Track: Environmental Management
Application of Geographic Information Systems in Studies of Environmental Justice
William B. SamuelsRakesh Bahadur , John W. Williams
Fairness in the distribution of environmental burdens is a growing public concern and recently became more prominent due to the publication of an executive order that requires agencies of the U.S. government to formally include environmental justice in their mission and documentation. Identification of environmentally burdened populations and the evaluation of potential inequities among groups within the general population present a formidable task in data processing and analysis. GIS provides a qualitative and quantitative tool for the analyst. This technology can also provide a visualization of the environmental situation that is especially useful in environmental documentation to inform the general public. This paper describes the application of GIS in evaluations of environmental justice. Following a discussion of basic definitions and data requirements, case studies involving 1,243 hazardous waste disposal sites located throughout the contiguous United States are used to illustrate the issues that surround GIS applications to evaluations of environmental justice. Results of the analysis are compared to a recent study (Zimmerman, 1993) that used different analysis techniques and spatial resolution. It was found that both spatial resolution and analysis methodology can noticeably affect the results. It is often impractical to precisely define the geographical extent of potentially adverse environmental effects. In some cases, imprecision is due to the complexity of and uncertainties in the sources of pollution. In other cases, the effects may be primarily subjective. Therefore, it is prudent to investigate the sensitivity of the results to the choice for spatial resolution and mathematical methods.
William B. Samuels
SAIC
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