Air Pollution

• Who and what are the top polluters in your zip code?
• These companies and chemicals are ones found in Oakland, where I live within Alameda County. 
• Who: Pacific Galvanizing Inc, Owens-Brockway Glass Container Inc, Cleveland Steel Container Corp, B&P Marble Inc.
• What: ammonia, lead, styrene, tripollutants
• Additional chemicals in Alameda County: glycol ethers, xylene, toluene, trimethylbenzene, methanol.

• What percent of the homes in your zipcode have lead-based paint?
• 3% in Alameda County have homes with lead based paint. 

• Are there Superfund sites in your zip?
• There are 2 Superfund Sites in Alameda County. A Superfund Site is a major toxic waste site. 

• What can you tell us about the Superfund sites that are near where you live?
• They are located in Livermore (about a 40 minute drive from where I live in Oakland). They are Lawrence Livermore Lab sites. They are waste sites containing "waste lagoons and wells", waste tanks above and below ground and landfills.

• What did you learn about the air quality in your zipcode?




• Alameda County was ranked "among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S." (Yikes! This is awful to hear! I am also not very surprised since the city here is so full of cars, people, industries, pollutants, etc).

• How about the water quality?
• One of the dirtiest/worst water qualities in the nation! (within the 80-90th percentile). Pollutants include: mercury, pesticides, metals and PCBs. 

• How did your zipcode fair on a social justice / environmental justice basis?
• Better than I expected. Communities of color and white communities are very close in regards to toxic exposures and risk of cancer. Communities of color are at slightly higher risk. Superfund sites are in a predominantly white community of Livermore. But facilities emitting air pollutants are twice as high in communities of color.