Environmental injustice in America: Racial disparities in exposure to air pollution health damages from freight trucking

TL;DR

This study quantifies the racial disparities in exposure to freight trucking emissions in the US and estimates the sector's significant health and environmental costs, highlighting environmental injustice.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spatial analysis of freight trucking emissions' impact on communities of color and quantifies sector-specific health damages.

Findings

Black and Hispanic communities face higher exposure to freight truck emissions.

Freight trucks contribute about 10% of NOx and 12% of CO2 emissions in the US.

The sector causes approximately $47 billion annually in health and environmental damages.

Abstract

PM2.5 produced by freight trucks has adverse impacts on human health. However, it is unknown to what extent freight trucking affects communities of color and the total public health burden arising from the sector. Based on spatially resolved US federal government data, we explore the geographic distribution of freight trucking emissions and demonstrate that Black and Hispanic populations are more likely to be exposed to elevated emissions from freight trucks. Our results indicate that freight trucks contribute ~10% of NOx and ~12% of CO2 emissions from all sources in the continental US. The annual costs to human health and the environment due to NOx, PM2.5, SO2, and CO2 from freight trucking in the US are estimated respectively to be $11B, $5.5B, $110M, and $30B. Overall, the sector is responsible for nearly two-fifths (~$47B out of $120B) of all transportation-related public health damages.