Grantee Research Project Results
2001 Progress Report: Evaluating the Dissemination and Impact of Toxics Release Inventory Data
EPA Grant Number: R828721Title: Evaluating the Dissemination and Impact of Toxics Release Inventory Data
Investigators: Vasu, Michael , Atlas, Mark , Dimock, Michael
Current Investigators: Vasu, Michael , Dimock, Michael
Institution: North Carolina State University
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: December 1, 2000 through November 30, 2002
Project Period Covered by this Report: December 1, 2000 through November 30, 2001
Project Amount: $196,197
RFA: Market Mechanisms and Incentives for Environmental Management (2000) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Justice
Objective:
The objective of this research is to empirically assess the extent to which people are aware of Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data information and what, if any, behaviors that this information produces. It is important to benchmark how TRI data are being absorbed and acted upon by the public. This is important for policymakers to know in evaluating not only proposals for expanding the program, but also the value of the existing program versus other policy alternatives.
Our research design involves both a quantitative and qualitative approach to achieving our objective of disseminating TRI data. The quantitative portion of this research was a three-phase survey of 600 citizens in Baltimore, MD, and Wake County, NC. The surveys were designed to measure the extent of public awareness of TRI information. Overall, this three-phase survey design provides unique and important information about TRI data accessibility, awareness, and impact. In addition to the comprehensive analysis of TRI data, the surveys provide a rich source of information about general environmental attitudes and behavior, overall evaluations of information approaches to environmental protection, and specific responses to other environmental information approaches. The telephone survey protocols provide comprehensive information about a crucial assumption behind market-based solutions to environmental pollution; the extent to which the public is aware of, even in the most general terms, specific information about pollution sources, and whether that awareness has any effect on their behavior as consumers or active citizens. We have completed the three-phase survey and are engaged in the focus group and the in-depth interview portions of the research.
Progress Summary:
We have collected the three-phase survey portion and have made some preliminary findings. Our initial findings indicated that public awareness of TRI data and TRI facilities is very low. After nearly 15 years of TRI data, only a small percent of the respondents to our survey were aware of TRI and, on average, of any of the largest TRI facilities in their county. Thus, to the extent that the effectiveness of TRI data depends upon a substantial percentage of people being aware of its existence, or of the facilities whose chemical use it discloses, TRI data’s effectiveness must be narrowly constrained. There is no evidence that public awareness of TRI data is at the level claimed by some of its advocates, even among our sample of respondents whose socioeconomic status and proximity to TRI facilities should have made them more likely to be aware of the existence of TRI. Those who were aware of TRI and TRI facilities appear to be a small segment of people who are either especially concerned about environmental issues and actively seek out environmental information from many sources, or who have come into contact with TRI facilities through personal experiences, rather than environmental activism. The general population, however, appears to be overwhelmingly unfamiliar with TRI. Thus, to the extent that awareness of TRI or TRI facilities is an important precondition for environmental activism pressuring facilities to reduce their chemical use, the pervasive lack of awareness is a significant obstacle. It is important to remember, however, that it might only require the efforts of a small percentage of people to effectively apply pressure on industrial facilities, as only a few percent of hundreds of thousands of people still produces thousands of people seeking a particular outcome.
Future Activities:
We currently are collecting the qualitative data for this project. Data analysis and dissemination are underway.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 4 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
public policy, decision-making, cost-benefit, environmental awareness., RFA, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Scientific Discipline, Ecology, Chemistry, Economics, Market mechanisms, Social Science, community right-to-know, surveys, decision making, incentives, toxic release inventory (TRI), information dissemination, cost benefit, environmental Compliance, interviews, pollution prevention, environmental economicsProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe 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.