Toxic pollution badly hits poorer populations
Toxic pollution hits poorer populations hardest as firms experience more pollutant releases and spend less money on waste management in areas with lower average incomes.
Research from Lancaster University Management School and Texas Tech University, published in
European Economic Review looked into the relationship between the location choices of potentially polluting firms and levels of local income to discover if firms made strategic decisions on site locations based on population demographics.
The team studied potentially polluting firms across Texas, and found a correlation between lower income locations and the probability of potentially polluting firms choosing to locate there. Their data, from the US Environment Agency's Toxic Release Inventory also showed the relative frequency of toxic releases decreased as household income rose.