This project examines how the collection and disclosure of information about toxic chemical releases in the United States affects local communities and businesses. Environmental information disclosure has been strongly supported by citizens and policymakers. It is also increasingly considered to be an important supplement to environmental regulation. Yet how well such information is communicated to citizens and the effects that it has remain unclear, as does the best way to design such programs to help ensure that they will be effective. Focusing on the federal Toxics Release Inventory managed by the U.S. EPA, this research seeks to improve understanding of how such information reaches citizens, local government officials, and industry representatives; what effects it has; and how it changes the way environmental decisions are made. The study will compare information disclosure and decision making within communities across the country to improve knowledge about the factors that contribute most to development of innovative strategies to reduce pollution and improve public health. Specifically, we seek to learn why some companies do more to reduce pollution than others and why some communities encourage such pollution reduction more than others.
Methods to be used in the study include a comprehensive quantitative analysis of national data from the Toxics Release Inventory and the risks that such releases pose to public health. Other technical, demographic, and economic information about local communities and businesses will be analyzed as well. Such data will come from the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies; surveys of industry representatives, public officials, and citizens in a sample of three dozen communities from around the nation; analysis of media coverage of local pollution information; and interviews with industry representatives, public officials, and citizens in ten communities to be studied in depth. Such knowledge has important implications for the design and implementation of a new generation of environmental policies that can be more flexible, community-oriented, and effective than conventional approaches to regulation. In particular, it can help to maximize the potential of using information disclosure to reach national goals for environmental protection and public health.
This award emerged from a FY2002 competition, "Decision Making and Valuation for Environmental Policy," sponsored by NSF and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
