HAZARDSCAPES: Toxic & Nuclear Risks In Your Backyard?
We have created this page so that you can learn more about the potential risks you and your family may face from toxic chemical accidents and releases and nuclear waste in your community where you live, work and play. These resources are organized into 3 categories: Air Quality Forecasts, Pollution, Chemical Accidents and Nuclear Waste.
Today and Tomorrow's Air Quality Forecasts -
EPA's updated AirNow website provides forecasts and
easy-to-understand maps updated on an hourly basis on ozone air
quality information from monitors in 39 states and Washington,
D.C. (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut,
Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia,
Wisconsin). Within the next month, Idaho, New Mexico and Colorado
are expected to be added. The expanded website will also include
same day and next day forecasts for over 160 cities across the
country.
These forecasts are based on EPA's Air Quality Index (AQI), which
uses a color-coding system to rate air quality as good (green),
moderate (yellow), unhealthy for sensitive groups (orange),
unhealthy (red), very unhealthy (purple) or hazardous (maroon);
the AQI also provides cautionary health statements for each
rating. EPA shares the AQI forecasts for all major cities in the
United States with weather service providers who make the
information available to newspapers, television and radio.
Smog is created by a chemical reaction between nitrogen oxides
and volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight. When
inhaled - even at very low levels - smog can cause acute
respiratory problems, aggravate asthma, reduce lung capacity,
inflame lung tissue and impair the body's immune system. Click here for forecasts.
You can do a master search of all the above databases by clicking here.
Click here to enter your zipcode in the Chemical Scorecard and find out more about the pollutants in your neighborhood and who is responsible for them.
Click here to find out more about specific chemicals.
EPA's Vulnerable Zone Indicator System (VZIS) allows you to find out if an address of interest to you - your home, place of work, or child's school - could be affected by a chemical accident. You can use the VZIS to determine whether the address may be in the vulnerable zone of a facility that submitted a Risk Management Plan (RMP). Click here and fill out the form and EPA will email you the results.
To learn more about chemical accidents that may have recently occurred in your backyard, check the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's Chemical Incident Reports Center.
The Atomic Atlas Project is a web-based tool designed to foster an understanding of the dangers posed to your families, homes and communities by the transport of high-level radioactive waste. The Atomic Atlas allows you to identify the routes that commercial radioactive waste may travel and to locate the schools,colleges and hospitals along those routes. Click here for maps.
We will be adding more resources here so bookmark this page and return frequently. Also, be sure to signup for free updates.
Thanks and Best Regards,
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We have created this page so that you can learn more about the potential risks you and your family may face from toxic chemical accidents and releases and nuclear waste in your community where you live, work and play. These resources are organized into 3 categories: 
