Air Pollution

Website: The Pollution Information Site

URL: www.scorecard.org

94105 = San Francisco County

• Who and what are the top polluters in your zip code?

In my zip code, the top polluters are the San Francisco Drydock Inc., Chevron Prods Co. San Francisco Terminal, and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Hunters Point Power Plant.

• What percent of the homes in your zipcode have lead-based paint?

There are 7% of homes in my zip code that have lead-based paint.

• Are there Superfund sites in your zip?  (In your BLOG, make sure to tell us what a Superfund Site is)

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, a Superfund site is a land contaminated by hazardous waste. In result, the Environmental Protection Agency put this site in a list that needs to be clean. In my zip code, there’s only one Superfund site which is the Treasure Island Naval Station-Hunters Point Annex.

• What can you tell us about the Superfund sites that are near where you live?

The Treasure Island Naval Station-Hunters Point Annex, a federally owned site, is the former Hunters Point Shipyard. This land is 936 acres located in the southeast corner of San Francisco. Over the years, this land generated a wide variety of solid and liquid wastes, like metals, solvents, paints, acids, bases, PCBs, and asbestos. This land became contaminated because of unauthorized dumping, inadvertent spill, waste pile, ocean disposal, and lagoon disposal. Some of the contaminants detected in the land are lead, trichlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene, chromium, ethylbenzene, and many more.

• What did you learn about the air quality in your zipcode?

For the air quality of my zip code, I learned that it ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in 1999. Carbon monoxide, nitrogen monoxide, PM-2.5, PM-10, and Volatile Organic Compound emissions are the top five contributors to air pollution in my county. I also learned that my county ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of an average individual's added cancer risk from hazardous air pollutants based on the EPA’s current data. In a year, there is 88% of days with good air quality.

• How about the water quality?

In my county, there is 30% of surface waters with reported problems. There are 29 number of waterbodies with reported problems, like Coyote Creek, Rodeo Creek, San Pablo Creek, and Novato Creek. The leading pollutants/stressors of surface waters are pesticides, sediments, pathogens, and nutrients. The leading sources of water quality problems are urban runoff/storm sewers, agriculture, construction, and nonpoint sources.

• How did your zipcode fair on a social justice / environmental justice basis?

In my county, the people of color and low-income suffer greater impacts from environmental degradation compared to other groups. For example, the people of color suffer more from toxic chemicals compared to Whites. The low-income families suffer more from toxic chemicals compared to high income families. Both the people of color and low-income families have high cancer risks the from hazardous air pollutants.