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2004 Progress Report: Risk Communication in Community Participation: Comparing Regional Programs in South Florida

EPA Grant Number: R830843
Title: Risk Communication in Community Participation: Comparing Regional Programs in South Florida
Investigators: Light, Alfred R. , Espino, Maria Dolores
Institution: Saint Thomas University
EPA Project Officer: Savage, Nora
Project Period: November 1, 2003 through October 31, 2005
Project Period Covered by this Report: November 1, 2003 through October 31, 2004
Project Amount: $192,029
RFA: Superfund Minority Institutions Program: Hazardous Substance Research (2002)
Research Category: Hazardous Waste/Remediation

Description:

Objective:

This project assesses the relative viability of various risk communication strategies for enhancing citizen involvement in and acceptance of public environmental decision-making in a large geographic area. The objectives of this project are: (1) to assess the level of citizen participation and involvement at various stages of the agency decision-making process, using federal and state projects in South Florida as examples; (2) to assess acceptance within various relevant affected communities, especially African-American, Hispanic, and Native American communities; (3) to examine risk communication processes and strategies associated with these projects and related costs accounting methodologies used in feasibility studies, and (4) to develop recommendations for communities regarding effective risk communication strategies and costs accounting for larger, diverse geographic areas.

Progress Summary:

An interdisciplinary team of social scientists and attorneys identified projects in south Florida that either have or do not have regionwide implications. The Board of Advisors met in May 2003, prior to commencement of this research project, and advised on the structure and organization of case studies upon which the research team should focus. The team also received advice from project contacts within EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers. The project team then tentatively selected 10 case studies, including: (1) a controversial Everglades restoration project in south Miami-Dade County (Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park and South Dade Canals [C-111] Project); (2) a project that had precipitated litigation in the U.S. Supreme Court (Broward County Water Preserve Areas); (3) a municipal landfill National Priorities List site now becoming a residential development (Munisport Landfill); (4) a proposed project involving the potential conversion of private mining land to a public reservoir (Lake Belt In-Ground Reservoir Pilot Project); (5) a project involving widespread application of a poorly understood technology (Aquifer Storage and Recovery Regional Study and Pilot Project); and (6) a large-scale wetlands restoration project (Indian River Lagoon-South).

For each case study, project investigators began examining decisionmaking documents and supporting materials to measure the level and character of public participation (e.g., community relations plans, public comments, and reports of public meetings). Beginning in early 2004, team members also began observations of public meetings and conferences, including the Everglades Coalition Annual Conference, meetings connected with decisions concerning particular remedial projects (e.g., Indian River Lagoon Project Implementation Report, Aquifer Storage and Recovery Pilot Project Design Report, and Ten Mile Creek Water Control Project), meetings open to the public involving intergovernmental coordination (e.g., Central and South Florida Regional Project Delivery Teams and South Florida Environment Report), and official meetings of public decisionmaking bodies (e.g., South Florida Water Management District Governing Board). The co-principal investigator, at the request of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, began attending 2-day monthly meetings of the Combined Operating and Structural Plan group attempting to resolve disputes regarding modified water deliveries to Everglades National Park.

The research fellow completed a first retrospective case study on south Florida CERCLA decisions (Munisport Landfill) and began a second (Homestead Air Force Base). The principal investigator began the modeling of the CERP decisionmaking process and prepared a paper about legal lessons learned in the CERCLA program as applied to the CERP process. The paper was accepted to be presented at the First National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration in Orlando, Florida, in December 2004.

Future Activities:

We will: (1) complete preliminary reports on each of the selected case studies; (2) observe public meetings held in connection with ongoing CERP and CERCLA projects; (3) interview key individuals; and (4) solicit comments on project findings, which will be incorporated into the final report.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 14 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

groundwater, ecosystem, regionalization, indicators, public policy, cost benefit, nonmarket valuation, contingent valuation, socioeconomic, Economic, Social, and Behavioral Science Research Program, geographic area, ecological risk assessment, economics and decisionmaking, economics and business, social science, state, decisionmaking, Florida, community participation, consumer perception, contingent valuation, cost-effective ecosysem protection, cost/benefit analysis, econometric analysis, environmental decisionmaking, environmental policy, environmental risk assessment, , Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Geographic Area, Scientific Discipline, RFA, Social Science, decision-making, Ecological Risk Assessment, Economics & Decision Making, Economics and Business, State, econometric analysis, environmental risk assessment, consumer perception, decision making, risk communication strategies, environmental policy, community participation, cost/benefit analysis, Florida, cost-effective ecosysem protection, contingent valuation, environmental decision making

Progress and Final Reports:
Original Abstract
Final Report

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The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

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