Superfund sites typically cluster in low-income communities, where 62% of households earn less than $50,000 annually. The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a former nuclear research site in the hills northwest of Los Angeles, presents a different pattern.
The area surrounding the facility is much wealthier than most Superfund site communities, an anomaly that caught the attention of University of Southern California researchers. The disparity provided an opportunity to study how wealthy residents respond when financial resources cannot protect them from an environmental hazard.
