Thanks to the e-commerce surge, some parts of rural America aren’t what they used to be. In a recent profile of a rural Pennsylvania community’s rapidly changing landscape, Bloomberg’s Tyler J. Kelly says even “Google Maps can’t keep up with Shippensburg.”
“In satellite photos of Exit 24, off Interstate 81 in central Pennsylvania, the 19th century brick and limestone house still stands on White Church Road, as do the silo, bank barn, pole barn, machine shed and the rest of the 102-acre farm,” he writes. “But the next time the satellite passes over, it’ll see what’s also there now: a 1.8-million-square-foot fulfillment center for Walmart Inc. … Next to the Walmart are four more warehouses and a Sheetz Inc. gas station.”
As Kelly notes, when Walmart announced that the small rural community had been selected for its new facility, the company clarified it would be a fulfillment center rather than a distribution center. Either way, both are BIG — and two recent studies confirm some of the concerns “fenceline” residents have about the negative impacts of having these behemoths in their communities. But before we dig into them, let’s define the differences between fulfillment centers, distribution centers, and warehouses.
Aren’t all “warehouses” the same?
Although often used interchangeably — warehouses, fulfillment centers, and distribution centers have their differences. Meyer, which describes itself as a “logistics, relocation, and storage solutions company,” defines them like this:
- Fulfillment center: “…can be likened to a full-service type of business that services B2B and B2C customers. These buildings are designed to store and ship products directly to a company’s customers (whether B2B or B2C) on their behalf. …”
- Distribution center: “… A distribution center’s primary role is to store and ship products to retailers or other types of businesses. They do not prepare packages to be sent to customers. …”
- Warehouse: “…Unlike fulfillment centers and distribution centers, a warehouse’s primary role is to store inventory for other entities, either for the short-term or long-term. …”
There are other differentiating factors between the three, such as the level of activity.
“A warehouse is similar to fulfillment and distribution centers in the fact that it is a large building that provides ample storage space,” Meyer says. “Unlike other types of facilities, though, you won’t find a building full of hustle and bustle. …”
Report: “Making the Invisible Visible…”
Although “warehouses” of various types provide benefits for the businesses that use them and economic opportunities for the communities in which they’re located, some locals are concerned about the negative impacts that may occur. These include traffic congestion, air pollution, and the loss of idyllic small-town landscapes to “soulless eyesores” some say are “ruining their lives.”
In fact, according to a 2023 report from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), pollution generated from “warehouse” trucks places an “unequal burden on communities of color and areas of low wealth.”
“New research from Environmental Defense Fund on U.S. warehouse proliferation shows that some 15 million people live within a half-mile of a warehouse in 10 states across the country,” the press release says. “The report, Making the Invisible Visible: Shining a Light on Warehouse Truck Air Pollution, provides a window into the burden of truck-related air pollution exposure experienced by people living in close proximity to warehouses—in many states, Black, Latino, Asian and American Indian communities and areas of low wealth are disproportionately exposed to this pollution.”
Although the EDF seems to place the onus for the influx of warehouses on corporations, it appears consumers’ growing demands for convenience may play a role, too.
“As corporations taught consumers to expect just-in-time products and delivery, warehouses have moved closer to people’s homes in more communities than ever before, bringing harmful air pollution from trucks with them,” says Aileen Nowlan, EDF’s U.S. policy director, Global Clean Air Initiative. “It’s important to understand who is bearing the brunt of health burdens associated with living close to heavy truck traffic in order to develop and implement smart, targeted policies that protect public health and reduce emissions.”
Report: What satellite data reveals
A more recent report concurred, finding that “people living in communities located next to these large warehouses are exposed to 20% more of a traffic-related air pollutant that can lead to asthma and other life-threatening health conditions.”
According to the authors of Air pollution impacts from warehousing in the United States uncovered with satellite data — published online in Nature Communications July 24, 2024 — a variety of stakeholders are concerned about air pollution levels that are a result of the “proliferating e-commerce and warehousing industries.”
To better understand these dynamics, researchers made use of “nationwide datasets of warehouse locations, traffic, and satellite observations of the traffic-related pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2)” to help evaluate the “air quality and environmental equity impacts of these geographically-dispersed emission sources.”
Study findings revealed that:
- “…the nearly 150,000 warehouses in the U.S. worsen local traffic-related air pollution with an average near-warehouse NO2 enhancement of nearly 20% and are disproportionately located in marginalized and minoritized communities”
- “Near-warehouse truck traffic and NO2 significantly increase as warehouse density and the number of warehouse loading docks and parking spaces increase”
- “Increased satellite-observed NO2 near warehouses underscores the need for indirect source rules, incentives for replacing old trucks, and corporate commitments towards electrification”
- “Future ground-based monitoring campaigns may help track impacts of individual or small clusters of facilities”
The authors said the nationwide study “substantiates growing concerns from fenceline communities and policymakers of increased truck traffic and traffic-related air pollution near warehouses” and that the results come “during a critical window of opportunity to inform zoning and transportation policy, environmental impact statements, and emissions standards to protect public health and equity.”
While the proliferation of “warehouses” has surged in recent years, concerns about increased levels of air pollution around them are nothing new, as noted in this 2012 report, “Storing Harm: the Health and Community Impacts of Goods Movement Warehousing and Logistics.”
And although many are unhappy about the negative effects of the warehousing boom, others see a silver lining in the economic upsides that come along for the ride. For a little of both, check out this Daily Mail article that pivots off the Bloomberg piece mentioned previously: “Tiny rural idyll is transformed into buzzing boomtown where jobs market ‘is going nuts’ – but some locals are now furious at farmers for selling out: ‘They hate us’.”
