A writer for the Los Angeles Times is getting substantial backlash for claiming white drivers are ‘polluting the air’ breathed by black and Latino residents.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Sammy Roth is the Energy Reporter for the outlet. In his piece, Roth cited a study that completely ignores economics and history and called the city’s freeway planning ‘racially motivated‘.
My colleague Terry Castleman wrote about the study, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Urban Studies. The core finding is that for every 1% increase in miles driven to and from work by people who live in a particular part of L.A. County, there’s an estimated 0.62% decrease in the lung-damaging “fine particulate matter” to which those Angelenos are exposed.How is that possible? I asked the study’s lead author, Geoff Boeing, a professor at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.He told me it largely comes down to the shameful history of Los Angeles County’s low-income communities of color being torn apart to make way for freeways — a history that has been extensively documented by The Times. Today, many residents of the county’s whiter, more affluent neighborhoods — who were often able to keep highways out of their own backyards — commute to work through lower-income Black and Latino neighborhoods bisected by the 10, 110 and 105 freeways and more.“It’s not like commuters are coming in and shopping in those communities, patronizing restaurants,” Boeing said. “They’re just driving through to get from one side of the city to the other.”
For those interested in reading the referenced pseudoscience, it is: Local inequities in the relative production of and exposure to vehicular air pollution in Los Angeles.
There is a lot of misinformation to unpack in this gem, so I will start by noting that this is a prime example of ideological capture of the sciences through “science” writers who do not have traditional science-based backgrounds.
A quick review of Roth’s LinkedIn profile shows he graduated from Columbia University with a degree in . . . Sustainable Development.
I majored in Sustainable Development and minored in American Studies, graduating cum laude. My coursework included environmental law, urban studies, energy development, geographic information systems and environmental economics. I reported and edited for the Columbia Daily Spectator, and I worked on water conservation projects for the Columbia Aquanauts, an interdisciplinary water club.
Without a stronger background in questioning assertions and challenging hypotheses, certain elements are not considered. For example, are the patterns of freeway use perhaps more driven by socioeconomic factors rather than race?
Roth also seems completely unaware of the very positive trends in air pollution, which has been steadily declining since the institution of the original (and, at the time, reasonable) air pollution control regulations.
Nationally, concentrations of air pollutants have dropped significantly since 1990:
- Carbon Monoxide (CO) 8-Hour, 78%
- Lead (Pb) 3-Month Average, 85% (from 2010)
- Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) Annual, 59%
- Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) 1-Hour, 51%
- Ozone (O3) 8-Hour, 25%
- Particulate Matter 10 microns (PM10) 24-Hour, 46%
- Particulate Matter 2.5 microns (PM2.5) Annual, 43% (from 2000)
- Particulate Matter 2.5 microns (PM2.5) 24-Hour, 44% (from 2000)
- Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) 1-Hour, 90%
- Numerous air toxics have declined with percentages varying by pollutant
During this same period, the U.S. economy continued to grow, Americans drove more miles, and population and energy use increased.
Interestingly, Los Angeles did achieve recognition for having “some of the cleanest air of any major city in the world” in 2020 due to the covid lockdowns.
But with the city – and the entire state of California – under stay-at-home orders to stem the deadly outbreak of coronavirus, something dramatic has happened to the air in LA.Yesterday, LA saw some of the cleanest air of any major city in the world, according to IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company which also monitors pollution levels in cities around the globe.
While locking down the entire city isn’t sensible, nor are the alternatives proposed by Roth (e.g., electric vehicles, working from home) likely to accomplish anything to help poorer communities of any race prosper.
Los Angeles struggles with air quality because it resides in a basin, which traps and concentrates contaminants. This is a fact that a more science-based approach would have taken into consideration in any analysis, rather that making race-based assertions.
Which brings me to the most troubling point of the piffle the Los Angles Times allowed to be published in the name of science. Communications Director for the Claremont Institute Nick Short summed it up best:
I will note that it is still early in 2023, so we will likely see other racialist screeds that may dethrone this chestnut.
However, Roth’s piece will remain the perfect amalgam of racism and pseudoscience.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY