Assessment of PM Emissions on Local Air Quality due to Specialty Minerals and Aggregate Processing Industry in a Hispanic/Latino Neighborhood in Brownsville, TX, USA

AMIT U. RAYSONI, Sai Deepak Pinakana, Juan Gonzalez, Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia, Daniel Jaffe, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

     Abstract Number: 554
     Working Group: Aerosol Exposure

Abstract
Air quality due to specialty minerals and aggregate processing activities can pose serious health risks to local communities. In the city of Brownsville, Texas, residents in a predominantly Hispanic/Latino neighborhood have raised concerns in the last two years due to high level of dust emissions emanating from a local company that used barite powder to produce products used for animal health and production, oil and gas exploration, and other industrial uses. Barite powder is manufactured from natural barium sulfate ore. Additionally, the hauling of the raw material by eighteen wheelers at all times of the day contributes to heavy vehicular traffic in the neighborhood.

Consequently, a research endeavor was undertaken to install low-cost Purple Air sensors in three households in the neighborhood. The houses were chosen such that a vertical transect (roughly 375 ft, 650 ft, and 1275 ft) was obtained from the company. The sensors were installed outside the houses. Outdoor air quality data was collected for four months (December 23 – April 24). Additionally, indoor air data was collected for a few weeks each at two of the houses. The indoor monitoring involved the installation of a Purple Air Sensor, and two FEM monitors i.e., GRIMM - Model 11-D - Dust Decoder - Portable Aerosol Spectrometer and TSI DustTrak™ DRX Aerosol Monitor to investigate the infiltration of dust from the outdoor environment into indoors. All the low-cost sensors used were also collocated with FEM monitors to improve accuracy. The PM (both PM2.5 and PM10) data obtained from the study will be compared with the only Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Central Ambient Monitoring Site (CAMS) station in the city of Brownsville, which is located in a salubrious and green leafy neighborhood. This research study also focuses on the important issue of environmental justice in this part of the U.S.-Mexico Border Region.