M3.4: Air Pollution

Zip Code: 95037 - Santa Clara County

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

• The top 3 polluters are Owens Corning Corporation (180,227 pounds), Hanson Permanente Cement (36,138 pounds), and Strongwell Corporation (22,775 pounds). 

• The top four pollutants are ammonia (130,175 pounds), formaldehyde (54,992 pounds), and hydrochloric acid (36,542 pounds) and styrene (32,188 pounds). 

Interestingly, the polluters don't create the top three pollutants. Instead they create lead, chromium & mercury for Owens and Hanson, respectively. Only the fourth pollutant of styrene is in the top pollutants which is mostly created by the Strongwell Corporation.

What percent of homes in your zip code have lead-based paint?

• Only 1% of homes have lead-based paint in Santa Clara County, however there are 3,600 housing units with high risk of lead hazards making Santa Clara County land in the 90-100% percentile with the high hazard indicator. Therefore, it is both good news and bad news when it comes to the lead-based paint homes.

What is a Superfund site? Are there Superfund sites in your zip? 

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

• According to the EPA, Superfund (also known as CERCLA - Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act in 1980) sites allow the EPA to clean up contaminated sites and forces the parties responsible for the contamination to either perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work. If there happens to be no responsible party, Superfund gives EPA the funds and authority to clean up contaminated sites. (https://www.epa.gov/superfund/what-superfund) 
• There are a total of 23 Superfund Sites in my community. In 2004, Santa Clara County ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S for the Superfund Sites. 15 of these Superfund Sites have caused contamination of drinking water sources. At first glance, some recognizable sites were Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and South Bay Asbestos. It's very eye-opening that as consumers we don't recognize that our electronic purchases also have negative environmental impacts, especially in our drinking water supply considering we have a limited fresh water source. 

What did you learn about the air quality in your zip code?

• Air quality is fair in Santa Clara County, aside from the data collection made in 2003, where the county ranked among the worst 10% of all counties in the U.S for people-days for ozone 8-hour. Out of 365, 97%of those days were in moderate and good air qualities. There was a 0% of unhealthful air quality, however I think this data would be different given the current fires that have been occurring in the past couple weeks for a percentage of days. Most of the contaminated air comes from our transportation modes such as cars, buses, trains, ships, etc, thus I am more inclined towards buying a hybrid or electric car in the future. Another surprising piece of information was that Kaiser Cement Corporation emitted 101 tons of air pollutants - as someone working for a company who cares about the health and well-being of individuals, this doesn't indicate that their following their goals/mission. However, upon further research, it appears they sold the company to Hanson Cement in 1986. Thus, it is debatable whether the environmental impact is still occurring through Kaiser. 

What about the water quality?

• Santa Clara County ranks above the national average in the dirtiest/worst counties for clean water. A total of 29 bodies of water were contaminated ranging from low (14) to high (5). Most of these bodies are impacted by pesticides (74%), sediments (22%) and mercury (13%). Unfortunately, all the waterbodies have been affected by mercury in the assessment conducted in 1998, and appears that the county is still impacted from different run-off and exposures in the water.

How did your zip code fair on a social justice / environmental justice basis?

• I'm disappointed how lower-income communities and people of color suffer greater impacts from environmental degradation when compared to whites.  Upon the environmental justice report, there were differences in the release of toxic chemicals, cancer risks, superfund sites, and air pollutants based on race, income, poverty, education,home ownership, and job classification. People of color receive the negative end of the spectrum. Living in a location that is very progressive, it appears that disparities are not of critical concern, but I think if there was light shed on these issues on a greater scale, changes could potentially be made.