A Case Study on Assessment of Environmental Justice using GIS in Franklin County, Ohio, USA

Bathula Maruti Chowdary,Madiraju Saisantosh Vamshi Harsha,Viyyuri Ravi Shankar

doi:10.30799/jespr.219.22080102

Bathula Maruti Chowdary, Madiraju Saisantosh Vamshi Harsha + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.30799/jespr.219.22080102

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Abstract

Environmental justice is a growing concern in the United States. This study is an attempt to assess if fairness exists when it comes to the population of Franklin County concerning the location of industries based on environmental laws. Industries in Franklin County are taken into consideration and the areas surrounding it to assess the concern of environmental justice using tools in geographic information systems (GIS). This study concentrates on Franklin County as it is one of the most populated counties in Ohio as of 2019. Eleven major cities and industrial facilities are selected in Franklin County. A 4-mile buffer zone is considered around each city using ArcGIS to find the number of industries surrounding them. Pollution is gauged with the count of industries in the considered buffer zones. This study assumes that the number of industries is directly proportional to pollution. Minority and low-income data are extracted from the US Census Bureau. The number of minorities and low-income populations in the considered buffer zone is found using ArcMap. Minority population and income brackets of the population in a buffer zone are compared to the extent of industrial facilities in the same buffer zone. Statistical analysis is performed on the samples to find the correlation between the extent of industrial facilities and minorities to assess Environmental Justice. Another buffer is created using a 14-mile radius (with the centroid of the Franklin County as center) is created using EJSCREEN version 2019 to compare environmental indicators and demographic indicators with the NAAQs standard pollutants. A comparative analysis is performed to evaluate the results. The results indicate that there is no significant correlation between the minority population and industries in the selected 4-mile buffer zones. This approach can apply to any small geographic areas such as counties, zip codes, and census tracts to assess environmental justice.

Highlights

Securing the Earth is at times seen as an extravagance - something individuals care about just when they have a lot of recreation time and discretionary cash flow [1]
Franklin County map is extracted from the US map by selecting the county and creating a new layer out of the selected feature and naming it Franklin County, Ohio
The data tables are joined to the existing demographics data by using join and relates to the Franklin County layer

Summary

Introduction

Securing the Earth is at times seen as an extravagance - something individuals care about just when they have a lot of recreation time and discretionary cash flow [1]. Low-pay networks and minority ethnic groups regularly bear the most serious outcomes of natural corruption and contamination [2]. This issue influences both national and universal circles [3]. Ecological contaminants may likewise be conveyed long separations, influencing networks a long way from their origin. Some may contend this is only how the market works since more economically developed countries can manage the cost of better natural assurance [5]. Others battle that the issue includes more extensive inquiries of human rights and major equity, requiring national approaches, or global understandings, to alter the activities of unregulated markets [6]

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