| Chapter 2: | Superfund Sites and Neighborhood Change |
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be converted after it is remediated and reopened for public use? (2) Will remediated Superfund sites continue to be perceived as environmental wastelands in the eyes of the public and prospective real estate developers? And, (3) will these sites be perceived as valuable property, which present opportunities for improving the socioeconomic conditions of surrounding areas? With a growing number of Superfund sites nearing completion, these are the types of questions academic scholars and policy makers need to address.
This chapter examines whether redevelopment of remediated Superfund sites in Hillsborough County has changed the racial/ethnic character and improved socioeconomic conditions of areas surrounding the sites. An important aspect of this analysis is to determine whether racial/ethnic or socioeconomic inequities existed in neighborhoods hosting the remediated Superfund sites at the time the facilities or environmentally unsafe practices were in operation. Accordingly, the research objective is to determine if areas immediately surrounding the remediated Superfund sites (host neighborhoods) contain a higher proportion of racial/ethnic minorities and impoverished individuals at the time the facilities or environmentally unsafe practices were in operation compared to other areas in Hillsborough County (nonhost neighborhoods). The analyses are repeated in four different census years (1970 to 2000) which extend from pre-Superfund site declaration to postremediation, by tracing changes over space and time.
The Contested Role of Remediated
Superfund Sites
There are opposing viewpoints regarding the potential usefulness of a Superfund site after it has been environmentally remediated.