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Environmental Justice in |
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Environmental Justice
South Seattle
In several
South Seattle neighborhoods, industrial facilities are located adjacent to
residential housing. The South Park and Georgetown Neighborhoods
are most impacted by toxic waste sites and polluting factories. A 2000 map from the Department of Ecology
shows 48 contaminated sites within a 1-5 mile radius of these neighborhoods
(CCEJ, 2002, 2). A study of toxic air
contamination in Seattle by the Environmental Protection Agency indicates
that contamination in Beacon Hill, Georgetown, and South Park is generally
much higher than in other areas of Seattle.
A monitoring site in Georgetown shows that organic compounds such as
benzene, a known cancer causing contaminant, solvents such as
tetrachoroethylene, and metals including cadmium, chromium, and lead are as
much as two times higher than in other areas of the city (CCEJ, 2002, 6). South Seattle communities have higher
mortality rates, decreased life expectancies, and higher hospitalization
rates for respiratory diseases than in other King County areas (DOH, 2001).
Source:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/webtowns/map.asp?WTID=20 Public
Health-Seattle and King County collected hospitalization rates for respiratory
disease and has broken them down by zip code. Rates for all respiratory diseases in 1991-1995 for 2 urban
industrial communities in South Seattle, South Park and Georgetown, were
significantly higher than in other King County areas for people aged
0-64. Hospitalization for asthma was
significantly higher for people 0-44 in the same areas. These rates may be associated with lack of
access to health care, but when compared to Seattle averages, the two
communities have higher mortality rates and decreased life expectancies (DOH,
2001). Long Painting Company
Public
complaints against Long Painting, one of the Northwest’s largest painting
contractors, date back to 1979.
Residents in South Park claimed that Long Painting’s ventilation
stacks and outdoor painting operations have caused decades of air pollution,
resulting in constant headaches, red and teary eyes, respiratory and sinus
complications, chronic nosebleeds, and a metallic taste in residents’
mouths. The air quality is so poor
that it forced some residents to use respirators or to wear hospital surgical
masks. A Department of Health study shows that emissions and noise from the
company poses health concerns for South Park, and a Department of Ecology
study detected residues from past chemical spills at Long Painting in South
Park’s groundwater.
Residents of South Park are
breathing easier now that Long Painting is leaving. Source: Seattle Weekly, August
23-29, 2001. Long Painting
Company was located on 5 acres in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood for 25
years. The company bought houses in
the industrial zoned neighborhood and demolished them, pushing the operation
right up against people’s homes. At
times, company operations have sent chemical fumes and sandblasting dust
wafting to homes nearby. In
December 2000, an attorney for some of the community’s neighbors formally
requested that the city rezone Long Painting’s operation, challenging the
company’s plans to expand the operation by the addition of three new
buildings. Residents ultimately
thought the company should be shut down and moved, but the predominately
low-income Hispanic and White community felt that government agencies failed
to protect them because of oversight and loopholes in regulations. Long Painting denied that it had harmed or
upset residents in the neighborhood, but was operating unpermitted operations
for almost two years. City inspectors
found that the company lacked 30 city permits for construction and for the
use of 11 structures on its site.
They also lacked a hazardous materials storage permit from the Seattle
Fire Department, though they regularly stored up to 6,000 gallons of
hazardous/flammable materials. After 20
years of complaints by neighbors and government inspections leading to the
company’s payment of $30,000 to settle claims, the owners decided to move the
operation to an industrial site in Kent by the summer of 2002. Seattle Weekly
January 4-10, 2001 Seattle Weekly
August 23-29, 2001 Olympic Pipeline
The
Olympic Pipeline transports liquid fuels from four oil refineries in Whatcom and
Skagit counties to major storage and distribution locations in western
Washington and Portland, Oregon. The
pipeline passes along the east side of Lake Washington, and a branch off the
mainline, called the Seattle Lateral, runs 12.5 miles from Renton through
southeast Seattle to Harbor Island.
During the 30 hours per week that the Seattle Lateral operates, 8.8
million gallons of fuel run through the pipeline passing through the Rainier
Valley, New Holly, Beacon Hill, and SODO neighborhoods.
Source: City of Seattle,
www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/issues/Pipeline.htm
In June of
2003, the Olympic Pipeline Company sued the City of Seattle because Mayor
Nickels attempted to force the company to perform a hydrostatic test on the
Seattle portion of the pipeline. A
hydrostatic test is a water-based pressure test that confirms the structural
integrity of the pipeline at the time of the test, giving the City confidence
that the pipeline is being operated safely.
Pipeline tests can detect irregularities in the pipe walls or welds on
the seams where sections of the pipe are joined. According to the CCEJ, the Olympic Pipeline refuses to perform
the necessary tests, though they have been conducted to determine integrity
for over forty years. A section
of the pipeline in Bellingham exploded in 1999 killing three young
people. The pipeline ruptured leaking
250,000 gallons of fuel into Whatcom creek and igniting into a fireball. The Department of Ecology had detected
anomalies at or near where the pipeline had ruptured, but no repairs had been
made. There is
cause for concern in Seattle neighborhoods as the OPL runs under 3
schools: African American Academy,
Wing Luke and Dearborn Park Elementary Schools, numerous community
facilities, and hundreds of homes (Map).
CCEJ has recently drafted a petition demanding larger signage that is
translated into various languages, including Cantonese, Vietnamese, Somali,
Ethiopian, and Spanish. The petition
also demands a pamphlet or other information be distributed to residents of
Beacon Hill and New Holly providing the location and hazards associated with
the OPL. For more
background, a chronology of events dealing with the OPL, and Pipeline safety
in Seattle, visit: http://www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/issues/Pipeline.htm. |
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Contact the researcher at: ambrown2@u.washington.edu |
