Environmental permitting decisions perceived to impact human health: Improving environmental health communication between state agencies and communities

Communities facing potential environmental exposures often feel that government-based environmental health agencies are not adequately addressing their concerns regarding risk, thus resulting in misunderstanding and distrust. Health communication has become critical to address the public's growing awareness and concern of environmental health risks. Although opportunities for public participation in environmental health assessments have greatly increased in the last decade, the quality of environmental health information exchange regarding perceived or actual health risks between states and the concerned community has not been evaluated. This study has three specific aims: 1.) identify environmental health concerns of affected communities; 2.) evaluate communication between a governmental state agency and the impacted community regarding environmental permitting decisions that can influence human health; and 3.) identify communication barriers. This project utilized a comprehensive analysis of publicly available documents which serve as a record of communication between the state and public pertaining to specific contentious and non-contentious environmental permitting sites. Structured interviews with state employees and facility managers were conducted to examine the experiences that shaped their perception of current risk communication methods. Results indicate that determining communication barriers, clarifying misconceptions and cooperation between community members and state agencies during environmental health assessments maximizes the knowledge, comprehension and acceptance of findings and can lead to better community relationships. We propose that the development of a community health liaison position would 1.) improve environmental communication methods, 2.) promote productive working relationships, and 3.) increase acceptance of environmental communication between state agencies and communities during the environmental permitting process.