Assessment of Cumulative Impacts of Pollution in Wilmington, California

1. Assessment of Cumulative Impacts of Pollution in Wilmington, California Presentation for the New Jersey Environmental Justice Advisory Council June 12, 2007 Dale Shimp Beth Schwehr Shelby Livingston

2. Cumulative Impacts Concepts • Wilmington Area • Wilmington Environmental Impacts Assessment • Development of the Community Evaluation Tool (COMET) • Other Activities Overview

3. Traditional risk assessment is “source-focused” vs. • Cumulative impacts assessment is “community/receptor-focused” What is Cumulative Impact Assessment?

4. Traditional Risk Assessment(source-focused): • 1 Site/owner (risk assessment for a facility) • Identify a “point of maximum impact” value as facility’s risk assessment result • 1 Media (e.g., air emissions) • May address “multi-pathway” risk (e.g., oral ingestion of air emissions deposited to soil/food) Traditional Air Toxics Risk Assessment

5. Cumulative Impact Assessment(community/receptor-focused): • Combined impacts to a community of receptors - from all types of sources (and ideally all media) • Stationary and mobile (roadways, offroad) AND regional background • Can be 1 media (e.g., cumulative air impact assessment) • Ideally multimedia (combined air, water, waste, etc. sources) Cumulative Impact Assessment

6. Quantitative vs. “qualitative”(e.g., risk assessment vs. mapping) • Sufficient resolution to compare communities and help set priorities • Localized impacts AND long-range regional background • Emissions, exposure, and risk • No established procedures available, especially for multimedia Considerations in Assessing Cumulative Impacts

7. Wilmington project focuses on cumulative impacts of mobile and stationary source emissions • Concentration of air pollution sources • Many mixed media pollution sites Wilmington Project

8. Wilmington Area • Wilmington is part of city of Los Angeles • Adjacent to the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach • Multiple oil refineries and chemical plants • Multiple rail yards and distribution centers • Many diesel particulate sources Wilmington MAP

9. Identified, quantified, and mapped air pollution sources • Identified and mapped multimedia pollution sources • Development of Community Evaluation Tool (COMET) Wilmington Environmental Impacts Assessment

10. Consulted state, local, and industry information sources • Evaluated data quality of various sources • Local surveys and site visits • Included sources not in traditional inventories • Over 400 air pollution sources identified and quantified for NAP Identification of Air Pollution Sources –Neighborhood Assessment Program (NAP)

12. Major community concern • Consulted multiple agencies and data sources • Water, soil, and hazardous waste contamination sites • Waste disposal sites • Hazardous waste generation sites • Compiled and mapped • Basis for future work Identification of Mixed Media Pollution Sites

14. Community-scale air pollution cumulative risk modeling tool • Evaluates impacts of local facilities, major roadways and regional pollution Community Evaluation Tool (COMET)

15. Community studies showed neither microscale nor regional modeling alone fully characterize neighborhood-scale risks • Need microscale modeling for near-source impacts • Need regional modeling for background air pollution Need for Community Cumulative Risk Tool

16. Modeling Advisory Working Group, and peer review • Wilmington modeling protocol • Statewide approach for cumulative assessment at community scale • Recommendations to combine microscale and regional modeling Cumulative Impacts Modeling Approach Conceptual Development

17. Internal analysis tool, under development • Automate microscale modeling for facilities and roadway links • Source-centered “mini-grids” • Overlay microscale and regional results • Estimate air concentration and cancer/chronic risk Description of Community Evaluation Tool (COMET)

18. Updating stationary facility data inputs • Developing link-based roadway data inputs • Draft tool and pilot run later in 2007 • Public review of results Status of COMET Development

19. Monitoring studies • Diesel equipment • Container yards • Local methyl bromide fumigation Other Wilmington Activities

20. Harbor Communities Monitoring Studies focused on the Port area: • Instrumented electric vehicle • Saturation monitoring with passive samplers • Results can help evaluate COMET modeling Monitoring Studies

21. Truck idling regulation • Education and outreach • Enforcement and compliance • Incentive program • Facilitate participation • Explore potential operational improvements • Complements existing and planned regulation efforts Diesel Equipment Strategies

22. Identify container storage yards -- community interest • Bring local government into the process • Evaluate possible environmental health effects Wilmington Container Storage Yards

24. Several methyl bromide fumigation facilities in the Port area • High level of community interest • Working with Dept. of Pesticide Regulation and Cal/EPA to review Methyl Bromide Fumigation Facilities

25. Dale Shimp, Manager Environmental Justice and Special Projects Section Planning and Technical Support Division (916) 324-7156 dshimp@arb.ca.gov Contact Information