Community Health and Air Quality Implications of Refinery Retirements in Los Angeles (CHAIRS-LA) - This proposed rapid R21 study will take place in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, where operators recently announced plans to retire two petroleum refineries at the end of 2025. Refineries are among the largest stationary sources of hazardous air pollutants in the country and tend to be located in low-income communities and urban centers near highways and other industrial facilities, where they contribute to cumulative air pollution bur dens. Many components of refinery emissions including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are known respiratory irritants. Several studies have shown living near refineries is associated with poorer respiratory health including declines in lung function, increased bronchial inflammation and asthma exacerbations, but prior work has primarily been cross-sectional in nature, limiting causal inference. The objective of the Community Health and Air Quality Implications of Refinery Retirements in Los Angeles (CHAIRS-LA) study is to take advantage of the unique time sensitivity opportunity (‘natural experiment’) afforded by the refineries’ closure and accompanying abrupt change in air pollutant emissions to determine whether the retirement of two petroleum refineries amid an urban community results in changes in exposure to air pollutants and respiratory health. This project is in response to the concerns of community-based organizations and builds upon longstanding partnerships between the research team and community partners. N=150 adult community residents will be enrolled for a longitudinal study with measurements taken at three time points: prior to refinery closure (this proposal), and one and two years later (future work). Participants will provide information on acute respiratory, dermal, gastrointestinal, and neurological symptoms via questionnaire, lung function will be measured via spirometry, and airway inflammation via a non-invasive fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) biomarker test. Participants will wear a personal passive sampler (Fresh Air wristband) for seven consecutive days to measure personal exposures to VOCs and PAHs including acetaldehyde, 1,3-butadiene, formaldehyde, naphthalene, and BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene). Passive samplers will also be installed outside homes for a subset of N=30 participants. The quasi-experimental design will allow us to compare changes in these measures before and after the refinery closure, which eliminates confounding by both observed and unobserved time-invariant factors. Results will enable future work to collect post-closure measurements in order to identify the effect of the refineries’ retirement on health among neighboring residents. Outcomes will include new knowledge about the impacts of petroleum refinery retirements on exposure to ambient air pollutants and respiratory health collected through participatory research.
