Unequal Burdens: The Demographics of Noxious Industrial Activity in Metropolitan Areas

Pamela Davidson, University of Wisconsin at Madison

This paper frames the issue of environmental justice in terms of the heterogeneity present in industrial land uses and across minority communities. Drawing on this perspective, industrial zones are considered to be a contested terrain in which groups seek to maximize rewards such as access to employment opportunities while externalizing costs such as potential health risks. Using tract-level census data and data on various types of industrial facilities and noxious sites, the analysis presented in this paper provide results that are consistent with the notion that certain groups are better able to capture the rewards associated with industrial activity while others are more burdened. Hispanics are more likely to reside in industrial areas of all kinds. Blacks, however, are more likely to live in industrial areas characterized by a high level of burden. Access to industrial employment opportunities come, therefore, at a much higher cost to blacks than other groups.