Environmental Justice in Florida\u27s Air Quality: An Ozone Perspective

Environmental justice (EJ), as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), is the principle and practice of fair and equitable treatment of all individuals, regardless of any socioeconomic factors, in matters concerning environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EJ aims to provide the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards, in addition to allowing equal opportunity in the decision-making processes to have a healthy environment. The aim of this study is to examine air quality in diverse regions of Florida, including areas with Environmental Justice considerations and those without. Tropospheric ozone levels were selected as the primary environmental indicator for two primary reasons: first, due to the rising ozone levels in the state, which have resulted in non-compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards in recent years, and second, because of the adverse effects of ground-level ozone on both the environment and human health. We are tracking the changes in ozone concentrations from 2017 to 2022 across 48 air monitoring sites spread across Florida. Data from these air monitoring sites was collected through AirNow Tech, a website providing air quality data management analysis. To define the regions that suffer from environmental justice and lack thereof, we use the EPA’s Environmental Mapping & Screening Tool where ozone levels, low income, unemployment, and people of color represent the environmental, economic, and social indicators respectively. This study has implications for EJ regions in and outside the US that suffer from high concentrations of ozone in the atmosphere