Chapter 7 emphasizes the need for a comprehensive plan when conducting risk communication efforts. It’s very similar to planning a public relations campaign; you need to set measurable goals and objectives that will aid in the execution of the plan.

As outlined in chapter 8, knowing your audience is the key to conducting successful risk communication. Understanding who you’re communicating with and their backgrounds will make it much easier to create a message that has a better chance of being received. While a comprehensive audience analysis would obviously be the most helpful, often time and budget constraints prevent that level of detail from being obtained.

I found it interesting that Lundgren and McMakin claim that “the least effective but more often used form of stakeholder participation is the formal hearing or public meeting” (p.301). The reason these meetings are frequently used probably have more to do with the aforementioned budget constraints – it’s cheaper to hold several large meetings, rather than conducting in-depth individual research and multiple focus groups, which can end up being costly in the end. Large meetings also offer the best chance to receive public recognition, as members of the media can attend and report back to the rest of the community.

Because it’s mentioned frequently in the readings, I decided to Google Superfund to find out exactly what it was, as I was very curious. The following is from the EPA’s web site:

What is Superfund?

Superfund is the Federal government's program to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. Under the Superfund program, abandoned, accidentally spilled, or illegally dumped hazardous waste that pose a current or future threat to human health or the environment are cleaned up. To accomplish its mission, EPA works closely with communities, Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs), scientists, researchers, contractors, and state, local, tribal, and Federal authorities. Together with these groups, EPA identifies hazardous waste sites, tests the conditions of the sites, formulates cleanup plans, and cleans up the sites.

What is a Superfund site?

A Superfund site is any land in the United States that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment.

"There are tens of thousands of abandoned hazardous waste sites in our nation, and accidental releases occur daily. At the core of the Superfund program is a system of identification and prioritization that allows the most dangerous sites and releases to be addressed within the confines of limited Federal funding and human resources. ...The first step in the Superfund process is to identify abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.

All sites where releases or potential releases have been reported are listed in the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Information System (CERCLIS)."

Community involvement is a key component of any Superfund site plan, as notated by their goal statements:

• Keep the community well informed of ongoing and planned activities.
• Encourage and enable community members to get involved.
• Listen carefully to what the community is saying.
• Take the time needed to deal with community concerns.
• Change planned actions where community comments or concerns have merit.
• Explain to the community what EPA has done and why.

Their web site is quite comprehensive and explains the Superfund program in detail, including cleanup procedures and the like. There’s even a kids section which includes a cute comic that explains what happens when an area gets contaminated and what the EPA does to remedy the situation.

Also included is the “community involvement toolkit”, which highlights their complete community involvement plan and all the tactics/methods they employ, many of which are discussed in chapter 17. I encourage you to check it out, as they’ve done a good job of mapping out a clear plan of how to achieve their community involvement objectives.