Delaware County and Chester, PA

1 Page 1 !9!9!9!9!9!9 #Y#Y#Y#Y#Y#Y#Y#Y#Y#Y`abc`abc`abc`abc`abc `abc`abc`abcAAAAARR MC D'sDelaware RiverStreetsRailroadsInterstates USGS Churches Geocoded Churches!9 Wastewater Toxic Release Inventory#YSuperfund Sites#YCERCLA Sites`abcHazardous Waste (BRS)AAir FacilitiesRRCRA Violators2024 MilesNEWSD elaware County and chester , PAChesterThe Case for environmental Justice in chester , Pennsylvania IntroductionChester ResidentsConcerned for QualityLiving (CRCQL) is agrassroots communityorganization that has beenfighting for environmentaljustice in Chester, Pennsylvania.

2 CRCQL hasfocused on waste disposaloperations over the past fewyears. We have heldprotests, sit ins andcommunity rallies. We veprotested in the businessoffices of the major propertyowners. We ve fought allthe way to the SupremeCourt on our claim that thepermitting decisions behind the clustering of polluting facilities in our community, particularlythe waste disposal operations, violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. We ve stopped theplacement of additional facilities in the area and we continue our efforts to shut down the trashincinerator, keep the medical waste facility shut, and stop tire incineration.

3 This report isintended to document our argument that chester is national example of environmental Pennsylvania is located in Delaware County . Delaware County is immediately adjacentto Philadelphia to the southwest. Delaware County is the fourth largest County in the state interms of population, though it is the third smallest County in terms of land mass. The town ofChester, which is on the Delaware River, was first settled in 1644 as Upland and wasincorporated in 1701. The city courthouse in chester is the oldest public building in the UnitedStates.

4 chester also played a major role in the shaping of modern America. It was once amagnet for industrial production. At the beginning of the twentieth waterfront area became a powerful industrial complex, contributing significantlyto the needs of the country during both World Wars. On the waterfront were SunShipbuilding and Drydock company, the oil refineries, The Baldwin LocomotiveWorks, The Ford Motor Company assembly plant, Westinghouse Electric Company,The American Viscose Company, which housed the world's first synthetic fiber plantand Scott Paper ( ).

5 Page 2 Percen t Po verty S urface0 - - - - - - - - - DataMCD'sDelaware River Toxic Release Inventory90918 MilesNEWSD elaware County Perecent in Poverty Stony CreekChester CreekChester CreekRidley CreekDistance in Meters to Toxic Release Inventory0 - 500501 - 10001001 - 15001501 - 20002001 - 30003001 - 40004001 - 50005001 - 75007500 - 1000010001 - 1500015001 - 20000No DataStreamsMCD'sDel awa re Ri ve r Toxic Release Inventory90918 MilesNEWSD istance Buffers from ManufacturingLighter Areas Represent High Percent MinorityIn spite of its historical legacy, chester has experienced theneglect characteristic of urbandecline.

6 What was once athriving port and industrialarea has been largelyabandoned and is nowsuffering from some of theworst urban blight inPennsylvania. Like manycities in the Northeast, Chesterwas hit hard in the postwar eraby a restructuring of the Increasingcompetition from abroad putindustry on the defensive andwith the advent of newtechnologies industries gained mobility, and they began to consolidate and move out of the s experience was especially brutal because it had been so dependent on manufacturing. Between 1950 and 1980, the local economy collapsed as 32 percent of the jobs in Chesterdisappeared.

7 Much of the more upwardly mobile population moved away. Those that were leftwere predominantly minorities, transforming the racial makeup of the city. From 1950 to 1990the population declined from 66,000 to 42,000. During the same time period the proportion ofthe population that was African-American increased from 20% to 65%. The pattern ofdemographic shift in chester is not only characteristic of industrial decline. The demographicshift is indicative of massive white flight in the face of racial blockbusting by real estatespeculators - a practice banned in 1968, days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Structure and DemographicsAccording to the 1990 Census %of the population of Delaware Countylives in chester City.

8 Of thepopulation of Delaware County livesin 5 municipalities centered aroundChester ( chester City, ChesterTownship, Eddystone, Trainer, andUpland). There are 49 separatemunicipal divisions in DelawareCounty so those five municipalitiesconstitute 10% of the municipalitiesin the County . Page 3 Delaware County and chester PennsylvaniaDemographic ComparisonsSource: 1990 StatesPennsylvaniaDelawareCountyChester0 1020304050607080 Percent MinorityPercent PovertyPercent Bch DegreePercent RenterPercent Under10 YearsMedian Household IncomeDelaware County and chester : Infant Health OutcomesInfant Mortality and Low Birth Weight RatesSources.

9 1990 Census, Department of Public Health, Pennsylvania Department of Public StatesPennsylvaniaDelaware CountyChester05101520 Infant Mortality (per 1000)Infant Low BirthWeight Rate (per 100) Delaware County and chester : Health OutcomesAge Adjusted Cancer and Total MortalitySources: 1990 Census, Department of Public Health, Pennsylvania Department of Public HealthAge Adjusted Figures are 1940 Standard StatesPennsylvaniaDelawareCountyChester0 2004006008001000 Age Adjusted CancerMortality (per 100,000)Age Adjusted TotalMortality (per 100,000)Proximity to Toxic Chemical Releases in Delaware County , PAPopulation Classes of Percent MinoritySources: EPA, 1990 Census Bureau41322416151514 Within.

10 5 Kilometer RadiusWithin 1 Kilometer RadiusWithin 2 Kilometer RadiusWithin 5 Kilometer RadiusWithin 7 Kilometer RadiusWithin 10 Kilometer RadiusDelaware County01020304050 Percent Minority Stony CreekChester CreekChester CreekRidley CreekPercent Bachelor's Degree Surface0 - 11. 111. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - DataSt reamsMCD'sDelaware River Toxic Release Inventory90918 MilesNEWSD elaware County Percent Bachelor's DegreeAn examination of the characteristicsof the population in this areahighlights disparities.