Number 9 surprised me.
America's 10 Most Toxic Cities
Morgan Brennan, 02.28.11, 12:00 PM EST
During the Revolutionary War Philadelphia served as one of America’s first capital cities. These days, however, Philadelphia could be considered the capital of toxicity, since the city and its environs ranked No. 1 on our 2011 Most Toxic Cities list. One big reason: The sprawling Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), including parts of four states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and one county in Maryland), is pocked with more than 50 Superfund sites---areas no longer in use that contain hazardous waste.
While the East Coast metro, with its old industrial sites, grabbed the top spot, California metropolitan areas claimed four of the 10 spots on our Most Toxic list, primarily due to the chronic air quality problem known as smog.
Now we’re not saying that if you reside in one of these areas, you need to pack up and move, or seal your windows shut. But it pays to be aware of the risks in your area. For example, the EPA says when the Air Quality Index for an area climbs above 100 (ratings range from zero to 500, with zero being the best) it can bring on respiratory problems for people with lung disease, children and older adults. Above 150, everyone can suffer. Most cities don’t even have a single day each year when the AQI is above 100. But Bakersfield, Calif., which ranks second on our list, had 43 such days in 2009, Fresno (No. 3) had 29 days, and Los Angeles (No. 6) had 14.
Behind the Numbers
We started with the 80 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau--urban areas with populations of half a million and up. Then we averaged their rankings on five measures, giving equal weight to each of the five. Three of those measures--air quality, water quality and Superfund sites--were drawn from Sperling’s Best Places, which compiles health and quality-of-living indexes for cities and towns across the country. The other two we derived directly from EPA data: the number of days when AQI exceeded 100 in 2009 (the latest year available), and the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).
What’s TRI? Certain industries, including manufacturing, utilities and metal and coal mining, are required to report to the EPA if they release, recycle, treat or manage any of 650 potentially dangerous chemicals. We ranked the areas based on the EPA’s tally of how many pounds were reported released in each MSA in 2009. (Find out more about the TRI here.)
Of course toxic chemicals have been linked to health problems from cancer to birth defects. But keep in mind that toxic substances are harmful only if you’re actually exposed to them. “Simply being near a site doesn’t mean you’re actually being exposed to that site,” emphasizes Robert Chapin, a senior research advisor at Pfizer ( PFE - news - people ) in Groton, Conn., and affiliate of the Society of Toxicology. A report to the TRI doesn’t indicate the chemicals are being improperly handled or are being released in any hazardous way; indeed it’s an indication that a company is complying with its reporting requirement. But the TRI was created on the theory that neighbors have a right to know about potentially risky substances in their area.
Of our 10 cities the Salt Lake City area (No. 9) stands out as having the highest number of releases on the TRI list. The Western economic hub racks up that hefty number with some help from Kennecott’s copper mine, oil refineries including Tesoro's ( TSO - news - people ) and chemical companies like Huntsman ( HUN - news - people ). The Houston MSA (No. 7), with its oil refineries, petrochemical plants and blossoming biomedical industry, had the second-highest toxic release amount on our list.
As for water quality, the greater Philadelphia area got hit with Sperling’s worst rating; Fresno was second-worst and New York City (No. 4 overall) came in third for its water. We also consulted ratings of drinking water compiled by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit. (Since the EWG data doesn’t cover all of the 80 metro areas we compared, we didn’t use it in our numerical ranks. But it’s worth noting that many of our most toxic picks are also on the EWG worst water utilities list.)
EWG’s rankings are based on its own extensive tap water tests for pollutants and toxic substances. Jane Houlihan, senior vice president of research at EWG, notes that these tests turn up everything from arsenic and lead to water disinfection byproducts. EWG has even found traces of Tylenol, caffeine and birth control pills in some of these cities, though those substances aren’t considered toxic and aren't monitored by the EPA.
forbes.com |
