A Retrospective Analysis of Industrial Benzene Emissions in Rutherford, New Jersey

Abstract

In the 1970s, the Borough of Rutherford, New Jersey experienced a mysterious cancer cluster that led local residents and government officials to question the role of local industries in the degradation of their local environment. This thesis is a retrospective analysis using historical data and a Gaussian-plume model to quantify the atmospheric benzene emissions of a particular industrial facility located on the border of East Rutherford and Rutherford. It also seeks to quantify the cancer risk associated with inhalation exposure of benzene for the purpose of exploring the Rutherford cancer cluster in the context of industrial emissions. Calculations using 2-year-old water and sediment data, when adjusted for decomposition, result in an atmospheric benzene concentration of 170 ug·m^-3 (52 ppb) immediately above the industrial site. Dispersion modelling using NOAA’s Gaussian-plume model suggests that meteorological conditions at the site were optimal for the transport of atmospheric pollutants directly over the eastern portion of Rutherford, exposing potentially dozens of residents to dangerously high concentrations of benzene. Epidemiological extrapolations suggest that an individual exposed to the levels of atmospheric benzene calculated at the site has an increased probability of up to 1:750 of developing a cancer such as the leukemia originally observed in six children during the Rutherford cancer cluster. However, with distance from the source of emissions, the cancer risk decreased exponentially to statistically insignificant values. This indicates that while this singular facility may have contributed to the overall atmospheric benzene in the ambient air over Rutherford, the cancer cluster was likely a product of several other contributing factors including other local industries emitting similarly toxic compounds. This retrospective analysis highlights the importance of approaching environmental engineering research with a clear public service-oriented purpose and a focus on environmental justice in order to shed light on legacy pollution in communities disproportionately affected by negligent industries.