Anne To | Contributing Writer | California Local News Fellow

From Carson to East Los Angeles, a large majority of Los Angeles County had a pollution burden higher than 90% of California, according to the draft CalEnviroScreen 5.0, which was released on Jan. 28. This percentage has only increased compared to the previous CalEnviroScreen release in 2021.

The mapping tool uses data from community-based organizations (CBOs) to track communities affected by pollution along California’s census tracts.

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) partnered with eight different CBOs to co-design the tool alongside public comments from previous versions of the map.

With the new version of CalEnviroScreen, OEHHA added two new indicators for tracking the pollution burden within a given census tract: diabetes prevalence and small air toxic sites. The former was added as people with diabetes are more likely to be affected by pollution exposure.

“Diabetes is a condition that can increase vulnerability to the effects of pollution, and specifically Black Californians, as well as, Filipinos and South Asians in California and other Asian ethnic groups have diabetes rates that can range from one and a half to two times higher than in White communities in the state,” said Laura August, a public health scientist, during an OEHHA press conference.

August also said that communities of color were more likely to live near small air toxic sites. Inglewood, which is predominantly Black and Latino, currently has the county’s largest active oil field with the Inglewood Oil Field, which covers over 1,000 acres. Within the city, asthma was anywhere from 70% to 90% higher than the rest of the state, according to the draft CalEnviroScreen 5.0 map.

OEHHA uses the results from the mapping tool to identify disadvantaged communities and provide funding to alleviate the environmental issues as part of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.

“The California EPA uses CalEnviroScreen to designate what are called disadvantaged communities,” August said during the press conference. “These communities are then prioritized for California Climate Investments.  Since this program started, there’s been over $9 billion directed to these communities to support cleaner and healthier environments. There’s a lot of other uses too. Residents and community organizations use the tool to determine eligibility as a disadvantaged community, or the data contained in the tool to support grant applications and to better understand and respond to pollution in their neighborhoods.”

Using data from CalEnviroScreen, the city of Richmond was able to campaign for a $550 million settlement to fund city services to transition away from fossil fuels, according to the OEHHA.

Johnathan Pruitt, land use program manager with the California Environmental Justice Alliance requested that public comments be submitted onto the draft CalEnviroScreen for additional feedback. The comments can be sent in until April 1.