Risk-screening Environmental Indicator Score

Risk-screening Environmental Indicator Score in United States

United States

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model to assess the potential impacts on human health from releasing toxic chemicals from industrial facilities into the environment. The score considers the amount of toxic pollutants released, each chemical’s toxicity, the route of each pollutant through the environment and the number of people potentially exposed. A high RSEI score indicates potential concern.

Some of the more common industries tracked for toxic chemical releases are manufacturing, metal mining, electric power generation, chemical manufacturing and hazardous waste treatment. These industries produce large amounts of chemical waste. Chemicals reported in the RSEI are associated with adverse human health outcomes and environmental effects.

Census tracts with higher non-Hispanic Black populations were found to have the highest concentration of RSEI toxins compared with all other races and ethnicities, a disparity that remained even when controlling for income. Toxic release inventory facilities are also more likely to be located in low-income and racial and ethnic minority neighborhoods.

To minimize health risks from toxic chemicals, the EPA recommends facilities reduce or eliminate the use of toxic chemicals whenever possible. Other waste management methods include recycling, energy recovery and treatment, which are all preferable to disposal. Common pollution prevention methods reported by facilities in 2019 included spill and leak prevention, for example.

Healthy People 2030 has several objectives related to environmental health, including reducing health and environmental risks from hazardous sites and reducing the amount of toxic pollutants released into the environment.

Ash, Michael, and James K. Boyce. “Racial Disparities in Pollution Exposure and Employment at US Industrial Facilities.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 42 (October 16, 2018): 10636–41. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721640115.

Downey, Liam, and Brian Hawkins. “Race, Income, and Environmental Inequality in the United States.” Sociological Perspectives 51, no. 4 (December 2008): 759–81. https://doi.org/10.1525/sop.2008.51.4.759.