Vanderburgh environmental problems
Vanderburgh County’s residents have long believed their air quality could use some work. A newly released report from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency database shows it may be even worse than expected. The reports claims “20 Evansville neighborhoods – about half of the city – rank among the top 5 percent nationally with the highest health risk from industrial air pollution.”
Nationally, Vanderburgh County was ranked as 89th out of all 3,141 counties in the country, with a Health Risk Score more than 38 times higher than the national median. The Health Risk Score is a measure created by the EPA to compare pollution health risk between areas.
Geographically Evansville sits in a bowl where air pollution often settles until a new weather front passes through. A number of polluting industries certainly don’t help the situation either.
The potential health impacts are striking. A 1994 study by the University of Southern Indiana (.doc) found that there were over 50% more respiratory cancer incidents in Vanderburgh than in Allen County. That same study reported the incidence for lung cancer in men in the US was 74 per 100,000, but in Vanderburgh County it is 107.4 per 100,000. In 1994, the lung cancer incidence rate in women was 42 per 100,000 in the US and 75.8 in Vanderburgh County. These higher numbers may simply reflect a greater percentage of past or current smokers, but given the county’s environmental reports, it seems reasonable to conclude pollution plays some kind of role.
Update: Doug Masson notes that Indiana as a whole ranks #4 in the nation for the health risks its residents face from exposure to industrial air pollution.
Update 2: A commenter at the C&P story asks an interesting question: “How much of this polution is from Vehicles?” The city, sometimes dubbed “stoplight city,” has poor traffic planning which causes significant congestion.
