Aviation Noise and Environmental Justice: The Barrio Barrier*

Abstract

Aviation noise is a harmful pollutant, which has yet to be studied in the environmental justice literature. This paper uses Tobit and logit multivariate regression analyses to analyze noise pollution exposure from a major commercial-service airport. It addresses the issue of whether people moved to the aviation noise-impacted areas or the noise encroached on the people, and controls for economic and political costs as well as the possibility of racial and ethnic prejudice. The results indicate that ethnicity is the primary cause of the disproportionate burden of aviation noise pollution borne by Hispanics in the area analyzed. Copyright Blackwell Publishing, Inc. 2007

A long view of polluting industry and environmental justice in Baltimore

“…In most cities, lead levels correspond with poverty, which correlates strongly with some ethnic and racial minorities (Zhou et al, 2012). Traffic and noise pollution, trash, and biohazards (including used syringes) are among many other factors that should be considered environmental burdens (Sobotta et al, 2007). Environmental justice is also concerned with the distribution of environmental amenities.…”

Human–Environment Interactions and Environmental Justice: How Do Diverse Parents of Asthmatic Children Minimize Hazards?

“…The bulk of the qualitative environmental justice research has focused on the historical development of environmental injustices (e.g., Boone 2002;Bolin et al 2005) and social movements for environmental justice (e.g., Brown et al 2004;Capek 1993). Hazards of focus have included industrial facilities regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. EPA) Toxic Release Inventory, toxic waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities, large generators of hazardous waste, airport noise, heat, and criteria pollution (Sicotte et al 2007;Cutter et al 2001;Sobotta et al 2007;Harlan et al 2006;Grineski et al 2007;Buzzelli et al 2004).…”

Airport Noise in Atlanta: The Inequality of Sound

“…4 OgnevaHimmelberger and Cooperman (2010), using Boston's Logan International Airport, find that minority and lower-income populations are subjected to relatively higher noise levels than their counterparts. Sobotta, Campbell, and Owens (2007) imply that focusing exclusively on an ordered probit model for the determinants of noise can lead to biased estimates in our context due to ignored heterogeneity among individual houses in our sample.…”

“…Our goal is to describe "what is" rather than assessing causality or fairness. In the process, we provide statistical evidence relevant in From an environmental-justice perspective, we have identified only three airport-noise studies that are related directly to the current study -Ogneva-Himmelberger and Cooperman (2010), Sobotta, Campbell, and Owens (2007), and Cohen and Coughlin (2012). 4 OgnevaHimmelberger and Cooperman (2010), using Boston's Logan International Airport, find that minority and lower-income populations are subjected to relatively higher noise levels than their counterparts.…”