Background

The growth of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) has caused significant environmental detriments and raised concerns regarding environmental justice with CAFOs exposure.

Objective

This study examined environmental disparities in exposure to CAFOs with several environmental justice related variables and considered exposure intensity.

Methods

We obtained data on permitted CAFOs (July 2021) from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. We used Census tract level variables from the 2010 Census to evaluate environmental disparities by environmental justice related variables (i.e., percentages of Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, or Hispanic; percentage living below the poverty level; median annual household income; income inequality (Gini index); percentage with education less than high school diploma; racial isolation (RI) for Non-Hispanic Black; and educational isolation (EI) for population without a college degree). We assessed exposure to CAFOs as the sum of animal units (AUs) within each Census tract and investigated exposure disparities by comparing distributions of environmental justice related variables based on CAFO status (i.e., never, expired, or current) and Census tract-level CAFOs exposure intensity categories (i.e., from low exposure (quartile 1) to high exposure (quartile 4)).

Results

CAFOs in Wisconsin were generally located in areas with lower percentages of racial minority persons and high SES communities; however, within the areas with current CAFO exposure, areas with high CAFOs exposure intensity had higher percentages of non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic, and lower percentages of non-Hispanic White populations compared to areas with low CAFOs exposure.

Impact statement

• This study compared distributions of CAFO exposure and multiple environmental justice related variables and considered exposure intensity based on animal units for CAFOs exposure metric. Although CAFOs in Wisconsin were generally located in areas with lower percentages of racial/ethnic minority subpopulations and high SES communities, we found complex disparities with higher exposure for disadvantaged communities within areas with CAFOs. This work adds to the existing evidence that some populations such as racial/ethnic minority populations may face disproportionate burdens from CAFOs.

中文翻译：

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美国威斯康星州集中动物饲养场 (CAFO) 与环境正义相关变量的关系

背景

集中动物饲养场 (CAFO) 的增长对环境造成了严重损害，并引发了人们对 CAFO 暴露带来的环境正义的担忧。

客观的

本研究通过几个环境正义相关变量考察了 CAFO 暴露的环境差异，并考虑了暴露强度。

方法

我们从威斯康星州自然资源部获得了有关获准 CAFO 的数据（2021 年 7 月）。我们使用 2010 年人口普查中的人口普查区水平变量来评估环境正义相关变量的环境差异（即非西班牙裔白人、非西班牙裔黑人或西班牙裔的百分比；生活在贫困线以下的百分比；家庭年收入中位数；收入不平等（基尼指数）；受教育程度低于高中文凭的百分比；非西班牙裔黑人的种族隔离（RI）；以及没有大学学位的人口的教育隔离（EI））。我们将 CAFO 暴露量评估为每个人口普查区内动物单位 (AU) 的总和，并通过比较基于 CAFO 状态（即从未、过期或当前）的环境正义相关变量的分布和人口普查区级 CAFO 来调查暴露差异曝光强度类别（即从低曝光（四分位数 1）到高曝光（四分位数 4））。

结果

威斯康星州的 CAFO 一般位于少数族裔比例较低且社会经济地位较高的社区；然而，在当前 CAFO 暴露的地区内，与 CAFO 暴露程度低的地区相比，CAFO 暴露强度高的地区非西班牙裔黑人和西班牙裔人口的比例较高，非西班牙裔白人的比例较低。

影响报告

• 本研究比较了 CAFO 暴露的分布和多个环境正义相关变量，并考虑了基于 CAFO 暴露指标的动物单位的暴露强度。尽管威斯康星州的 CAFO 通常位于种族/族裔少数群体百分比较低和社会经济地位较高的社区的地区，但我们发现存在 CAFO 的地区内弱势社区的暴露程度较高，存在复杂的差异。这项工作补充了现有证据，表明某些人群（例如少数种族/族裔人群）可能面临来自 CAFO 的不成比例的负担。