Speaker 1: (00:00)
Amazon has seen dramatic growth during the pandemic. They went from building 75 new facilities a year to 300 in 2020 alone. A recent consumer report says that growth is increasing pollution in the communities they build in. Most of which are black and brown. San Diego has about 12 facilities. Kave will deputy editor with consumer reports. Digital lab joins us to talk about the local impact. Kave welcome.
Speaker 2: (00:28)
Thanks for having me. So first,
Speaker 1: (00:30)
What prompted this investigation into where Amazon builds its facilities?
Speaker 2: (00:35)
Well, I've been reading for a while about local fights against new Amazon warehouses. Many of them are in California's inland empire, that's, uh, near LA somewhere in Chicago. And, um, I started to wonder what this picture looked nationally.
Speaker 1: (00:51)
What ways did you find Amazon impacts the communities they build in?
Speaker 2: (00:55)
Well, residents, neighbors of Amazon warehouses told me that the first thing you noticed is the traffic, just a huge spike in congestion. There are hundreds, or even in, in some cases, thousands of new truck trips, van trips, these are delivery vans and, and even just hundreds of people commuting to these warehouses, um, that weren't there before sometimes arriving almost without warning. Um, when, uh, when residents don't know that Amazon's going to be operating the warehouse, that that was quickly built around the corner, um, that congestion means more danger for kids walking in the neighborhood, walking to and from school for bikers. It means a lot more noise sometimes around the clock on for some of the 24 hour warehouses. One thing that surprised me is the vibrations from passing trucks, just con PA passing trucks can cause structural damage. We spoke to one resident in Fontana, California, that's in the inland empire who said he's basically on, in a constant fight to patch up one crack and a stucco before the next one appears and city inspectors.
Speaker 2: (02:00)
He said told him, um, that it's probably from the big semi trick tractor trailers that are coming by around the clock. And then of course, there's the pollution. We know that, uh, traffic and especially diesel causes a lot of respiratory damage in the long term. And, and that's what worries people. Now, when we looked at Amazon warehouses across the entire country, we found that a large majority of them are neighborhoods with a greater share of residents of color than average for the Metro areas they're in. And we also saw that they're in lower income neighborhoods than typical for the same Metro areas. And that tells us that the harms as is so often the case are disproportionately affecting people of color and low income residents across the entire country.
Speaker 1: (02:42)
Is that the same trend here locally in San Diego?
Speaker 2: (02:46)
You know, the data is actually a little bit mixed in San Diego. Some warehouses are in areas with a much larger share of people of color and low income residents. Some are in, um, places with far fewer, low income residents and, and people of color. So there's no sort of clear overarching trend in, in San Diego there where the way that there is in some other areas and, and nationally that said there are a number of facilities existing and sort of under construction or, or soon to open that are in areas with a much greater share of people of color and low income residents than average. There's one in national city. There's a pair int Vista. Um, all three of those are in areas with more residents of color than 80% or more of the neighborhoods in San Diego, in the San Diego area. So that's pretty stark.
Speaker 1: (03:35)
And so how much pollution and what type is caused by these facilities?
Speaker 2: (03:40)
Well, a lot of the pollution that people worry about is, uh, a category called particulate pollution that easily get launched deep in people's lungs, um, and internal combustion engines, um, create a lot of this. Um, this, these are tailpipe emissions, including from gasoline engines and cars and bands, but also, uh, in, in greater quantities from diesel engines, um, like the ones on huge semi trucks on tractor trailers. Um, how much, exactly, isn't always clear. And that's part of the problem that I'm reporting on here. Air quality monitoring networks are really great at telling you general trends, but they're not that good at telling you what's happening in your specific neighborhood. And that's one thing that community advocates are asking
Speaker 1: (04:25)
For. And what are the health impacts of this pollution?
Speaker 2: (04:28)
It's a laundry list, uh, higher chance of getting asthma higher chance of developing, uh, certain types of cancer, higher chance of having a heart attack, um, children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. Um, studies have found if you're pregnant, there's a higher chance of having a premature birth or a miscarriage. So just a whole lot of evidence gathered over many decades that living near roads and heavy vehicles can be really harmful of the long term.
Speaker 1: (04:57)
And you're reporting, you call this an example of environmental racism, explain that.
Speaker 2: (05:02)
Well, that's something I heard from residents, from neighbors and from experts. Um, there's a long, long legacy of government policies that have devalued land in and near communities of color. And, um, that have made it particularly easy to build polluting facilities there, even if there are other already, um, already other polluting facilities there. Um, that's the legacy experts told me that warehouse operators like Amazon are leaning on when they build in these communities.
Speaker 1: (05:29)
And you've made mention of this, but what are community activists asking Amazon along with state and local officials to do
Speaker 2: (05:36)
If, uh, you know, if you're a local government considering whether or not you should allow a new warehouse open in an area, um, formally considering whether or not it would, uh, make already bad pollution worse. Um, and that might sort of change that might start to change the landscape rather than, uh, concentrating polluting facilities in these neighborhoods that have been, um, dealing with them for decades.
Speaker 1: (06:00)
I've been speaking with Kave Wael deputy editor with consumer reports, digital lab Kave thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2: (06:07)
Thank you very much.
