Atmospheric Chemistry Program Seminar: Alexander Bradley, CU-ANYL Chem 3rd year

Pollution distribution in the Denver metroplex: Chemical, sociological, and historical insights
Alexander Bradley,
ANYL 3rd year, de Gouw group

Prior studies have shown that people of color in the United States are exposed to higher levels of pollution than non-Hispanic White people. We show that the city of Denver, Colorado displays similar race and ethnicity-based air pollution discrepancies by using a combination of high-resolution satellite data, air pollution modeling, historical demographic information, and areal apportionment techniques. TROPOMI NO2 columns and modeled PM2.5 concentrations from 2019 are higher in communities subject to redlining, a discriminatory mortgage appraisal practice from the 1930s by the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC). We calculated and compared Spearman coefficients for pollutants and race at the census tract level for every city that underwent redlining to contextualize the disparities in Denver. We find inequitable siting of polluting infrastructure leading to higher populations of people of color living near point sources, including 40% higher Hispanic and Latino populations; Traffic analysis and emission inventory data show that people of color are more likely to live near busy highways. Unequal opportunities for people of color has allowed for pollution disparities to persist despite attempts by the city to rectify them . Finally, we identify core causes of the pollution disparities to provide direction for remediation.