Background
New Jersey is home to a significant number of warehouses and distribution centers, approximately 1,777, which serve as hubs for goods movement and commerce. However, the placement of these warehouses has often disproportionately burdened low-income communities and communities of color with negative environmental and health impacts.
Warehouses increase air pollution from diesel trucks, noise pollution, traffic congestion, and disruption of natural habitats. These impacts not only degrade the quality of life in affected communities but also exacerbate existing health disparities and environmental injustices.
Residential proximity to traffic is associated with various health impacts, particularly the onset of or exacerbation of asthma and mortality rates. For example, according to a study conducted by EDF, across the NY/NJ metro, region, around 20% of all childhood asthma cases are attributable to air pollution — but in the neighborhoods with the most traffic-related pollution, including parts of Newark, it can be up to 30%.
Workplace and transportation-related noise are associated with the release of stress hormones; sleep disturbance; hypertension and heart disease and among the elderly, risk of stroke. For example, a Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School study (2022) found that heart attack rates were 72% higher in places with high transportation noise exposure.
Despite the significant impact of warehouses on environmental justice neighborhoods, warehouses are currently not included as a specific category on the NJDEP's EJMAP, a tool designed to identify areas in New Jersey that may be disproportionately burdened by environmental hazards and stressors. This omission fails to adequately address the concerns of communities already struggling with multiple environmental injustices.
