Environmental Inequality and Residential Sorting in the United States: Demographic Consequences of Superfund Sites

• In Event: Environmental Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 13: Environmental Inequality & Toxic Exposure

Abstract

Toxic waste sites impose significant health and economic burdens on proximal communities, yet existing research yields mixed findings regarding their long-term demographic and socioeconomic consequences, particularly in establishing causal impacts. This study utilizes longitudinal data on U.S. census tracts from 1980 to 2010 and employs advanced difference-in-differences methodology for staggered interventions to causally assess how Superfund designation reshapes local communities from an environmental justice perspective. I find that while Superfund designation does not significantly alter total population size, it is associated with significant relative declines in White, Black, Hispanic, and young adult populations, alongside a relative increase in median household income, a reduction in White poverty, and an increase in Black poverty. Subgroup analyses further reveal that these economic benefits, particularly income gains, disproportionately accrue to tracts with higher baseline incomes, while poverty reductions also show variation by baseline racial composition. I interpret these complex dynamics as evidence of nuanced residential sorting processes rather than uniform neighborhood decline or universal benefit from remediation. This research refines theories of environmental inequality by demonstrating how large-scale remediation policies can induce divergent demographic and economic trajectories, highlighting the need to scrutinize post-intervention outcomes in assessments of environmental justice. I conclude that Superfund designation acts as a significant catalyst for local community transformation, with multifaceted outcomes that can simultaneously alleviate certain inequities while potentially creating or exacerbating others, underscoring the complex pathways through which environmental justice or injustice are realized.

Author

• Kassandra Kasey Roeser, Stanford University