic roadways and rail lines.
A growing body of scientific evidence links high exposure to particulates to substantially increased risks of pulmonary disease - including COPD and lung cancer - and cardiovascular disease - including heart attack and stroke. Men and women living close to major roads are at increased risk of premature death. Children growing up near highways often suffer impaired lung function, are more likely to develop asthma, and suffer more asthma attacks.
January 31, 2007
Study on air pollution and women's health
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found very high increases in mortality among older women exposed to local fine particle pollution.
Boston Globe: "Air pollution raises women's heart disease risk, says study"
The study: "Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Incidence of Cardiovascular Events in Women"
January 26, 2007
Study on highway pollution and children's health
A new study piles more evidence on the dangers of local highway pollution on children's health, specifically lung impairment of those who grow up close to highways.
LA Times: "Freeways' tainted air harms children's lungs, experts say"
The Guardian: "Living near a motorway damages children's lungs, research reveals"
January 12, 2007
Map shows where roadway pollution is dangerous
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council 2007 Calendar features a map with the following text...
Heavy Traffic Affects Air Quality and Health
If you live, work or attend school within 100 yards of a roadway carrying 100,000 or more vehicles per day, you are more likely to suffer from cardiac or pulmonary disease.
According to local and national studies, this tendency is linked to traffic-related air pollutants. Health risks associated with traffic pollutants are greater for young and old people and for those with permanent health conditions. Some states have begun to pass laws to protect their citizens. California state law restricts the siting of new schools within 500 feet of a freeway or an urban roadway with 50,000 vehicles or more per day. The California Air Resources Board recommends caution before siting residences, day care centers, playgrounds, or medical facilities within those same distances.
This map shows roadways and intersections in the MAPC region that exceed 100,000 vehicles per day and those that exceed 50,000 vehicles per day. The map could help policy-makers formulate measures to protect the state's most vulnerable citizens."
May 06, 2006
Ultrafine particles conference
The connection between ultrafine particles (less than 100 billionths of a meter in diameter) and health problems is growing stronger, as shown by various studies and expert speakers at this conference. A study by Rob McConnell of USC showed a 50% increase in asthma for children living within 75 meters of a highway as compared to those living more than 300 meters away. For children who lived near a highway from before the age of two and had no family history of asthma, the increase was 150%. In other words they were 2.5 times as likely to have asthma as those living further away.
February 20, 2006
February 03, 2006
STEP's Wig Zamore speaks at EPA meeting
Wig was among eight people selected to speak today at a meeting of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. Afterward, the panel agreed to clarify and stress the seriousness of its prior recommendation to EPA Administer Johnson calling for stricter annual average fine particulate matter standards. (EPA proposed an unchanged annual standard on December 21st despite overwhelming scientific evidence of significant harm to human health at the exposure levels allowed currently.)
June 15, 2005
Somerville News: Air pollution and health
"Somerville's air is hazardous to your health"
by William C. Shelton
April 25, 2005
Overview article on air pollution
An excellent introduction to all the issues around fine particles and clean air from Harvard Magazine.
Clearing the Air: How epidemiology, engineering, and experiment finger fine particles as airborne killers
January 19, 2005
Boston Globe editorial: Health and the Big Dig
By Laurie Stillman
During my cab ride home following a surgeon general's meeting on the environment and health, I asked my driver what he thought about the Big Dig. Clearly angry, he ranted about how he thought it was a big waste of taxpayer money because he had noticed little improvement in traffic flow.
December 01, 2004
EPA New England Environmental Justice Plan
EPA defines EJ as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
Environmental Justice Action Plan for Fiscal Years 2005-2005 (PDF)
November 16, 2004
Sierra Club urges Romney to enforce Clean Air Act
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that smog is directly linked to deaths from heart and lung ailments in major U.S. metropolitan areas. Massachusetts has some of the worst traffic congestion in the country and, according to the Centers for Disease Control, has the highest asthma level in the nation. Jeremy Marin, Conservation Organizer for the Sierra Club in Boston, says, "Governor Romney needs to stand up and not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. Spending $14.6 billion to increase air pollution is not what Massachusetts needs. He needs to make sure that projects like extending the Green Line, making the Silver bus Line light rail, and the North/South Rail Link take top priority."