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Presentation
A Convergence-Building Model of Superfund Site Communication: Building on Lessons from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant
Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 34th Annual Meeting (2013)
  • Anna G. Hoover, University of Kentucky
  • Lindell Ormsbee
Abstract

Best practices approaches have guided governmental risk communication efforts at Superfund and other chronic risk sites for more than two decades, playing an important role in the ways in which those most affected by contamination make sense of risk. Such approaches can affect the information environment in two separate but related ways: 1) directly, through the explicit sharing of information, and 2) indirectly, through ongoing stakeholder interpretations of the processes by which that information is shared. To date, the indirect, process-related effects have not been addressed in assessments of communicative efficacy at Superfund sites. Thus, it increasingly is necessary to evaluate not only whether risk communication approaches have been effective for information sharing but if, in fact, their implementation has had unintended consequences for the ways in which stakeholders perceive and interact with each other. Using sensemaking theory as a diagnostic and evaluative tool, particularly when applied to a complex case, provides a promising avenue for identifying and addressing key challenges for sustained communication in chronic risk communities. The myriad environmental, health, and economic risks associated with western Kentucky’s Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) National Priorities List Superfund site have affected numerous stakeholders for decades. A crystallized case study of risk communication about and regarding the PGDP points to sensemaking constraints across five themes: 1) The Government; 2) The Public; 3) Delays; 4) Secrecy, Deception, and Manipulation; and 5) Competing Risk Perceptions. These findings suggest that a reconceptualization of risk communication is needed that moves stakeholders to the center of the communication model. By acknowledging the multiplicity of stakes in site-related risks and decisions, the proposed model increases the capacity for shared sensemaking while decreasing the likelihood of adversarialism driving the discourse. Over time, this model should promote increased levels of trust, improving stakeholder expectations and creating a more positive framework within which to make sense of risk-related issues.

Publication Date
November 21, 2013
Citation Information
Anna G. Hoover and Lindell Ormsbee. "A Convergence-Building Model of Superfund Site Communication: Building on Lessons from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant" Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 34th Annual Meeting (2013)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/anna_hoover/8/