Sequoia Riley (Texas, US)
Committee Members: Dr. Samuel Brody, Dr.
Wes Highfield, Dr. Antonietta Quigg
Abstract:
Multiple research studies on the
effects of flooding in Texas coastal communities--located along the Texas
Coastal Bend (i.e. Gulf of Mexico)--have been done by professional sustainable
development planners, environmental planners, and ecologists. For decades,
these studies have been examining the negative environmental impacts caused by
major flooding events due to the insufficient methods of environmental
protection that have been implemented by state and local governments. Although
these research studies have assisted planners and ecologists to evaluate and
create better alternative methods to protect the environmental components from
flooding on land, no research has been conducted to investigate how floods also
effect the marine environment (i.e. pelagic ecosystem) when they recede back
out into the ocean after being retained within the Texas coastal communities
for a certain period of time. It has been acknowledged that as the flood water
within the Texas coastal communities recedes back into the pelagic ecosystem,
it carries with it toxic chemicals from various toxic waste facilities. At this
current time, vulnerability of Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) facilities were
calculated and analyzed from October 2013-May 2015 based on their proximity to
the four types of flood vulnerable
areas focused for this study (100-year floodplain hazard areas, 500-year
floodplain hazard areas, coastal flood risk zones, and barrier island
territories). It was
hypothesized that the results from the analysis will show that a high
percentage of the toxic waste facilities are located in highly and moderately
vulnerable coastal flood risk zones and flood hazard zones. Surprisingly, the
highest percentage of TRI facilities were found outside flood hazard zones and
barrier island territories recognized as highly and moderately vulnerable
areas. Whereas, there was a high percentage of TRI facilities located in four
of the five coastal flood risk zones. This study is a
starting point in determining the various types of toxic chemicals and
hazardous wastes being released into the marine environment locally speaking.
For future research, determining the various types of toxic chemicals and
hazardous wastes being released from TRI facilities (globally, nationally, and
locally) need to be taken into consideration. This also includes examining the
negative impacts in the marine environment caused by the release of toxic
chemicals and hazardous waste manufactured by TRI facilities (globally,
nationally, and locally).
This blog post has been written by Sequoia Riley who recently graduated from Texas A&M University with a Master's in Marine Resource Management and who obtained her Bachelor's in Marine Science with a minor in Applied Mathematics from Coastal Carolina University.
Connect with her on LinkedIn
Or contact her directly at: sriley3773@gmail.com
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