A nationwide study by the University of Utah found that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's air pollution monitors are placed disproportionately in white neighborhoods, leaving communities of color underrepresented in official air quality data.
Amy Joi O'Donoghue reports for Deseret News.
In short:
- Researchers analyzed EPA data from 2019 to 2024 covering 3.3 million people and found monitors routinely miss areas where Native American, Pacific Islander, and other minority groups live.
- The study revealed consistent gaps in monitoring for all six major pollutants, especially sulfur dioxide and lead.
- Utah’s state monitors follow federal siting rules, but tribal lands fall under U.S. EPA jurisdiction and often lack local monitoring.
Key quote:
“Even though this data is of really high quality, that doesn’t mean that it’s high quality for everyone.”
— Brenna Kelly, lead author of the study and doctoral student at the University of Utah
Why this matters:
For decades, environmental justice advocates have warned that the communities bearing the brunt of pollution are also the ones least likely to show up in official environmental data. Many of these communities are predominantly Black, Latino, Indigenous, or low-income, and they’re often surrounded by highways, factories, or power plants. Yet, when it comes to monitoring pollutants that affect human health — like lead in water, ozone in the air, or sulfur dioxide from industrial sources — the gaps in data are stark, especially outside major metropolitan areas.
The absence of robust monitoring makes the health consequences harder to track and even harder to address. In places where asthma and heart disease rates are disproportionately high, the lack of localized data often means that harmful exposures go unnoticed by regulators and public health agencies alike. In tribal and rural communities, the situation is even more troubling: Some have no pollution monitors at all. Without better coverage, these communities remain invisible in the systems that are supposed to protect them.
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