Merced County

SLOW DISASTER CASE STUDY

ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE

FALL 2020

GROUP NO. 6

AUTHORS

Luca Brody, Danial Ali, Bradford Kong, Anthony Palanca, Mia Marino, Alexander Chappell, Morgan Raynal, Sydnie Shelah, Harold Tran, Jagger Brooks, Jai Maldonado, Quan Nguyen

CITE AS

Ali, Danial; Brody, Luca; Brooks, Jagger; Chappell, Alexander; Kong, Bradford; Maldonado, Jai; Marino, Mia; Nguyen, Quan; Palanca, Anthony; Raynal, Morgan; Shelah, Sydnie; Tran, Harold. 2020. Slow Disaster Case Study: Community. Environmental Injustice, Disaster STS Research Network.

ABOUT

This case study report was developed by students at the University of California Irvine for the undergraduate class, “Environmental Injustice,” taught by Kim Fortun, Tim Schütz, Kaitlyn Rabach, Prerna Srigyan and Maggie Woodruff for the Department of Anthropology, Fall 2020. The University of California Irvine is on the ancestral homelands of the Tongya and Acjachemen nations.

COVER PHOTO

This cover image depicts the air pollution that Merced county faces. The image comes from fresnobee.com.

PERMISSION TO PUBLISH @ https://disaster-sts-network.org Do you consent to having your name listed as an author on the published case study?

Name Publish? (Y or N)

1.Luca Brody Y

2. Danial Ali Y

3. Bradford Kong Y

4. Anthony Palanca Y

5. Mia Marino Y

6.Alexander Chappell Y

7. Jai Maldonado Y

8. Sydnie Shelah Y

9. Harold Tran Y

10. Edgar Ruvalcaba Godoy Y

11. Morgan Raynal Y

12. Quan Nguyen Y

13. Jagger Brooks Y

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT PHOTO

Luca Brody: First year Undeclared student at UC Irvine. Hometown: Palo Alto, CA

Jai Maldonado is currently an undeclared first year at UC Irvine. Hometown: Hollister, CA

Danial Ali: Second Year undeclared student at UC Irvine looking to get into Business. Hometown: Eastvale, Ca

Mia Marino is currently a first year undergraduate student, working towards a BFA in Dance and Performance at the University of California Irvine.

Harold Tran: Second Year recently transferred from Biological Sciences to Undeclared at UC Irvine. Hometown: La Mirada, CA

Bradford Kong: Third Year math major at UC Irvine. Hometown: Torrance, CA

Jagger Brooks is currently a second year mechanical engineering student, whose hometown is San Diego, California

Edgar Ruvalcaba Godoy: Second Year Biological Science Major

Hometown: Santa Monica, CA

Quan Nguyen: Second Year Mechanical Engineering Major

Hometown: Anaheim, CA

Sydnie Shelah: Second Year Anthropology Major

Hometown: Flint, Mi

Anthony Palanca: Second Year Biological Science Major

Hometown: La Puente, CA

Morgan Raynal: Third Year, changing to International Studies Major

Hometown: San Francisco, CA

Alexander Chappell: First Year Environmental Engineering major

Hometown: Vacaville, CA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 10

1. COMMUNITY ASSETS & SETTING 13

2. FAST DISASTER & OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS 21

3. COMPOUND VULNERABILITIES 31

4. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS 37

5. STAKEHOLDER ACTIONS 39

6. ROLE OF MEDIA AND BIG ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS 42

7.RECOMMENDED LOCAL ACTIONS 45

8. RECOMMENDED EXTRA-LOCAL ACTIONS 47

9. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 49

10. INJUSTICE ANALYSIS 54

BIBLIOGRAPHY 57

FIGURES 63

INTRODUCTION

This case study report focuses on routine, everyday air and water pollution in Merced County We describe routine pollution as “slow disaster” because the impacts are drawn out and cumulative, causing harm slowly, increasing rates of asthma, cancer and heart disease. In many ways, slow pollution disasters are more difficult to deal with than fast, explosive disasters because people don’t pay attention to them or even think they are normal – especially in communities of color. Often, communities have to organize and fight to get their concerns about pollution heard and addressed by government officials. Often, particular people play important leadership roles. Sometimes, these people are residents impacted by a polluting facility. Sometimes, leading figures in fights for environmental justice are professionals – physicians who work in the community or engineers who work inside the polluting facilities. This case study describes many different stakeholders in routine pollution and the actions they have taken -- and not taken -- to improve environmental conditions.

The report addresses a series of ten questions (Fig. 2) that draw out local details in a manner that encourages comparison with other places. The research has been done quickly (within the constraints of a quarter-long undergraduate class) so is limited to and points to the need for further research and community engagement. The goal is to help build both a body of research on environmental injustice and a network of researchers ready to help conceptualize and implement next-generation environmental protections.

ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE CASE STUDY FRAMEWORK

1. What is the setting of this case? What are its assets?

2. What environmental health threats (from explosions, everyday pollution, climate change, etc ) are there in this setting?

3. What intersecting factors -- social, cultural, political, technological, ecological -- contribute to environmental health vulnerability and injustice in this setting?

4. Who are stakeholders, what are their characteristics, and what are their perceptions of the problems?

5. What have different stakeholder groups done (or not done) in response to the problems in this case?

6. How have environmental problems in this setting been reported by media, environmental groups, companies and government agencies?

7. What local actions would reduce environmental vulnerability and injustice in this setting?

8. What extra-local actions (at state, national or international levels) would reduce environmental vulnerability and injustice in this setting and similar settings?

9. What kinds of data and research would be useful in efforts to characterize and address environmental threats in this setting and similar settings?

10. What, in your view, is ethically wrong or unjust in this case?

FIGURE 1: This is the analytic framework that guided research for this case study.

FIGURE 2:Kern County is an inland county in Southern California known for intensive oil and gas operations. There is also considerable pollution from agricultural operations, making Bakersfield -- the county seat and largest city in Kern County -- one of the most polluted places in the United States. (Screenshots by Kim Fortun, October 17.2020) https://www.mapsofworld.com/usa/states/california/california-county-map.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kern_County,_California

FIGURE 3: Orange County is located on Tongva and Acjachemen native lands. Neither

tribe is federally recognized or well acknowledged in Orange County. In 2016, the University of California Irvine launched an effort to build collaborative relationships with Tongva and Acjacheman tribe members (Siddiqi 2016). The Sacred Plains Institute for Indigenous People (SPI) is an Indigenous-led, advocacy organization located in Los Angeles, also on Tongva lands. SPI has an indigeneous youth environmental justice program (SPI 2020)

(Screenshots by Kim Fortun, October 17.2020). https://native-land.ca/maps/territories/tongva/ http://www.sacredplacesinstitute.org/events.html

1.COMMUNITY ASSETS & SETTING

Who Is Fighting, and What Are They Fighting For?

Author Name: Anthony Palanca This case study explores the potential of slow disaster in the county of Merced, California, a primarily agricultural region, with various agricultural corporations, from wineries and massive fruit farms to shipping warehouses for national supermarkets, forming a large fraction of the region’s top employers (Central California, 2018). The majority of the county’s population is, according to the US Census Bureau, of Latino or Hispanic descent,

at 61% of the roughly 277,680 total residents of the region (US Census Bureau, 2019). Of the over 277,000 residents of Merced County, about 1 in 5 live in poverty, which is roughly double the rate for the state of California as a whole (US Census Bureau, 2019). This can easily be attributed to the reduced median annual household income of the county, which is $20,000 less than the median of the state (US Census Bureau, 2018). With Merced’s demographics aside, chief amongst the culprits of a slow disaster in the county are its long standing history of exceptionally poor air quality and, in more local instances within the county’s individual cities, the contamination of groundwater drinking sources, which are being infused with a veritable cocktail of toxic chemicals. The permeation of the agricultural industry within the county’s economy is likely a factor contributing to the region’s highly polluted air, and it is without question, directly responsible for the contamination of several of its cities’ wells with pesticides. The effects of such pollutants are heavily addressed and reported on by the wide array of Merced county’s community assets, ranging from large and small scale environmental agencies, to local news outlets and Universities.

The Merced county branch of the Sierra Club, one of the nationwide environmental organizations that operate within the county, have led a lawsuit against the governing body of Merced to address some of the outlying causes of the county’s poor air quality. In the 2014 case the Sierra Club v. Merced County Association of Governments, the Sierra Club challenged the governing body’s, “. . . refusal to comply with the greenhouse gas reduction targets set by the State of California”, with their victory in the case allowing them to ensure that the county better utilizes its lands with reductions to harmful emissions in mind (the Sierra Club, 2019). On a more local level, Merced County’s own Environmental Health Division provides a plethora of services, including “water quality testing. . . wastewater treatment ordinances. . . various pages on appropriate pesticide usage. . . and various resources for reporting pesticide exposure based illnesses and the use of banned pesticides by certain farms” (Merced County Division of Environmental Health, 2020).

Local news networks like the Merced Sun-Star and the Merced County Times have also done their respective parts as assets to their community, reporting on environmental health concerns as they appear. The Merced Sun-Star has reported on the region’s failing marks in its air quality, citing “troublesome topography trapping pollutants. . . major highways. . . ash from nearby wildfires and a growing population” as culprits, as well as the contamination of the city of Atwater’s drinking water wells with the “carcinogenic chemical trichloropropane” due to decades of accumulating pesticide runoff (Geroge, 2019 and Scrivner, 2020). The Merced County Times has tackled the issue of the regions’ substantial methane emissions due to the large amount of livestock present in agricultural sites, and they have also reported on a few of the community driven actions taken by the University of California, Merced (Gueorguieva, 2019). UC Merced appears to be a critical asset of the county, performing research into the improvement of environmental health as a whole for the region and drawing awareness to the issues of environmental health through their annual “Wild and Scenic Film Festival” (Barela, 2020).The county of Merced clearly has a diverse pool of community assets that care about the environmental health of the people who reside there, reporting on hazards as they occur to incite awareness, or on chronic hazards to maintain said awareness.

Photo credit: Kuhn, Andrew. Osborn Park Canal, Atwater CA. February 11, 2020. Merced Sun-Star

FIGURE 4: The image above is of a water canal in the city of Atwater located in Merced County. Groundwater sources in Atwater, like the one depicted, have been contaminated by the carcinogenic compound Trichloropropane due to fertilizer runoff, a fact that has plagued the city since May 2018.

(Screenshot by Anthony Palanca, November 4, 2020) https://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/article240169308.html

Photo Credit: Walker, John. the Sierra Nevada mountain range, CA. April 24, 2018. Merced Sun-Star

FIGURE 5: The image above is of the San Joaquin Valley, where the County of Merced is located. It illustrates the effect of particulates on visibility, also indicating the dense particle pollution that clogs the air at times, which has garnered Merced county the title of one of the top 10 most polluted regions in the US by way of particulates in the air.

(Screenshot by Anthony Palance, November 4, 2020) https://www.mercedsunstar.com/living/health-fitness/article229644834.html

FIGURE 6b

FIGURE 6: The figures above depict the nation’s voting patterns in the 2020 presidential election by county, with the former depicting every county in the United States and the latter solely depicting the voting patterns of Merced. Despite Merced being an agricultural region, a demographic that was particularly critical to President Trump’s administration in previous years, the county is voting primarily for the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden. This is in keeping with the county’s previous voting patterns.

(Screenshots by Anthony Palanca, November 5, 2020) https://www.latimes.com/projects/2020-presidential-election-live-results/

FIGURE 7: The state of California has laws that make it easier to vote than in many other US states. This strengthens democratic capacity across the state of California. There are still concerns, however. In Kern County, there have been calls for more voting options for rural residents, possibly through a mobile voting office (as has been used in Imperial County) (Morgan 2020). The county of Merced appears to be in complete compliance with the Voter’s Choice Act, allowing for easily accessible mail in voting with many drop off centers to facilitate this. The county is also expanding upon voting access for those with disabilities through the use of an online application.

(Screenshot by Anthony Palance, November 07, 2020) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2019/nov/07/which-us-states-h ardest-vote-supression-election

2. FAST DISASTER & OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS

What Threats Are Affecting Merced County Under the Radar?

Author Name: Luca Brody, Danial Ali, Mia Marino There are many environmental threats that face Merced County. Most of these, however, are slow disasters. Slow disasters, contrary to fast disasters, are events that occur over time and cause serious issues to the surrounding communities and environment over a longer period of time. Slow disasters are in a sense much more dangerous compared to fast disasters as their effects appear largely under the radar and slowly make their worst impact when it is too late to stop them. In Merced county, these include PM 2.5, ozone pollution, hazardous waste, toxic polluting facilities, and infrastructure hazards. All of these contaminants are much higher in Merced county compared to the rest of California. For starters, the PM 2.5 levels are 93% higher and the ozone levels are 82% higher than

the rest of California (oehha.ca.gov). Levels of PM 2.5 and ozone often go hand in hand, when considering the primary pollution source being freight. These have been shown to cause increased asthma rates and cause serious other conditions such as lung cancer (lung.org).

Additionally, the hazardous waste levels are 18% higher than the rest of the state and toxic pollutants are 33.45% higher than the rest of California (oehha.ca.gov). Depending on the pollution released by toxic waste, there can be many different health effects (none being favorable). In Merced county, there is a lack of concrete information that shows exactly what toxic waste is released, however in general, these toxic releases have been shown to cause serious health problems including birth defects and cancer (oehha.ca.gov). In Merced county, the cancer mortality rates are significantly higher than the rest of California. These being 163.3 deaths per capita, compared to the California rate of 149.9 deaths per capita (co.merced.ca.us). This has led to overall cancer medical and absenteeism costs amounting to over 64.5 million dollars annually in Merced county alone (co.merced.ca.us). The reasons for these high cancer rates are still yet to be concretely discovered, however it is likely due to the high air pollution present in Merced county. A Dignity Health study shows us that the lung cancer deaths per capita are far higher than other types of cancer (dignityhealth.org). This could be attributed to high smoking but the rate of smoking has shown not to be statistically significant with regards to cancer in Merced county (co.merced.ca.us), leading to a higher possibility that these increased rates are due to air pollution such as PM 2.5.

These issues, especially combined, will be detrimental to the population of Merced county over time. These contaminants account for thousands of medical issues ranging from minor respiratory issues, all the way to deadly cancers.

Merced has one of the highest pollution rates in any county in California. There are many sources of pollution in Merced, such as transportation, agriculture, and pollution from

nearby big cities that drift to the county. What all these different sources of pollution have in common are these are all slow disasters. What slow disasters are, is a disaster that does not occur from a single problem and single event, but one that occurs from various problems and various events over time. In Merced county, they have “received and F grade for polluted air” and “among the most polluted American cities according to an annual report released by American Lung Association.” (George 1). A lot of pollution that affects the county of Merced are “soot from cars and industry.” (Leavenworth 1). Not only is the transportation sector contributing heavily to the pollution in Merced, we see agriculture and farm animals releasing methane as well as pollution coming from larger metropolitan areas such as San Francisco where the pollution drifts to the county of Merced and affects everyone. Merced has a “PM of 2.5 and an AQI of 78” (IQAir 1) which means the air quality is not the cleanest. In order for people to live safely and healthy under these conditions, they must close windows to avoid dirty air and people who are sensitive should not exercise outdoors. Because of the effects of big companies and big cities, some people can’t live life normally. This shows how money talks and when money talks, it does not care how many lives are going to be destroyed and how much of that is preventable with better use of energy and stronger restrictions on output of pollution and toxins. Air pollution is the main threat to the people of Merced and what many may not know is problems from pollution causes asthma, lung problems, and risk for heart and kidney disease. When it comes to food, many families try to find the cheapest way to feed their family, this leads to unhealthy choices that negatively affect their health. “People may have to make harsh choices - knowingly putting their health at risk because they cannot see their children go hungry” (Roberts 4). This is important to understand because when factories are polluting the air, people who are most vulnerable are the ones who have lower incomes and they are the ones affected the most.

FIGURE 8: This compilation of environmental indicators (provided by the US EPA’s EJScreen tool) shows that Merced County is in the 98th percentile for toxic wastewater discharge nationwide, in the 94th percentile for ozone nationwide, and in the 92nd percentile for both particulate matter (PM 2.5) and respiratory hazard nationwide. The particulate matter indicator is based on agriculture and farm animals releasing methane as well as pollution coming from larger metropolitan areas such as San Francisco where the pollution drifts to the county of Merced and affects everyone. (Screenshot by Mia Marino, November 04, 2020). https://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/ejscreen_SOE.aspx https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen/overview-environmental-indicators-ejscreen

FIGURE 9:. The American Lung Association (ALA) gave Merced county (California) an “F” for ozone levels. This may be explained by high levels of vehicle pollution and other freight pollution. The overall rating is far lower than other counties in California. https://www.stateoftheair.org/city-rankings/states/california/merced.html (Screenshot by Luca Brody, November 4, 2020)

FIGURE 10: According to 2016 data, Merced County had 28 days that were above the regulatory standard for ozone. High ozone levels are linked to asthma as well as other respiratory diseases. (Screenshot by Luca Brody, November 4, 2020) https://www.kidsdata.org/topic/525/environment-airquality-ozone/Map#loct=3&fmt= 2527&loc=354&tf=88¢er=-13430738.48516,4465374.6457021&zoom=2

FIGURE 11: This data shows the average micrograms of particulate matter per cubic meter in different counties in California. This can be compared to the PM levels in Merced County. (Screenshot by Luca Brody November 7, 2020) https://www.kidsdata.org/topic/80/air-quality/summary

FIGURE 12: This figure shows annual ambient concentration of PM 2.5 in Merced county to be the same as the US national standard. This doesn’t mean that the air in Merced county is safe. PM 2.5 is one of many air pollutants. (Screenshot by Luca Brody November 7, 2020) https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/InfoByLocation/

FIGURE 13:. This figure shows the schools and percentage of the population of Merced county that are near a major highway. The number is low because the county is rural. The US Center for Disease Control reports that traffic pollution has been linked to increased asthma, childhood cancer and cardiovascular disease (see CDC.com) (Screenshot by Luca Brody, November 07,2020). https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/InfoByLocation/

FIGURE 14: In maps provided by the California Health Places Index, Imperial County appears to be in the highest percentile of the state for healthy drinking water. However, the NYTimes database (provided by Environmental Working Group) indicates that there was no data available for the city of Imperial. This may mean that this map is misleading. In 2018, the California Office of Health Hazard Assessment study, “What’s In the Water? Unknown Water Quality in Border Communities,” confirmed that “the primary source of domestic water in rural communities is untreated canal water and little is known about the water quality.” (Screenshot by Luca Brody, November 07,2020). https://map.healthyplacesindex.org/

3. COMPOUND VULNERABILITIES

What social factors have affected the county of Merced?

Author Name: Jai Maldonado

One big issue within Merced County is the number of homeless. It has been counted there are about 607 homeless people living within Merced County as of some time in 2019 (Merced, 2019). As there are not too great a number of minorities living within this county, it is safe to assume the homelessness rates contribute to the seemingly lack of concern for the health effects of the many factors of pollution—cars, landfills, incinerators, refineries, power plants, etc—in this area.

As of 2018, it was counted that there are 21.2% of people within Merced County who are considered to be living in poverty. This county has a fairly high poverty rate, which often filters into the homelessness rate and may also contribute to this either lack of proper environmental education or lack of concern for the many things causing pollution in the area. With such a need for work, there may also be a need for these exact things causing such bad pollution. Refineries, power plants, incinerators, and landfills all need workers. Some individuals with a lower income, without many other options, and without any outside help may depend on these facilities to pay the bills. These economic based factors can be somewhat seen in figure 15 with the economic score being 41.6

percent out of 100 and comparatively lower than the scores for both California and the United States as a whole.

Along with economical type factors, the environmental organizations’ limited distribution of knowledge may be affecting the environmental injustices occurring in this county. The environmental organizations working in Merced County are Merced County Environmental Health, Kiona Foundation, and East Merced ERCD. The Merced County Environmental Health is more focused on regulating food facility construction, Kiona Foundation is nonprofit and is more agricultural and human health based, and the East Merced RCD is more environmentally based with the promotion of knowledge on ecosystem health, water quality, and natural resources in general. All of these organizations are doing well in their specific topics, but none address the issues of pollution. East Merced RCD, the organization most connected to environmental health has no resources on pollutants or the problems caused from highways being so close to homes. This organization instead goes over other helpful things and works to better the environment, though not involving pollution. Merced County RCD works to,”Promote natural resource conservation, improve water quality and ecosystem health, increase native vegetation, remove invasive plants, provide education and outreach programs, promote recreation and water safety programs, and create collaborative partnerships with stakeholders” (East 2017).

Overall, it seems both economics and the lack of distribution of knowledge—specifically on pollution involving environmental health—are the overarching factors for the environmental health injustices and vulnerabilities in this region.

FIGURE 15: Every score Merced County received was below California’s overall score and below the United States’ average in every category besides health. The noticeably lowest score comparatively is the Economic based score for this county. (Screenshot by Jai Maldonado, November 5.2020). Opportunity Nation: The Forum for Youth Investment.

FIGURE 16: The percentages for education lean towards some college and below, likely bleeding into the percentages for unemployment and not in the labor force, that bleeding into the lower household income. These things are all in some way connected to the about 607 homeless individuals living within Merced County. (Screenshot by Jai Maldonado, November 5.2020). https://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/demogreportpdf.aspx?report=acs2017

FIGURE 17: There are not many absences and students are not often being suspended due to “defiance or disruption,” but many students in this county seem to being doing poorly in school, lacking a connection to the school, and only a small amount of students feel like the things they do at school make any difference. The children in Merced County seem to be unmotivated and are lacking in truly learning and grasping the concepts they are being taught. (Screenshot by Jai Maldonado, November 7.2020). https://www.childrennow.org/portfolio-posts/2018scorecard/

FIGURE 18: There is little to no green on this map, meaning there is little to no residents of Merced County considered to be above the poverty level. As there are many individuals in this county who do not exceed poverty level, the rising level of homeless makes sense. (Screenshot by Jai Maldonado, November 7.2020). https://map.healthyplacesindex.org/

4. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

How is each stakeholder affected differently within the same county?

Mia Marino

A few major stakeholders in this community are plant workers, citizens/residents, farmworkers, and industries/corporations.

Plant workers are very knowledgeable about plant operations but are unfortunately often disrespected by management and higher authority. Many plant workers are fearful because if they report the issues that are concerning to them, they could possibly lose their jobs. Plant workers put themselves at risk everyday, surrounded by toxic and harmful chemicals and many of them do not have the option to quit and get a different job. For some, being a plant worker is how they support themselves and their families.

A high percentage of residents and citizens in this county are in poverty. In Merced County, the contaminants are more prominent than in other parts of California. “California counties in the Valley region to receive a failing “F” grade in the State of the Air 2019 report include Merced, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa and Tulare” (George, 2019). Residential neighbors and citizens often complain about dust, noise, odors, early morning operations, chemical use, and many other things that affect their daily lives and can cause health problems. Residents and citizens often live in stress and fear because the

everyday air they breathe is filled with harmful chemicals that can cause respiratory issues and even cancer (Merced County General Plan 2007, 11). The city of Atwater has high levels of TCP in their water which is known to cause cancer. This affects local citizens and residents such as students and faculty at Buhach Colony High School because their water fountains use tap water containing the TCP (Granda, 2018). Knowing that many individuals in Merced County are in poverty, corporations and industries use it to their advantage and use that leverage to get away with many harmful things without too much worry.

Industries know the citizens of Merced County will not stand up against them allowing these injustices to continue. It is important that it be known that the median income in Merced county is a whopping $20,000 less than the median income of California (incomebyzipcode.com). This means that low income families are being hit harder than the rest of california. They are being targeted as their low income and social status makes them less likely to be able to act against large corporations who are driving the injustice. There needs to be more awareness and people who are willing to stand up and fight against these corporations.

Farmworkers are also majorly affected in Merced County. Urbanization is slowly but surely starting to take over. There is a large loss of agricultural land due to urbanization. These urban developments are close in proximity to farmland, and farm workers often “experience vandalism, pilferage of crops, dog attacks on livestock, restrictions on pesticide use and other practices, congested local roads, and other impacts that reduce productivity and income.” Agricultural officials have even reported pollutants from industrial facilities contaminating crops. (Merced County General Plan 2007, 8). Many lives are affected in negative ways and many are not even aware of it, it is important to bring awareness to these injustices so we can start creating change.

5. STAKEHOLDER ACTIONS

What Problems Have Been Addressed in Merced County?

Harold Tran, Alexander Chappell

[Harold & Alexander] In the county of Merced, we see a wide range of stakeholders all affected in their own ways by the numerous slow disasters occuring within their communities. These slow disasters being rampant groundwater contamination through shady marketing or air pollution through company mismanagement and lack of care. Stakeholders within this area are a wide range of people from ordinary taxpayers, large corporations, government officials and agencies, etc. They all have played a role within this county may that be them being affected by these environmental injustices or those who are the inflictors of them. Now within the community of Merced, many are left with a choice, to take action or to sit idle by. In the case of groundwater contamination and clean water in Merced County, there are multiple stakeholders that are affected. For example, high levels of TCP, 1,2,3-Trichloropropane, has been found in “nine out of the city's ten wells” (Granda 2018). High levels of TCP have been found to cause cancer and now schools like Buhach Colony High School are now heavily affected. It turns out that there was more than the legal amount of TCP in the water, which was at most allowed at “5-parts-per-trillion in public drinking water systems” (ABC News 2019). Atwater City found out that Shell Oil Company had been actually selling an agricultural product called nematicide to these

farmers. However, nematicide actually contained illegal amounts of TCP and the company had not once disclosed this while marketing for this product. Since this affected the water irrigation system, it ultimately polluted the drinking water of Merced. In order to address this issue, the city of Atwater and the council were the first stakeholders to take action and filed a court case against the Shell Oil Company on January 31, 2006 to the Merced Superior Court, thus making this court the second stakeholder to take action. Atwater City hired the Miller and Axline firm as the attorney to argue against the defendants, therefore making them the third stakeholder taking action in order to end water pollution. The Miller and Axline law firm had actually helped out the next county over, Fresno County, with a similar case involving TCP back in 2016. Not surprisingly, the culprit of the illegal amounts of TCP was the Shell Oil Company once again. This time, however, it was from another fumigants product that was intended to kill worms in the ground. With this team, a verdict was made by judge Brian L. McCabe on August 23, 2019. This made him the fourth stakeholder and an important one in ending water contamination. He ruled that the Shell Oil Company had to pay 63 million dollars to Atwater City in order to fix the water pollution. With the outcome, the people of Merced County and Mayor Paul Creighton were deeply grateful. The mayor even stated that “[they] are grateful that the jury decided in the best interests of Atwater” and “that his residents have a safe, reliable source of drinking water, and not have to face the same issues that far too many of [his] fellow valley residents have to face” (Creighton 2019). This statement made him the fifth stakeholder to take action because by making a public statement about an unjust thing like this case, he is able to shed more light to the seriousness of environmental injustice. This actually encourages the citizens of Merced to be more inclined to fight against the environmental injustices that occur around the world as they once were the victims of greedy companies before. When it comes to air pollution within the County of Merced, there is often a lack of enforcement and great leniency given to companies within the area. In fact, the county has continuously received failing grades in air quality, as stated, "that progress has been slower in the Valley than other parts of the state in addressing air pollution"(George

2019). One major polluter within the area is the biomass energy plant, Merced Power LLC. , which has been owned by several companies over the years. They have allowed large amounts of toxic chemicals to be released into the air of Merced, way over the allowed limits. For example, the EPA fined them stating that they were, ” Emitting air pollutants including nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide in excess of the permit limits”(Sullivan 2011). However, even when they receive these rare fines, in which they deserve, they have shown little signs of slowing down as their large amounts of pollution have continued to occur for years afterward. The Environmental Protection Agency in fact fined them due to them not having proper air quality testing and emission control systems, as the EPA continues to state,”’EPA is committed to doing our part to tackle the worst air quality in the nation’”(Sullivan 2011). This however, does not always ring true as often the EPA tends to fail at pushing emission targets within the area, letting companies get away with the same injustices year after year. During the fines Global Ampersand, with the CEO Eric Shumway, owned the biomass energy facility in Merced recently selling the company to another after paying close to a million in fines, as stated, “Merced Power paid fines of $492,000, and Ampersand Chowchilla $343,000”(Greene, 2011). These are both companies under the umbrella of Ampersand at the time, in which only received slight maintenance after the fines. Even with these agencies failing to lean on these companies for their unlawful pollution, change within the area seems to be on the way. As Merced County has already taken action in planning and adopting legislation that will help them enforce and decrease air pollution with the county. [Harold & Alexander]

6. ROLE OF MEDIA AND BIG ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

Are the environmental problems present in Merced County properly being addressed by the media and environmental groups?

Edgar Ruvalcaba Godoy

The media that addresses the environmental problems present in Merced County have been by two news organizations present in the county which are the Merced County times and the Merced Sun-Star. These are two news organizations which are located in the county but other organizations surrounding the county also report on the environmental problems of Merced County. Merced County Times released an article which discussed the treatment of trees, “Environmental consultants say for every dollar that the City of Merced spends on its trees, the return in benefits amounts to $3.67” (Whitaker 2020). The news organizations try to report on the environment as much as possible but recently it has mostly been on other topics such as the election and news going around the world and not just in the county. To a surprise, Merced County has covered the environmental problems themselves on their public website run by the government. On their website they have published environmental impact reports as well as government bills and acts such as the Environmental Quality Act, “Disclose to the

public the significant environmental effects of a proposed discretionary project”(Merced 2020). The plan of the public website is to enhance public participation in environmental review processes and to improve the environmental problems present in the county and to improve the health of its citizens. However, the public website made by Merced County does not discuss companies functioning in the county who contribute to the environmental problems such as air pollution and contamination of water. Located in Merced County is the University of California, Merced, which is home to many students who deeply care about their environment and community.

These students offer the greatest asset to media coverage for the county since so many clubs and organizations have been created within the school to discuss the topics of environmental problems within the community. With just one club holding an event or creating posters around campus emphasizing on the air pollution and contamination of water in the county, many students become informed about what is happening and they help spread the word. As more students continue to discuss the topics among themselves, they increase their knowledge about the dangers and can begin to make changes to better help their community. One such organization present in the university is The Society for Environmental Advocacy whose purpose is to, “establish an intercollegiate club for advancing awareness and understanding of community and environmental issues”(Miller 2020). There are many other organizations and clubs similar to the one presented who help spread the word on environmental advocacy.

The Merced County Department of Public Health is an agency that provides reports on environmental concerns in the county and publicizes them. One such route they have taken is releasing a resource guide to the residents for environmental health services, “ listing of resource agencies that are involved with environmental issues”(Palsgaard). There are a variety of agencies listed on the guide that provide information on air pollution and wastewater. The Public Health department also oversees state mandated programs in the county, programs which are made up of businesses, and these programs

are inspected by the Certified Unified Program Agency team and with the help of NES global have classes to teach businesses and the public about hazardous wastes that could cause environmental harm. These classes offered by NES Global are all online, “free of charge and offer a variety of courses that are either eight or four hours in length” (NES Webinar 2020). Such actions by these organizations allow the public and even businesses to become informed about the environmental hazards present in the county. The environmental hazards reported by wikipedia are not directly in Merced County but in the city right next to the county which is Fresno, “Contamination of ground water by pesticides and other chemical run-offs is a major issue”(Wikipedia 2020). Fresno deals with the exact same environmental problems as Merced County which is mostly air pollution and contamination of water. The media and environmental agencies are doing a good job in reporting environmental hazards, but it could always be improved if more residents of the county become involved and let other county’s know about the issues they are dealing with.

7.RECOMMENDED LOCAL ACTIONS

What can the community do to help?

Morgan Raynal

In order to reduce the environmental vulnerability in Merced, first there needs to be a state wide push for lowering vehicle emissions responsibly, especially for residents of Merced who are “driving older vehicles with high mileage and numerous mechanical problems that make them costly and unreliable” (CCAC, 2020). These vehicles pollute the local air, and contribute to increases in Asthma, as 1 in 6 children in the county have Asthma. While a fleet of electric vehicles, as proposed in the green new deal, is a solution to reducing vehicle emissions, but it will require an enormous amount of lithium to build the batteries that power this fleet. The mining of lithium takes place mainly in Australia, Chile, Argentina, and it takes a toll on the environment of those countries, “In Chile’s Salar de Atacama, mining activities consumed 65 per cent of the region’s water” (Katwala, 2018). In order to actualize this green new deal, it will come at a cost both in America and abroad, which is why electric vehicles should not be the main solution. Secondly, the agriculture industry needs to change to safer pesticides, or use less than they already do. Families in the San Joaquin Valley are concerned about the effects of pesticides on their offspring. One family sued, claiming that their son’s birth defects and conditions can be attributed to a high exposure to Chlorpyrifos in utero and after. The pesticide, Chlorpyrifos is “the pesticide at the heart of the lawsuit, has been used in the San Joaquin

Valley for decades to control insects that can attack almond orchards, cotton fields, and apricot trees, among other popular crops” (Tobias, 2020). At the local level, we need to be taking legal action against dangerous chemicals that are used in the agriculture industry. This would lower the amount of illness caused by pesticides to the many farm workers who are exposed to them, and then their children. Manufacturing industries and agriculture that use and pollute water and air must be held accountable for fixing these damages to the environment. Reversing the injustice in this area must be done at a state-wide or nation-wide level to truly make a difference. While there is the potential for improvement through local community activism. Researchers who attend UC Merced can get involved in the necessary research that will prove the dangers of certain pesticides and pollutants, and then using that data hold the guilty parties responsible.

8. RECOMMENDED EXTRA-LOCAL ACTIONS

What could California be doing?

Sydnie Shelah

Merced County recently won a $43 million dollar lawsuit against Shell and Dow for water contamination and while $26 million of that is being used to properly clean the water, $20 million, just under half the total is being placed in emergency funds (Lauten-Scrivner, 2020). The chemical found in the water is known as TCP or 1,2,3-Trichloropropane. It was introduced into the area by Shell and Dow in the 1950’s through a pesticide which was heavily used in the area (Granda, 2018). The product was overused to the point where the pesticide permeated the surface and sunk into the groundwater. The county could easily put this money into one of their multiple projects, such as their free water testing for domestic well owners and while it is beneficial to some, the project does not cover the average renter. Everyone should be entitled to clean water and while the county could use the lawsuit money to fund free water testing or water filters for everyone, it would be more advantageous for the state to offer these services. Agriculture is a main sector of California's industries which means there is potential for the contamination to occur in other parts of the state leaving many with unclean drinking water. Schools in the Merced County Unified School District have been applying for grants to purchase better fountains and hopefully provide their students with clean drinking water

because both short and long term exposure of TCP has been associated with health concerns and side effects (Granda, 2018). Short term effects include loss of motor functions such as muscle and movement coordination while the long term effects are much more grave with kidney failure and weight changes (Lauten-Scrivner, 2020). The chemical is also a known human carcinogen in the state of California. Preventative measures need to be taken to stop other communities from having a repeat of this event, but this would have to occur at the state-level. The statewide government could set regulations on which pesticides and herbicides are able to be used, bought, and sold while also having regulations on the chemical compositions to make sure that the products are not gonna disrupt the soil and environment, but also the people who live within agricultural areas. In California, there are currently regulations on DDT, DDD, inorganic mercury, inorganic arsenic, ethylene dibromide, etc. While these regulations and the strict pesticide registration process are effective, it would be more environmentally friendly to ban all in-organic pesticides. Organic pesticides usually contain “clove oil, citric acid, or acetic acid as their main active ingredients” which happens to be plant derived (Osmanski, 2020). While they are still contributing to waste because of the plastic bottle they come packaged in, they are a better option as they leave “no residual effects and are low toxic” (Lanini). To not have a repeat of Merced’s groundwater contamination in other agricultural areas of the state such as Salinas, state-wide change needs to happen.

COUNTY LEVEL BENEFITS OF CLEAN AIR ACT

FIGURE 19: Snapshot taken from NRDC clean air acts benefits map which displays every county in the United States and their benefit levels for 2020. Highlighted on the map displays Merced County which at a high estimate would receive over $1,100,000,000 from the Clean Air Act and at a low estimate would receive $576,000,000. Merced is the darkest region meaning it has more access to resources compared to the surrounding counties. (Screenshot by Sydnie Shelah, October 30.2020). (https://www.nrdc.org/resources/clean-air-acts-benefits-map

9. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Can future research lead to future wellness in an already decrepit community?

Jagger Brooks, Quan Nguyen Merced has been hit heavily by ongoing pollution from polluting facilities, transportation services, and agriculture with little to no data following the effects of how these pollutants affect the air quality in Merced County.

A report from the City of Merced called the Merced Vision 2030 General Plan was created to document plans for community growth and development, reporting on the air quality within Merced County from 1991 to 2009. The report includes critical data about the number of times per year where the air quality was not satisfactory with state or federal requirements. Although this data may be useful to illustrate the “bad” years it is not sufficient because it doesn’t illustrate the daily change but instead the yearly. Cases within this study show that the quality of air in the City of Merced did not meet State Regulation 55 times in 2002 and didn’t meet Federal Regulations three times in 1995, 1998, and 2008. Moreover, the City of Merced did not attain the Federal or State Standards for particulate matter 2.5 micrometers in diameter in 2009 (Merced Vision 2030 General Plan, 2010). The data in this report is ineffective because the air quality could possibly have been misidentified because of disasters that could contribute to the data happening one year and not the other, such as the Silverado Canyon Fire in Irvine that caused diminished air quality in that county. Furthermore, the datamark for this research is whether or not the air quality met the Federal or State Requirements meaning it either passes or fails and that is all that is reported. This data, due to its structure, does not show the change in quality over time which is important because pollution is based on gradual diminishment of quality over time, which in this report is not being recorded. From these points, the data that the County of Merced currently has is not accurate enough to demonstrate that there is a significant amount of change over time to prove to

community advisors that there is a need to change this recurring pattern. Going forward, the research that we need to administer from this point on needs to be daily and report on the measurements of the air quality and not just the meeting of standards.

Based on research, there is a lack of data on the air quality in Merced County before the 1990s that is made readily available to the public. The lack of data before the 1990s could possibly be due to the lack of enforcement on the measurement of air quality in the United States before the 1990s. What changed the standards of measurements of air quality in the 1990s was the Clean Air Amendment of 1990. These amendments, according to the EPA, enforced the government to make communities record their air quality levels by, “ [...] substantially increased the authority and responsibility of the federal government” as well as creating, “ [...] provisions for attainment and maintenance of NAAQS [National Ambient Air Quality Standards] were substantially modified and expanded” (Evolution of the Clean Air Act, 2017). This means that the amendments made to the Clean Air Act, which was originally adopted in 1963, created new regulations that enforced communities to measure and report their air quality. Although we have recently been recording air quality due to regulations, the effects of pollution are slow with gradual change over time, meaning that we have recorded very little data difference in perspective to how long our society has been polluting the air. With the short lived data that we currently have, we are unable to measure how drastically pollution has affected the air quality. There is currently no comparison that can be made from now to the past that illustrates that the air quality in the county has drastically changed due to the pollution from the county and without this data we are unable to create a reason for the political action that is required.

Merced County’s main hazard involves pollution and the excess release of pollutants. To correctly measure the severity of the situation, I believe quantitative analysis would be an adequate beginning to the research. The primary pollutants of Merced County stem for harmful chemicals emitted from factories and vehicles. These pollutants can create ozone which reduces plant growth, deteriorates materials, and causes respiratory issues

(co.merced.ca.us). This can be recorded by analyzing the particulate matter within a certain range. By analyzing the areas with the highest concentration of particulate matter, the most areas can be pinpointed in order to do further analysis. By understanding where the most hazardous zones in Merced are located, the county and its residents will be able to decide if they need to relocate or take extra safety precautions. Since cars and other motorized vehicles are also known to cause a large amount of pollutants, the county can monitor busy roads and highways to determine if it’s safe to live near the area. Surveys can also be given to the residents to see how many of them own cars since that’s a large contribution to pollutants. These surveys can also ask for the socioeconomic status of the residents to analyze where the most harmful areas are located. With information and data on the areas polluting Merced County, pinpoint solutions will be more effective. In order to enact change for a better future, we must start now by developing new research that in time can be used to point out the flaws of not only the community of Merced but communities around the world. To be more locally directed, the County of Merced needs to have daily measurements and reports of Carbon Monoxide, Sulfur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, PM 2.5, and PM 10 levels. These measurements need to be directly mentioned in order to illustrate the little amount of change daily in order to signify the significant change over time. Luckly, all of these measures are already being recorded by the Air Quality Index, though we need the measurements measured by this Index not just stored daily and discarded, but recorded daily and stored for future use. Furthermore, if we would like to look at the total health within affected communities due to the air quality, we can also look at this data in relationship to the yearly visits of respiratory compromised patients into health administrators with a look into their personal life (Interview/Surveys), if they supply us with the chance, to see how the air quality is affecting the health of the community. Although we have these short lived and discarded measurements in place now, we have had it for very little time compared to the timespan in which air pollution has existed and grown and we need data that covers a longer period of time to fully see the scale of change in the air quality. Unfortunately, we are unable to change the past, but we can change the future and our collection methods so

that we can identify changes in our atmosphere. While it may not help us immediately, even though the data is needed now, this data in the right hands can hopefully address environmental changes and expose the threat of pollution from facilities, transportation services, and agriculture as indistinguishable in our communities.

10. INJUSTICE ANALYSIS

What injustice has occurred in Merced County?

Bradford Kong

There is much injustice in Merced County. Starting with how unjust companies operate especially in this county. Looking at the stats Merced County is considered as having one of the highest environmental health threats in California. The particulate matter in the air is very bad and as for the hazardous waste levels they have “18% higher than the rest of the state and toxic pollutants are 33.45% higher than the rest of California”(oehha.ca.gov). This is something that should need immediate attention to remediate and lower because if this continues this will leave the citizens in very poor health conditions and they wouldn’t even know. Not only is that matter something that needs to be dealt with, but “the PM 2.5 levels are 93% higher and the ozone levels are 82% higher than the rest of California”(oehha.ca.gov).They wouldn’t know because they are being taken advantage of by these companies that are based in this county. That is because the median income of Merced county is “50,129 and 21.25% of the population is living in poverty”(Godoy,2020). Of those people that are living in poverty many of them are being taken advantage of because many of the companies expect them to stay quiet and uninformed of what is being done to the environment around them. So they are perfect targets for these companies because there just won’t be much resistance and they know this. That is something that I personally really think is ethically wrong. The land is for the people and not for these factories and companies. As for that there is much that these people can do

against these companies that are contributing to the slow disasters happening. Much of them have exploited loopholes that allow them to pollute the air. Not only that but looking at the childhood they are also being affected.Looking for example the blood lead levels in childhood in Merced County. There are elevated blood lead levels in children ages 0-5 by .3%. For example it was described in a film Shelter in Place where the companies were able to release large quantities of unplanned emissions without penalty. Then they were able to deny any effects that the people living in the city may be experiencing. It’s hard to link the effects from the companies to the people especially in slow disasters because of how slow the effects actually begin to take on the residents. It could be from small effects such as breathing issues to fatal effects such as cancer. So these are some of the things that I find ethically unjust of how much power these companies have and how unpunished they are. Especially in a county because this county is on the lower end of the median income and it’s poverty population. This should not be happening and these companies should be held accountable.

CHILDHOOD BLOOD LEAD LEVELS

FIGURE 20: According to 2013 data, 0.3% of children ages 0-5 in Merced County have elevated blood lead levels. Lead exposure could be occurring at home(through air,soil or

ingestion of old paint) or in daycare facilities. (Screenshot by Bradford Kong, November 07,2020). https://m.kidsdata.org/table/364/los-angeles-county/529/environment-lead

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FIGURES