Grantee Research Project Results
2002 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 , 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, 2001 through November 30, 2002
Project Amount: $196,197
RFA: Market Mechanisms and Incentives for Environmental Management (2000) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Justice
Objective:
The key objective of this research project is to empirically assess the extent to which people are aware of Toxics Release Inventory Data (TRI) information and what, if any, behaviors that this information produces. It is important to benchmark how TRI data are being absorbed and acted on 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, Maryland, and Wake County, North Carolina. 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 accessibility, awareness, and impact. In addition to the comprehensive analysis of TRI, the survey provides a rich source of information about more 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.
Progress Summary:
We have completed the three-phase survey, and are engaged in the final in-person interviews. We will complete all data collection by September 1, 2003. Public awareness of TRI specifically and of TRI facilities is very low. After nearly 15 years of TRI data, only a few 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 depends on a substantial percentage of people being aware of its existence or of the facilities whose chemical use it discloses, TRI's effectiveness must be narrowly constrained. There is no evidence that public awareness of TRI 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 it.
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 people 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 of 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 will complete the in-person interviews and all data collection by September 1, 2003. We will analyze the data to empirically assess the extent to which people are aware of TRI information and what, if any, behaviors that this information produces.Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 4 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
public policy, decisionmaking, cost benefit, environmental awareness, market mechanisms, community right-to-know, environmental compliance, environmental economics, incentives, information dissemination, interviews, pollution prevention, surveys, Toxics Release Inventory, TRI., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, 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 economicsRelevant Websites:
https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-programProgress 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.