Latinos in America Are Far More Likely Than the Average Citizen to Breathe Polluted Air
*This is a top issue for U.S. Latinos – 1.8 million Latinos live within a half-mile of oil and gas facilities. But there’s been no mention of it from the presidential candidate’s stumps. VL
By Jennifer Velez, Mother Jones (2 minute read)
More than half of America’s population lives in communities with unhealthy levels of ozone smog, but according to a report published late last month, Latinos are 51 percent more likely than non-Hispanic whites to live in counties with unsafe ozone levels.
The Clean Air Task Force (CATF), the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the National Hispanic Medical Association teamed up to focus on the health impacts Latino communities face from oil and natural gas production, processing, and transmission facilities. Their report looked at areas with large Latino populations, including cities in Texas, Illinois, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
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Using data from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other sources, the authors found that industrial polluters are disproportionately located in Latino neighborhoods—1.8 million Latinos live within a half-mile of oil and gas facilities—and that the number of exposed Latinos has been growing steadily. READ MORE
[Photo by Salim Virji/Flickr]
