Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Electronic Environmental Democracy: The Future of Information Technology in Participatory Environmental Management
EPA Grant Number: R827585Title: Electronic Environmental Democracy: The Future of Information Technology in Participatory Environmental Management
Investigators: Davies, J. Clarence , Beierle, Thomas C. , Reff, Maria , Cahill, Sarah
Institution: Resources for the Future
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: April 1, 1999 through March 31, 2000
Project Amount: $147,631
RFA: Futures: Detecting the Early Signals (1999) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Water , Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Land and Waste Management , Aquatic Ecosystems , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration
Objective:
The overall goal of this research project was to identify ways for federal agencies to enhance citizen involvement in environmental policymaking through current and foreseeable future developments in information technology. Additionally, we sought to recommend how electronic participation should fit into an overall strategy for public participation. The specific objectives of this research project were to: (1) project the future path of electronic participation by examining the present situation and identifying likely medium term (5-10 years) developments; (2) assess the use of electronic participation and identify its appropriate role in environmental management; and (3) analyze the interrelationships between the success of electronic democracy and issues of equity, accountability, information overload, and direct democracy.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The findings and discussions of our research fall into five areas: (1) a typology of online participation mechanisms and the results of our analysis of state and federal environmental management agencies; (2) results of indepth case studies on information disclosure programs; (3) electronic dialogues; (4) a discussion of networking and the use of the Internet by environmental nongovernment organizations (NGOs); and (5) a discussion of the challenges and potential pitfalls of electronic participation related to issues of equity, accountability, information overload, and direct democracy.
Typology of electronic participation mechanisms and a review of state and federal environmental management agencies:
• Agencies pursue a variety of electronic participation approaches falling into the categories of information, access, and networking.
• State agencies are in an early and experimental phase of electronic participation.
• Federal agencies, particularly the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are leading innovations in this area. The U.S. EPA can point to many well-developed electronic participation mechanisms.
• State and federal environmental management agencies can make much more progress, however, in the area of environmental permitting by exploring opportunities for utilizing local networks to enhance community-based environmental protection.
Information disclosure on the Internet:
• The primary benefits of information disclosure programs are normative (e.g., community right-to-know), substantive (e.g., better information on environmental problems), and instrumental (e.g., improving facility environmental performance).
• The principal costs of information disclosure programs, as raised in political debates, are the cost of collecting and reporting data, the unpredictability and loss of control involved in having greater public influence on facility performance, and the unintended use of information by business competitors, terrorists, or others.
• The use of the Internet enhances the ability to reap the benefits of information disclosure, but also raises the most concern about costs. The balance between benefits and costs is pursued through political processes, often with inadequate information to support arguments.
• Not all information disclosure programs appear to be producing instrumental benefits, at least in part because political compromises have limited the architecture of many programs. All programs, however, can claim to be providing substantive benefits by contributing to an information-rich policy environment.
Electronic dialogues in policymaking and rulemaking:
• Electronic dialogues are the most promising innovation for transforming communication between the public and the government.
• The U.S. EPA's efforts to implement electronic dialogues have been largely successful, showing that such dialogues can involve large numbers of people in interactive communication.
• State and federal environmental management agencies should conduct pilot projects on using online dialogues in conjunction with the notice-and-comment rulemaking processes.
Internet-enhanced networking:
• The networking features of the Internet have been explored and utilized more by NGOs than government.
• Although the basic strategy for environmental advocacy has not changed with the Internet, this new networking ability has changed some of the tactics of communication, developing effective arguments, mobilizing the public, and building coalitions.
Challenges and potential pitfalls of electronic participation (i.e., of equity, accountability, information overload, and direct democracy):
• In terms of equity, the biggest challenge for electronic participation is the digital divide. The ability of state and federal environmental management agencies to deal with this problem is limited. Until access improves, however, agencies should only use online processes to complement, not replace, offline participation.
• Electronic participation raises some concerns about accountability. Agency accountability over the public use of disclosed environmental information has been the main topic of political debates. Evidence from a recent U.S. EPA-sponsored electronic dialogue suggests that such processes may support accountability rather than undermine it.
• Information intermediaries, such as NGOs and the media, play a large role in preventing information overload. Such overload, however, does create problems in online dialogues, both for participants and for agencies.
• Fears of "hyperdemocracy" in electronic participation are largely unfounded, mainly because such participation occurs within a traditional framework of administrative procedure.
Conclusions:
Information Disclosure. Information disclosure programs should continue to play a leading role in environmental management. Although not all programs appear to replicate the effectiveness of the Toxics Release Inventory in achieving instrumental, programmatic goals, they all provide a more information-rich policymaking environment. Going forward, state and federal environmental management agencies should focus on goals they want information disclosure policies to meet and construct programs accordingly. Much more research is needed, however, to make informed choices about program architecture.
Online Policy Dialogues in Policymaking and Rulemaking. Online policy dialogues offer the most innovative opportunities for increasing public access to decisionmaking and for transforming the relationship between the public and the government. Such policy dialogues need to be more deeply integrated into agency operations such as rulemaking. Until access to the Internet is more equitable, however, online processes only should complement offline processes, not replace them.
Permitting and Networking. The greatest remaining opportunity for enhancement of electronic participation at state and federal environmental agencies is public participation in the permitting process. Agencies should adopt state-level innovations and promote them nationwide. Likewise, state and federal environmental agencies should experiment with approaches for using networking to enhance local efforts such as community-based environmental protection.
Barriers to Implementation. In the long run, the barriers to innovative approaches to electronic democracy are not technical, but are political, bureaucratic, and social. Agencies should do what they can to overcome these barriers. Clearer programmatic goals can help overcome political barriers. Fostering a culture of innovation by rewarding bottom-up efforts can help overcome some bureaucratic barriers. Although a single agency cannot overcome all social barriers—such as the digital divide—it can make limited efforts to help its own stakeholders overcome those barriers. Issues related to equity, accountability, information overload, and direct democracy do not create insurmountable barriers to the advancement of information technology. Each poses challenges that largely are identifiable and tractable.
Journal Articles on this Report : 2 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 12 publications | 3 publications in selected types | All 2 journal articles |
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Beierle TC. The benefits and costs of disclosing information about risks: what do we know about right-to-know? Risk Analysis 2004;24(2):335-346. |
R827585 (Final) |
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Beierle T. Old strategy and new tactics drive environmental advocacy on the Internet. Global Issues, Electronic Journal of the U.S. Department of State 2000;5(3). |
R827585 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
public participation, community involvement, information technology, Internet, innovative technology, decisionmaking, community based, preferences, socioeconomic., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecology and Ecosystems, Futures, Exp. Research/future, Social Science, electronic democracy, emerging environmental problems, web-based surveys, electronic commerce, socio-economic changes, community involvement, environmental policy, information technology, public policy, futures researchRelevant Websites:
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.