988042 - Air Pollution and Environmental Justice Modeling: The Case of North Carolina's Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) Hog Industry (Student Poster 5)

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) produces tons of animal waste, which can inherently pollute air, soil and water when not properly processed and filtered. The concentration of hog production in North Carolina have raised concerns of the disproportionate exposure of air pollution on vulnerable communities. Pollutants such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, acetaldehyde, and methanol are emitted by CAFOs and at high enough concentrations to affect human health. This research investigates the exposure of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide and possible health impacts of nearby community members looking at the disparities that may exist between different subpopulations. Characteristic data from 483 hog facilities within Duplin County including locations and hog inventory were gathered and processed for point source dispersion modeling. Emission factors from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in cooperation with Carnegie-Mellon University were used to calculate ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emission rates. We used the HEM-3 Human Exposure Model to estimate ambient concentrations of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide and the subsequent exposures on communities within Duplin County. We combine this with Census demographic data (2010) using spatial analysis to investigate whether exposures to these pollutants differ by race/ethnicity, age, income, education, and language proficiency. Based on these estimations, we assess associated health risks extenuating estimated concentrations. In this work, we limit our analysis to Duplin County, North Carolina. Results show that the average annual estimated concentration of ammonia in Duplin County is 6.05 μg/m3, and the average annual estimated concentration of hydrogen sulfide is 0.06 μg/m3. The maximum average annual ambient concentrations are estimated at 51.67 μg/m3 and 0.52 μg/m3 for ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, respectively. Among vulnerable populations within Duplin County results show that people of low income, minorities, people with low educational attainment, and the linguistically isolated are disproportionately exposure to higher levels of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide on average. The linguistically isolated are estimated to experience 101% higher levels of exposure and people with low educational attainment more that 45% higher levels. Block group characterizations indicate a high prevalence of hogs and associated higher pollutant exposures in the two highest quintile compared with the lowest quintiles for each of these subpopulations. The partial distribution of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide exposures and hog facilities among communities may have adverse health effects and environmental impacts.