Environmental Justice for Delaware

The report finds that seven communities in northern New Castle County, Delaware—characterized by higher poverty and proportions of people of color—face substantially higher cancer and respiratory health risks than the affluent, predominantly White community of Greenville and the state average. These risks are driven by toxic air pollutants, specifically formaldehyde and acrolein, and proximity to high-risk chemical facilities and contaminated waste sites. The document recommends stricter chemical safety regulations, enhanced fenceline monitoring, and the implementation of comprehensive health-impact assessments to address these environmental justice disparities.

• Marshallton faces the highest health risks among the studied communities, with cancer risks 33% higher and respiratory hazards 71% higher than in Greenville; compared to the Delaware average, these risks are 28% and 55% higher, respectively.
• Formaldehyde is the primary driver of cancer risk across most studied communities, accounting for roughly half of the overall risk. Acrolein is the main contributor to respiratory hazards, typically representing 70% or more of the total hazard.
• The Southbridge community is particularly burdened by contaminated sites, containing more than half of all brownfields in Delaware, as well as 4 Superfund sites, 13 large pollution-emitting industrial facilities, and 2 high-risk chemical facilities within its boundaries or within one mile.
• Children in these communities are exposed to heightened risks; for instance, students at Kuumba Academy Charter School near Southbridge face cancer risks and respiratory hazards nearly three times higher than those at schools in Greenville.
• The report proposes seven policy recommendations, including requiring chemical facilities to adopt safer technologies, implementing continuous fenceline monitoring for toxic emissions, and amending Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act to include environmental justice analysis.

APA

White, R., Moore, D., Dryden, O., Roberts, M., Thomas, J., Johnson, C., & Goldman, G. (2017). Environmental Justice for Delaware. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/10/ej-for-de-summary-ucs-2017.pdf

Chicago

White, Ronald, Denise Moore, Octavia Dryden, Michele Roberts, Jessica Thomas, Charise Johnson, and Gretchen Goldman. Environmental Justice for Delaware. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2017. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/10/ej-for-de-summary-ucs-2017.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{white2017environmental, author = {White, Ronald and Moore, Denise and Dryden, Octavia and Roberts, Michele and Thomas, Jessica and Johnson, Charise and Goldman, Gretchen}, title = {{Environmental Justice for Delaware}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2017}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/10/ej-for-de-summary-ucs-2017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }