A Risk-Management Strategy for PCB-Contaminated Sediments (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Community Involvement
Community Involvement
Pages 68-95
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From page 68... ...
The active public participation model of the commission's report is supported by a broad range of research on public participation efforts (NRC ~Stakeholders are defined by the Presidential/Congressional Commission as "parties who are concerned about or affected by the risk management problem." Because the term "stakeholder" has been used by others to mean only the legally involved parties (i.e., the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) and the regulatory agencies negotiating and overseeing the remediation action)
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From page 69... ...
This chapter summarizes concerns raised at the public meetings held by the committee during its deliberations. The chapter then discusses the need for community involvement, the benefits, how the community is defined to include both interested and affected parties, and ways to identify and involve the interested and affected parties in the decision-making process.
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From page 70... ...
Natural attenuation processes will be a part of any riskmanagement strategy, because complete removal of PCB-contaminated sediments cannot be reasonably achieved with present technologies. Those views were expressed largely by the members of the affected communities.
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From page 71... ...
In directly affected communities, the members of local organized community efforts do not generally include the regulators or the companies responsible for the contamination as affected parties, at least not in the same way as they include themselves as affected (Ashford and Rest 1999~. Potentially affected parties might include individuals that live by or use the waterway, tribal groups, subsistence or sports fishers who might live near or only occasionally use the water resources, and commercial businesses that rely on fishing, recreational boating, or tourism for subsistence or economic
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From page 72... ...
The president/congressional commission defines stakeholders as "parties who are concerned about or effected by the risk management problem." Stakeholders may include responsible parties, government regulators, industry and business, elected officials, unions, environmental advocacy groups, consumer-rights organizations, education and research institutions, trade associations, religious groups, and others. The directly affected community may be one ofthese many parties or may be part of several, but not all, of the many subsets of stakeholders.
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From page 73... ...
During the early 1970s, federal regulations, notably the National Environmental Policy Act, were passed that provided for public participation (O'Brien 2000~. The role of public and community involvement changed dramatically during the late 1970s as grassroots community-based organizations (see Box4-~)
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From page 74... ...
These organizations provide a good base for community involvement in site decision-making. Two grassroots organizations that addressed the committee during visits to the Hudson River area were the Housatonic River Initiative from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and the Arbor Hill Environmental Justice Corporation from Albany, New York.
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From page 75... ...
Participation makes the process more democratic, lends legitimacy to the process, educates and empowers the affected communities, and generally leads to decisions that are more accepted by the community (Fiorino 1990; Folk 1991; NRC 1996~. The affected community members can contribute essential community-based knowledge, information, and insight that is often lacking in expert-driven risk processes (Ashford and Rest 1999~.
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From page 76... ...
1993; Kasperson 1986~. The process needs to involve all interested and affected parties, who should be considered equals (Box 4-2~.
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From page 77... ...
Take responsibility for community outreach and education. BOX 4-3 Public Participation Programs at the Department of Energy The U.S.
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From page 78... ...
Table 4-1 illustrates how early and active community involvement can assist in the management process. In addition, several states and other federal regulatory agencies have public participation guidance that encourages strong, active, and early community involvement in various forms of environmental management activities (McLoud et al.1999; Hance et al.
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From page 79... ...
. Be sure the public has the knowledge to understand the technical issues and access technical documents; help provide technical assistance if necessary (e.g., Technical Assistance Grants)
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From page 80... ...
at first, but a Upper HR- Fewer citizens appeared long, open, consensus-based process to support dredging, and more citizens with active community participation focused on the disruptions of during the discussion and planning dredging. phases led to a more coherent Lower HR- More citizens appeared consensus.
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From page 81... ...
for Superfund projects and through environmental justice grants, the Technical Assistance for Public Participation Program (TAPP) for Department of Defense sites, and the Environmental Justice Partnership for Communication grants provided by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences.
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From page 82... ...
The DOD also awards limited technical assistance funds to communities through the Technical Assistance for Public Participation (TAPP) program that began in 1998.
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From page 83... ...
The community outreach efforts of most of these centers are not designed to deal with the broach range of PCB issues encountered by communities and other affected parties. With time and experience, however, these centers might provide more resources.
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From page 84... ...
That means affording them respect for their opinions and knowledge technical, ecological, social, and historical which may not always mesh with what the regulators and managers "know." Efforts should be made to create a partnership between all the interested and affected parties. Full partnership in the decision-making process may not always be easy to accomplish, given certain legal and logistic constraints.
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From page 85... ...
It takes time to develop an awareness of an issue within a community, and it takes time for the community to build activity around the site management effort into their daily schedule. In these instances, the involved regulatory agencies should take the responsibility for reaching out to the affected community.
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From page 86... ...
The non-English notices and articles should be placed early and throughout the process to ensure that the non-English speaking population does not feel disenfranchised and therefore resistant to the outcome. EPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (NEJAC)
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From page 87... ...
Once involved and informed about the project, the community partners should identify their priorities and goals for the process and educate the regulators and other partners about them. Identification of cultural or ethnic priorities or mores might affect what the interested and affected parties of the group think about the project and how they set goals for it.
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From page 88... ...
Public hearings and meetings are the most traditional and familiar form of public participation (Ashford and Rest, 1999~. Hearings are often required by law and have been used by agencies to present information and defend their decisions.
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From page 89... ...
EPA uses citizen advisory groups (CAGs) at Superfund sites with environmental justice concerns (EPA 1995)
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From page 90... ...
Despite the presence of a concerned public at these sites, the committee found that the opportunities for public involvement generally had been limited to prescribed times in the cleanup process and that the process was dominated by the PRPs and the agencies with little communication among affected parties. Significant distrust developed at some of these sites among the regulatory agencies and between the regulatory agencies, the site owners, the affected communities, and other interested parties.
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From page 91... ...
The committee makes the following recommendations for improving the involvement of affected parties at PCB-contaminated-sediment sites: · Federal, and state environmental regulations and guidelines for managing contaminated sites that affect communities immediately adjacent to these sites should be changed to allow community involvement as soon as the presence of contamination is confirmed at these sites. The key lessons identified in the 1999 EPA report Lessons Learned f r o m C o m m u n i t y I n v o l v e m e n t a t S u p e r f u n c i S i t e s s h o u l d b e c a r e f u l l y r e v i e w e d by regulatory agencies.
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From page 92... ...
1996. Public participation in environmental policy: considering scientific, counter-scientific and non-scientific contributions.
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From page 93... ...
EPA 300-K-96-003. Public Participation and Accountability Subcommittee, National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, Office of Environmental Justice.
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From page 94... ...
1986. Six propositions on public participation and their relevance for risk communication.
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From page 95... ...
1993. "Environmental Justice": the central role of research in establishing a credible scientific foundation for informed decision making.
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