California Business Minute™

The Clearinghouse Community Development Financial Institution
serves the needs of California communities, businesses and its
residents. It is committed to helping Californians access credit.

For further information: Corporate Office, 23861 El Toro Road,
Suite 401 Lake Forest, California 92630 (Main) 949.859.3600 
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Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

Forbes has released its list of America’s Most Toxic Cities.  The index examined 80 of the largest
Metropolitan Statistical Areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau--urban areas with populations
of half a million and up. Then they averaged their rankings on five measures, giving equal weight
to each of the five --air quality, water quality and Superfund sites, the number of days when Air
Quality Index exceeded 100 in 2009 (the latest year available) and the EPA's Toxics Release
Inventory, (TRI). The TRI’s are reports by companies that release, recycle, treat or manage any of
650 potentially dangerous chemicals. We ranked the areas based on the EPA's tally of how many
pounds were reported released in each MSA in 2009. 

Unfortunately for California, it owns the list with four cities in the “Top Ten Most Toxic.”

TOP TEN MOST TOXIC CITIES IN AMERICA

1. Philadelphia, PA
2. Bakersfield, CA
3. Fresno, CA
4. New York, NY
5. Baron Rouge, LA
6. Los Angeles, CA
7. Houston
8. St. Louis, MO
9. Salt Lake City
10. Riverside-San Bernardino, CA

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.