Progress towards Environmental Justice: A Five-year Perspective of Toxicity, Race and Poverty in Michigan, 1990-1995 1

Abstract

Much present research on the relationship between socio-economic factors and the siting of sources of environmental pollution has focused primarily on race and income. Using census data, timed-based data from multiple sources of pollution, and rates of cancers and low birth weight in the State of Michigan by zip code, we present a multivariate model that can distinguish the effects of race, income and other land use characteristics on: (1) the location of different sources of pollution; (2) progress toward clean-up of contaminated waste; and (3) how pollution is associated with measures of public health.