Do you know what your children are exposed to?: An inside look at how schools and recreational locations in modern day Newark, NJ are the most harmful to this city’s children

Final Report:

 

Introduction

The sound of the school bell rings and children begin their journey home after a long day at school. As these young kids walk with their friends, in every direction they glance they can see the many emitters that harm their overall health and safety because of the release of hazardous toxins and contaminants. These emitters are everything from industries to cars, trucks, planes, and trains. This is a daily and normal experience in the Ironbound community in Newark, New Jersey. Around the corner or down the street it is not unusual to spot a factory, airport, railway, highway, or contaminated waterway such as the Passaic River which is known to be one of the most polluted rivers in the country.

The Ironbound is Newark’s most industrialized neighborhood. According to NBC News, the homes of these residents are surrounded by factories and warehouses, a power plant, chemical refineries, the state’s largest garbage incinerator, Covanta, and a Superfund site so contaminated with hazardous waste.[i] Apart from the industries, the Ironbound is also home to the largest Superfund site in the country and hundreds of Brownfield sites.[ii] The amount of toxins emitted from these industries are dangerous for the entire community and many residents feel as if they have been forgotten, but they are not the only ones.

Children growing up in this neighborhood are the most affected by these toxins and the ones who have truly been forgotten. These toxins are extremely compromising to their current, and future, health and state of living. The places where these children should feel the safest, such as schools, parks, football stadiums, and even recreational centers, are also the ones harming them the most. These locations include South Street School, Ironbound Stadium, and Riverfront Park, which are all places that youths encounter and frequent in their daily lives while living in the Ironbound.

These circumstances raise several questions. Why is it allowed for these sites, whose primary visitors are children, allowed to be built if known contaminants were found under? Why does the Ironbound community continue to be oppressed and ignored despite their worries being made vocal various times throughout history about these issues? By exploring these sites, we can examine the effects that decisions to implement these buildings on toxic sites in low income, minority neighborhoods can have on these young people’s current and future quality of life. In addition, we can assess why the places where children should feel safe in the city of Newark are the most harmful to them? The children of the Ironbound have been overlooked because of the city’s population and demographics. The wealth and race of these residents have everything to do with why children in the Ironbound are allowed to be harmed by the same establishments that were built for them because they are a low income and minority community.

In this research paper, I will begin by explaining the Ironbound’s demographics and mentioning the sites in which children are currently being exposed to toxins and contaminants.  Next, I will discuss the environmental demographics from Newark, New Jersey, and specifically the Ironbound as well as the health implications that are correlated to these environmental problems. I will then discuss what the Ironbound community has done to mitigate these dangers that cause harm to human health and overall environmental health in the Ironbound.

Ironbound Demographics and Sites

As stated before, the reason these contaminated sites are allowed to be established even if children will frequent them is because of the population in Newark being a minority and low income community. In comparison with the rest of the United States, Newark is in the 84th percentile of nonwhite people of color, which means most of the population are minorities. It is also in 84th percentile in low income population, meaning most of the population is below the poverty line. It is in the 95th percentile of the population being linguistically isolated and in the 90th percentile of the population having less than a high school education.[iii] These statistics can further support the argument because they prove how most of these residents do not have the power or resources to fight back. Since for most English is their second language and also most do not have a high education background, it can be difficult to make themselves heard in order for change because they don’t know the steps they need to take in order to do so.  

Children living in the Ironbound in Newark are the most affected by the contaminants emitted daily because they are present in every place they frequent. Their homes, schools, parks, and recreational centers are built upon current or previous contaminated sites. South Street School, the Ironbound Stadium, and Riverfront Park are all examples of locations that children from the Ironbound frequent from which the toxins that remain in these sites that will continue to heavily affect them.

South Street School

South Street School is a current elementary school that opened in 2018. Although many are not aware, this school is built atop a Brownfield Site. A Brownfield site is a once contaminated location that has been occupied, expanded, redeveloped, but can still contain presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants.[iv] This site is located at 44 Herman Street and was acquired by the New Jersey School Development Authority (SDA) in 2016 to be converted into a school. It had many previous tenants who all contributed to the contaminants found at this site. It was first operated by National Lock Washer Company and had many successors such as Ruggiero Seafood which resulted in discharges of petroleum, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other hazardous substances into the soil and groundwater. Once this site was acquired by the SDA, they undertook many efforts into the remediation of this site. The soil was excavated in order to ensure the removal and disposal of contaminated soils and was replaced with clean soil. In addition, the groundwater at this site was treated in order to ensure these contaminants were removed as well.[v]

Riverfront Park

Riverfront Park was opened in 2013 and was also built atop a former toxic site. It was built along superfund sites that were adjacent to the Passaic River which is known to be heavily contaminated. Four thousand tons of contaminated soil were removed from the outskirts of the Passaic River. Residents noticed how former industrial waste was turned into lush green grass. [vi] The park includes forest habitat, pollinator garden, native grasslands, and wetlands. The park was impacted by the hazardous substance releases from various industrial facilities in the area.[vii] It is frequently visited by many in the area including children because of its close proximity to South Street School.

Ironbound Stadium

Ironbound stadium, which has now been renamed to Eddie Morales Stadium since its cleanup initiative, is another example of a site visited by the younger population in the Ironbound. The football field was once full of families for weekly high school games and tournaments. It later closed in 1986 because of the hazardous contaminants that were found at the site.[viii] Later, in 2014, city officials agreed to finally clean the contaminants at this site, such as PCBs that were left behind by a former plastic plant.[ix] The plan was to cover the field and drain the toxic chemicals from it.

Although most of the toxins from the soil and groundwater located at these sites were removed or treated, the SDA mentions that additional remediation will be required at the school, including operation and maintenance of the redemptional actions.[x] It is not always possible to remove all the toxins from an already contaminated site, such as a Brownfield site. The complete removal of toxins is more difficult especially when they have been building up throughout the years as is the case with South Street School, Riverfront Park, and Eddie Morales Stadium. The New Jersey Department of Education has a cap on the allowed remediation of contaminants. For a school such as South Street School, the limit is six inches of concrete over 18 inches of clean soil.[xi] Therefore, although these sites have been remediated, there can still be an emission of vapors from the already existing toxins. For example, VOCs, which were common at the mentioned sites, can create vapors underground that will travel through the pore space in the soil and get into buildings. In addition, these vapors can eventually have a way to get into the atmosphere.”[xii]

Ironbound environmental demographics and Health Implications

Environmentally, the city of Newark is in the 84th percentile of wastewater discharge being in the vicinity, in the 96th percentile of the proximity to hazardous waste, and in the 99th percentile of Superfund sites proximity. The proximity the city of Newark has to these environmental problems, further demonstrate how Newark, especially the Ironbound community has received unfavorable treatment if city and state officials are allowing for the implementation of industries to be set in place knowing about the thresholds Newark holds. Another environmental impact that Essex County which is the county the Ironbound is in is ground level ozone. Ground level ozone is the primary substituent to smog and its contributors are vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions.[xiii] The inhalation of this ground level ozone can lead to many health problems.  Essex county was exposed to unhealthy levels of ground level ozone and air quality for three days in 2016.[xiv] In addition, air particulate matter in Essex County exceeded the national standard of 8.9 ug/m3 and Essex County exceeded this with 12.0 ug/ m3 as their annual standard. Air particulate matter are a mixture of very small solid or liquid particles that can be found in the air mostly from debris. It is another cause for concern because as with ground level ozone, if inhaled these can lead to respiratory issues.[xv] These health issues have already showed in Newark as the Ironbound has the highest asthma rate in the state, with the primary patients being children.[xvi]

Children can be physically affected by contaminants in their environment which can lead to physical adverse health effects. Particulate pollution and photochemical air pollution can lead to asthma and respiratory diseases.[xvii] Toxins emitted from factories and industries are not only dangerous to the environment but also to overall human health. Industries release toxins such as carbon dioxide, methane, mercury, and lead. These toxins are known to cause acute or severe health effects in humans. People can be exposed to these contaminants and harmful effects as pollutants settle into waterways or through inhalation.[xviii] In the case of the Ironbound, this community is surrounded by toxic emissions on all sides. The highways and industries such as Covanta, which is the largest garbage incinerator in the state, is on one end of the neighborhood. These contribute not only to the air pollution in the area, but they contribute to the contaminants that can be found in the Passaic River and Newark Bay on the other end of the neighborhood. [xix]

The effects that pollutants have on children are much more dangerous than the way adults are affected by these.[xx] Along with physical and mental effects, children can be more affected than adults because they are not fully developed in many ways, these toxins can cause developmental effects. .[xxi] The effects of contaminants can also have a mental toll on children’s well being as they can experience stress, fear, and feelings of injustice. [xxii]  Air pollution can halt neurological and cognitive progress. The director of the Department of Public Health, Dr Maria Neira has found that air pollution limits children’s brains, affecting their health in more ways than suspected.[xxiii]

Ironbound environmental justice movements

The image above was taken during the huge activism period that occurred in Newark’s Ironbound in the summer of 1990. This image was from a protest against a garbage incinerator that was to be implemented in the community. It was known that this incinerator would release high levels of contaminants and toxic pollutants. This image is intended to raise awareness to the environmental justices occurring in the Ironbound.

The first aspect that catches the audience’s attention when looking at this image, is the “POLLUTION and Children Don’t Mix!” poster. The message is loud and clear; these protesters are bringing awareness to the primary target that can be hurt by the implementation of all these toxin releasing industries, the children. This gives a correlation to the fact that children will be the most affected and harmed by this pollution because it will occur in their lifetime and while growing up. The effects of growing up in a contaminated neighborhood can include poor health, mental disorders, and overall, a diminished quality of life, as we have discussed.

The American flag seen in the picture is another aspect of why the children of the Ironbound will continue to be the most affected by the industries in the area. Despite the Ironbound area of Newark having low income or minority demographics, the people in this area are still American citizens and deserve to be treated as such. They deserve to be treated in the same way that other American residents, especially children, are treated in communities with better resources. The message here is that the same attention that is given to other injustices across the country should be given to the Ironbound in order to help resolve these issues and make the community safe for all.

This image from the massive protests in the 1990s that have occurred in Newark has a strong message about the continuous injustices that occur here. As we saw, having children involved in these movements gives a chance of more people becoming involved, feeling empathetic, and helping make change. In addition, it is vital to remind the public that every community in America deserves the equal amount of attention and aid in order to combat these issues of environmental injustices that come along when industries want to implement themselves in specific low income and minority neighborhoods. The only way to raise awareness and maybe one day improve the circumstances these children must endure, is by raising our voices such as the Ironbound community has been doing all these years.

Along with this specific protest, the Ironbound community has come together several times throughout history with one common goal. This goal being the overall health and safety of the community because of the dangerous amount of toxins that are emitted daily from the many industries that surround the Ironbound community of Newark, New Jersey. Many Ironbound community driven organizations have helped with these environmental justice issues. For example, the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) has organized many events and has been a primary resource for the Ironbound residents’ voices to be heard as their main goal is advocating for a better quality of life.[xxiv] Some of the things they have accomplished includes informing the community, reducing air emissions, cleaning up contamination, promoting green and non fossil fuel energy and sustainability, and overall promoting climate justice.[xxv]

Conclusion

As a child goes through their daily routine in the Ironbound, they are reminded of what goes on in the neighborhood they are growing up in. The kids walking home from school are reminded of the multiple health impacts they can develop now or in the future if these toxic contaminants persist to be emitted from all these factories, highways, airports, and train stations.            

The various themes discussed in this research paper shed a light on other relevant trends that are occurring not only in New Jersey, but in the entire United States as well. We have seen similar cases of other poor and minority communities not receiving the aid they need for causes such as contaminated water, unhealthy air qualities, and as we saw in this paper, access to current or previous contaminated sites that can harm a person in the long run. In order to mitigate these issues in the future, it is important to join organizations such as we saw the ICC and make our voices heard not only for us, but for those who cannot speak for themselves.

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[i] “’We’ve Been Forgotten’: In Newark, N.J., a Toxic Superfund Site Faces Growing Climate Threats,” NBCNews.com (NBCUniversal News Group, December 29, 2020), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/we-ve-been-forgotten-newark-n-j-toxic-superfund-site-n1240706

[ii] “Environmental Justice in the Ironbound,” Environmental Justice in The Ironbound, accessed November 26, 2021, https://www.ejintheironbound.com/.

[iii] “EJSCREEN EPA’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool,” EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), accessed December 12, 2021, https://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/.

[iv] “Overview of EPA’s Brownfield Program,” EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), accessed November 28, 2021, https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/overview-epas-brownfields-program.

[v] “Fact Sheet Allegations and Background August 1, 2018 ,” accessed November 28, 2021, https://nj.gov/oag/newsreleases18/NRD-FactSheet.pdf.

[vi] CBS New York, “Newark Riverfront Park Built along Superfund Site Opens to Public,” CBS New York (CBS New York, August 4, 2013), https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/08/04/newark-riverfront-park-built-along-superfund-site-opens-to-public/.

[vii] “Restoration Plan Calls for New Riverfront Park Project along the Lower Passaic River,” Office of Response and Restoration, n.d., https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/restoration-plan-calls-new-riverfront-park-project-along-lower-passaic-river.

[viii] Barry Carter | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, “Contamination Shut School’s Football Field in the 1980s. It’s Finally Back in Action.,” nj, November 26, 2019, https://www.nj.com/essex/2019/11/contamination-shut-schools-football-field-in-the-1980s-its-finally-back-in-action.html.

[ix] Dan Ivers | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, “Newark Strikes Deal to Clean up ‘Toxic’ Former Stadium,” nj, October 29, 2015, https://www.nj.com/essex/2015/10/after_28_years_newark_strikes_deal_to_clean_up_tox.html.

[x] Riley Dixon, Yoo Ra Kim, and Stephanie Alonso, “Brownfield Sites,” Environmental Justice in The Ironbound, accessed November 28, 2021, https://www.ejintheironbound.com/brownfield-sites.

[xi] Riley Dixon, Yoo Ra Kim, and Stephanie Alonso, “Brownfield Sites,” Environmental Justice in The Ironbound, accessed November 28, 2021, https://www.ejintheironbound.com/brownfield-sites.

[xii] Riley Dixon, Yoo Ra Kim, and Stephanie Alonso, “Brownfield Sites,” Environmental Justice in The Ironbound, accessed November 28, 2021, https://www.ejintheironbound.com/brownfield-sites.

[xiii] “The ‘Bad’ Ozone,” Ground level ozone – the harmful form of ozone, n.d., https://www.ehso.com/OzoneGroundLevel.htm.

[xiv] “National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network – CDC – Info by Location External,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), accessed December 12, 2021, https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/showInfoByLocationExt/?&FIPS=34013.

[xv] “Particulate Matter (PM) Basics,” EPA (Environmental Protection Agency, n.d.), https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/particulate-matter-pm-basics#:~:text=PM%20stands%20for%20particulate%20matter,seen%20with%20the%20naked%20eye.

[xvi] Study of Multiple Asthma Triggers in Children of Urban Communities (Ironbound, Newark, NJ), Youtbe.com (NJN News, 2011), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL-acAA7ONM.

[xvii] “The Effects of Air Pollution on Children.,” National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), accessed November 27, 2021, https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/abs/10.1289/ehp.95103s649.

[xviii] “Toxic Air Pollutants,” American Lung Association, accessed November 27, 2021, https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/what-makes-air-unhealthy/toxic-air-pollutants.

[xix] Gabriela Dory et al., “A Phenomenological Understanding of Residents’ Emotional Distress of Living in an Environmental Justice Community,” International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being 12, no. 1 (January 5, 2017): p. 1269450, https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2016.1269450.

[xx] “The Effects of Air Pollution on Children.,” National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), accessed November 27, 2021, https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/abs/10.1289/ehp.95103s649.

[xxi] “The Effects of Air Pollution on Children.,” National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), accessed November 27, 2021, https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/abs/10.1289/ehp.95103s649.

[xxii] Gabriela Dory et al., “A Phenomenological Understanding of Residents’ Emotional Distress of Living in an Environmental Justice Community,” International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being 12, no. 1 (January 5, 2017): p. 1269450, https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2016.1269450.

[xxiii] Julia Zvobgo, “Air Pollution’s Devastating Impact on Children’s Health,” Child in the City, December 10, 2021, https://www.childinthecity.org/2019/02/01/air-pollutions-devastating-impact-on-childrens-health/?gdpr=accept.

[xxiv] “Advocacy,” Iron Bound, December 20, 2019, https://ironboundcc.org/advocacy/.

[xxv] “Environmental Justice,” Iron Bound, December 20, 2019, https://ironboundcc.org/environmental-justice/.

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