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Environmental Auditing
Imagine living in a neighborhood where the air is clean, and local factories are closely monitored to make sure they’re not breaking the rules. But then, as new families move in and the community becomes more diverse, something strange happens: the inspectors don’t come around as often anymore. This isn’t just a “what if”—it’s what my co-author Anca Balietti and I discovered when we looked into how changes in a community’s racial makeup might impact the attention it gets from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EPA is supposed to be the watchdog that makes sure industrial sites—like power plants and factories—are following the rules laid out in the Clean Air Act. This means regularly inspecting these places to make sure they’re not over-polluting. In theory, this should keep everyone’s air clean, no matter where they live. But in reality, we found that not all neighborhoods get the same level of attention.
To dig into this, we analyzed data from more than 250,000 facilities across the U.S., covering nearly two decades. We looked at how often these places were inspected and compared that to shifts in the racial composition of their surrounding counties. Our findings were clear: after a county’s non-White population increases, the likelihood of EPA inspections drops—by about 9% over the following years. And this isn’t a one-time dip; the trend continues for nearly a decade.
How We Found the Missing Inspections
You might wonder why a change in a community’s demographics would make a difference in how often inspectors come around. Shouldn’t the EPA just be focused on catching polluters? One possible explanation lies in community engagement. We found that when a county’s non-White population grows, there’s often a noticeable drop in political activism—fewer protests, fewer donations to advocacy groups, and less pressure on local officials to keep up strict oversight. It seems that when the public voice demanding environmental accountability quiets down, so does the urgency to send in the inspectors.
But it’s not just about activism. State regulators, who handle most of the on-the-ground inspections, are often more influenced by local priorities than their federal counterparts. Our data showed that state-led inspections are the ones most likely to decrease after demographic shifts. It’s as if the rules become a bit looser when the makeup of a community changes.
Why It Matters
This isn’t just a story about numbers on a spreadsheet—it’s about real people and real consequences. When inspections become less frequent, violations can go unchecked, and that means more pollutants in the air. For families living in these areas, that could translate into more asthma attacks, more missed days at school and work, and more time spent worrying about what’s in the air they breathe.
Our findings highlight a critical issue: ensuring that every community gets the same protection under the law, regardless of who lives there. As America becomes more diverse, it’s vital that the agencies tasked with keeping our air clean don’t let certain communities fall through the cracks. The solution might involve more transparency in how inspection decisions are made, or new policies that guarantee oversight doesn’t waver just because a community is changing.