They Say I Live in Toxic Town...

Wow! We have been looking at how to read the Toxic Release Inventory in our Environmental Journalism class and I am pretty surprised at how toxic Pensacola and the surrounding area is! When Looking at how we compare (Escambia County) to other counties in the U.S. it is pretty frightening. We are ranked in the top 10% worst counties for overall environmental release, cancer risk score, non cancer risk score, and air releases of recognized carcinogens. We are ranked pretty poorly in all other categories as well. I see that there is an effort to clean up by the EPA (all of the superfund sites in the area) but I dont see how that makes up for what Pensacola industry is doing to the environment. Ever since I started living here in August 2008 I have felt like it is harder for me to breathe, especially when I work out. I always wake up congested as well. I can see now how the area contributes majorly to this problem! Come on Pensacola! Go green! ....well partly at least!