Combining figures from several pollution databases with 1990 Census data, the environmental group offers Web surfers a picture of the relative risks county residents face broken down by several demographic categories. According to the site, minorities in Kanawha County face a 57 percent higher risk of cancer from hazardous air pollutants than whites do. On the other hand, whites' exposure to toxic chemical releases is 28 percent higher than minorities' exposure. The group acknowledges that the measures may not be as accurate as the figures would make them seem. David Roe, the senior lawyer for the group, said partial data is better than no data at all.
Environmental justice is important, sensitive and hard to measure.
Mark Scott, president of the Charleston-based National Institute for Chemical Studies, said the group's Web site is more useful for evaluating comparative risks than it is for any individual trying to determine his or her absolute risk of illness from environmental exposures. On the hazardous air pollutants comparison, for example, it's important to look at the data on where the pollutants come from. Dr. Jan Taylor, who does NICS own annual scorecard on pollution releases in West Virginia, said the site is using some sophisticated measures that aren't readily apparent. The figures for toxic chemical releases, for example, shows they are 500,000 for minorities and 640,000 for whites, but it doesn't say what those two numbers represent. Reading the explanation, the numbers are not the actual pounds of chemicals released.