Mapping Environmental Hazards and K-12 Schools in PA

This initiative used publicly available data to identify potential environmental hazards located within a half-mile radius of K-12 school buildings in the state of Pennsylvania. The educational facilities on this map represent over 325 million square feet, 1,800,000 students, 3,300 public school buildings across 500 public school districts, and 120,000 teachers plus thousands more school administrators and staff (1). This map also includes over 170 private, charter, and vocational schools. 

This initiative mapped the following potential environmental hazards: Title V permitted air emission sources, gas wells (including unconventional wells and well compressor stations), mining operations (both abandoned and in current operation), major roadways, toxic release sites, landfills, brownfields, superfund sites, and active rail lines. In addition, we also included layers on environmental justice areas, cancer risk, and childhood asthma prevalence. Data was collected from multiple sources the PA Department of Environmental Protection (gas wells, mining hazards, environmental justice areas); the PAMAP program (rail lines); the PA Department of Health (childhood asthma data); and the Environmental Protection Agency (air emission sources, toxic release sites, superfunds and brownfields sites). 

Children and teens are especially vulnerable to environmental pollution. Children’s bodies are different than adults, their organs and systems are still developing. Pound for pound, children breathe more air, consume more food and drink more water than adults. There are especially important and vulnerable times during a child’s development when we need to think of potential exposures to environmental hazards, and the cumulative effects those exposures can have on a child’s growth and well-being. The timing of exposure, size of the person, amount of exposure and cumulative effects from exposures are all influencing factors on a child’s health.

Because outdoor contaminants can enter indoor spaces, many of these environmental hazards have the potential to impact children’s health, as well as the health of anyone in the school setting. Many of these sources release known or probable carcinogens, pollutants that are linked with increased risk of lung or heart disease, and chemicals that can trigger allergy and asthma symptoms.

There are no federal or state regulations regarding the safe siting of school facilities. However, research studies, white papers, and current guidelines present a wide range of 'safe siting' distances, ranging from 5 miles to 500 feet. For the purposes of our analysis, and after some discussion with researchers and school stakeholders, WHE revised the buffer zone surrounding school facilities from one-mile in the first edition of this map to one-half mile. As more research on the health effects of point sources of pollutions on school-aged children and clearer guidance surrounding safe-siting distances become available, WHE will update this map accordingly.

Statewide Summary

90% of school districts have at least one Title V permitted facility within their district’s borders. Most of the districts where Title V permitted facilities are concentrated around schools are located in the Southeast, Southcentral, and Southwest regions of the state. There are a total of 2,932 Title V permitted facilities within ½ mile of 1,313 school buildings. Philadelphia School District has the most, with 120 Title V permitted facilities within the district’s borders. 17 are within ½ mile of a single elementary school building. Pittsburgh Public Schools follows with 31 Title V permitted facilities within the district’s borders. 

Southwestern PA Summary

• Nearly half of all schools mapped have one or more air emission source within a one-mile radius. 
• 78% of school districts have one or more air emission source within a one-mile radius of school building. 
• One school district has 31 Title V permitted air emission sources located within their district. 

Statewide Summary

There are 1,438 toxic release sites located within ½ mile of 848 school facilities. Southeast PA has the most within a ½ mile, followed by schools located in South Central and Southwest PA. Most located close to elementary schools. 1 elementary school in Northwest PA has 10 TRI sites within a ½ mile border. 

Southwest PA Summary

There are 148 public schools in SWPA within ½ mile of a TRI site. Of those, 70% are elementary schools. 

Statewide Summary

There are 1016 landfills across 317 school districts. One school district has 35 landfills within its borders. One elementary school in Southeastern PA has 9 landfills within a ½ mile radius. Southeastern and South Central OA have the most landfills within ½ mile of their schools (422 and 210), respectively.

Southwestern PA Summary

There are 76 landfills located within ½ mile of school facilities in SWPA. Majority of these landfills are located close to high schools/secondary schools. 

Statewide Summary

There are 6365 brownfields within ½ mile of 723 schools. Southeast PA has the most, followed by Southwestern PA. One charter school in Southeast PA has 100 brownfields within a ½ mile radius. 186 school facilities have 10 or more brownfields within a ½ mile radius. 

There are 84 superfund sites within ½ mile of 77 schools, primarily in the Southwest and Northeast. One elementary school in Southeastern PA has 3 superfund sites within a ½ mile radius. 

Southwestern PA Summary

There are 618 brownfields and 5 superfund sites within ½ mile of public school buildings. 

Statewide Summary 

There are 10,726 active coal and industrial mines within school district borders statewide. 

79 of school districts have at least 1 active mine within a ½ mile of their school facilities (n=172). 861 (8%) of these mines are within a half-mile of a school facility. One school district has 77 active miles within a ½ mile of its school buildings, with an elementary school in the district having 39 active mines within ½ mile of its school building. Majority of these overlaps occur in the across the Central region of the state, followed by the Southwest region of the state.  

Southwestern PA Summary 

There are 2036 active mines in SWPA.  Over half (n=72; 65%) districts in the Southwest region have at least 1 mine within district borders. One district has 270 mines within district borders, with 179 of these mines, or about 8.7% are within a ½ mile of a school building. One school district has 20 mines within a ½ mile of its school buildings (10 within an elementary school and 10 within the middle school/high school). 

Statewide Summary

There are 11,927 unconventional fracking wells within 140 school district (28%) boundaries across the Commonwealth. The majority of wells are concentrated in Northeast, North Central, and Southwest regions, following the formation of the Marcellus shale. 570 of these wells are within a ½ mile buffer of a school building. 

11 school districts have more than 10 wells within a ½ mild radius of their school buildings.  Majority of the schools located close to these well sites are elementary schools (60%). 

Southwestern PA Summary

There are 4854 unconventional wells in southwestern PA across 60 school districts. One school district has 773 wells within the school district boundary. 56% of schools with a well located within ½ mile of a school building are located in Southwest PA.  One school district in Southwest PA has 21 unconventional wells within ½ mile of their elementary school. 

Statewide Summary

Almost every school district had a rail line within district borders (429 out of 500). Every school district (499) had 1 major roadway within their district. 

Southwestern PA Summary

There are 316 schools that are within a one-mile radius of an active rail line. 

There are 81 school districts that have an active rail line within a one-mile radius of a school in that district. 

Cancer risk data was taken from the most recent National Air Toxics Assessment Program. To learn more about the data sources, research methodologies, and modeling used in NATA, click here. NATA data does not take into account biological, genetic, or other factors in their cancer risk estimates. Cancer risk is modeled based on the following assumptions: a person is exposed for 24 hours per day, for a 70 year lifetime while living and working in the same geographic area and maintaining the same activity pattern.

Total risk is a modeled value that considers all Hazardous Air Pollutants included in the NATA dataset. Cancer risk estimates indicate the additional number of people who may develop cancer given a lifetime exposure to a toxic air pollutant. The results are presented in the number of cases per million population. In the map below, Total Risk 'hotspots' are those census tracts wherein total risk reaches or exceeds 49 additional cancer cases due to exposure to air toxics.

Childhood asthma prevalence is a measure of the total number of existing cases of diagnosed asthma divided by the total number of children in the state of PA. Childhood asthma prevalence data is collected by the PA Department of Health, and the most recent dataset (2017-2018) was used for this analysis. Childhood asthma prevalence is measured at the county level.

The hotspot calculation below considered the total number of children with asthma within the county. Research has found that asthma is a leading cause of chronic school absenteeism, traditionally defined as missing 10% or more school days. In Pennsylvania, 1 out of 10 children have active asthma.

Only 14 states outright prohibit siting schools in locations that pose health and safety risks due to the presence of man-made or natural environmental hazards. Currently, only three states, Indiana, California, and New Mexico, define the minimum distance at which a transportation route (highway, railroad) may be located from a school within 400-500 feet. Only Indiana defines the minimum distance from the source of pollution (500 feet) and prohibits construction within 500 feet of a stream. 5 states prohibit the siting schools on sites that pose health risks or are near health hazards but do not define the types of conditions that could pose dangers to children’s health.

States often ban siting of schools based on hazards including:

• Highway or vehicle traffic 
• Railroads
• Airports
• Pipelines or power lines
• Hazardous or toxic waste sites
• Noise, odor, or air pollution
• Proximity to streams or flood plains
• Other 'natural' or 'general' hazards

Public Input

11 states with siting policies had no mechanisms for public input when making siting decisions. Of those that do (Georgia, Maine, and New Jersey), the most common form of soliciting public input requires project sponsors to publish public notice and conduct public hearings.

Pennsylvania has no safe siting regulations to protect K-12 schools from ANY environmental hazards.

As of the date of publication, Pennsylvania has no regulations, proposed or passed, to include safe siting for K-12 schools and their populations.

Source: Fischbach, S. "Not in My Schoolyard: Avoiding Environmental Hazards at School Through Improved Site Selection".  www.nylpi.org/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/49_EJ_-_NOT_IN_MY_SCHOOLYARD_-_IMPROVING_SITE_SELECTION_PROCESS.PDF . Accessed on March 23, 2021.

To see a complete list of source datasets for this mapping initiative, click here.

For questions, comments, and suggestions, please email us at Info@HealthySchoolsPA.Org.