Colfax, LA hosts an open-burn/open-detonation hazardous waste thermal treatment (TT) facility, which disposes of military ordnances, fireworks, waste from Superfund sites, and other explosives. 68% of Colfax’s residents are of Black race and median household income is $26,149, indicating the community’s institutional vulnerability. We plan to measure air pollution emissions from the facility but first partnered with the Colfax community to collect information pertinent to hazardous waste the town has changed over time and how Colfax residents have been impacted by pollution and noise emissions from the TT facility. Questions were designed to elicit community members’ responses about their recollections of Colfax in the past, their current occupation, friends and family, observations and perceptions of the commercial TT facility, visual evidence of emissions, health effects potentially related to TT emissions, and beliefs and practices that may influence their exposure. Nineteen community members between the ages of 45 and 74 were interviewed. Twelve were of Black race, and seven were of White race. Several interviewees noted that Colfax’s economy and population have dwindled since the 1980s. The TT facility opened in 1980, but many were unaware of its existence until the mid-2010s, when the facility began accepting waste from a closed large-scale military TT operation. Most interviewees described visible smoke and detonation-related noise from the direction of the facility, and several described thyroid, skin, and respiratory ailments. Based on this information, we will pay extra attention to characterizing the chemical composition of the material. We modified our measurement plans to add passive sampling to capture the composition of PM at fourteen sites based on population distribution and historic wind patterns. Our passive samples will be analyzed using inductively coupled plasma for metals, mass spectrometry for dioxins, electroparamagnetic resonance for EPFRs, and scanning electron microscopy for size distribution and additional composition information.

Community-engaged study design for a central louisiana community impacted by emissions from a thermal treatment facility

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.