LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Residents in Louisville's Rubbertown neighborhood and surrounding areas stressed the importance of clean air during an annual conference.
The West Jefferson County Community Task Force hosted the 2024 Environmental Justice Conference on Saturday. The theme of the eighth annual conference was "Environmental Health: Knowledge is Power."
The conference included a discussion on the Rubbertown Air Toxics and Health Assessment project, along with other topics on the environment. The conference was free to attend.
There was a roundtable discussion about ways to create tools that will help medical practitioners account for air pollution exposure at the points of care such as hospitals and doctor's offices.
"We have kind of swept the house a little bit," said Arnita Gadson, executive director of West Jefferson County Community Task Force. "We reduced emissions by 85% so we kind of cleaned out the house. Now we have to look at what are we going to do about the people in the house. We are concerned about our lives. We are concerned about the quality of our lives."
Rubbertown is an industrial district that sits along the Ohio River in western Louisville. The air quality in that area has been questioned for years.
The Rubbertown Air Toxics and Health Assessment project aims to examine and address health impacts of toxic air pollution in the city's west end. Local partners will study air pollution by using air monitoring and wastewater sampling.
Tires, paint, laundry detergent and more are all produced in the neighborhood. But since 2005, the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District said toxic chemicals in the Rubbertown area have dropped by almost 80%.
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