MODELING THE EFFECTS OF REFINERY EMISSIONS ON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY VALUES

ABSTRACT This research studied the effects of refinery air pollution on house prices near Houston, Texas. The affected area was identified through AERMOD air modeling of past releases of sulfur dioxide, a proxy for respiratory risk. A total of 3,964 residential MLS sales from 2006-2011 were used to populate an OLS model, a spatial model, and a spatial model with an additional endogenous variable. Findings indicate that air pollution has a significant negative 6-8% loss on house prices. For one year, the negative effect is shown to generally diminish with distance up to about two miles from the refinery

PCBs and dioxins/furans in attic dust collected near former PCB production and secondary copper facilities in Sauget, IL

AbstractSamples of settled attic dust from fourteen buildings located within two miles of the Solutia W.G. Krummrich and Cerro Flow Products facilities in Sauget, Illinois were analyzed for PCBs and dioxins/furans using HRGC/HRMS. The facilities released vast quantities of PCBs and dioxins/furans into the environment over many decades. The concentrations and homologues present in the samples of attic dust and in samples of soil collected by U.S. EPA demonstrate atmospheric transport of PCBs and dioxins/furans from these manufacturing sites and local dumps contaminated with these pollutants. The results demonstrate that attic dust is a useful metric for assessing historical exposure to atmospheric emissions