Communicating Risk: Lessons from an Environmental Journalist Dina Cappiello Houston Chronicle...
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![Page 1: Communicating Risk: Lessons from an Environmental Journalist Dina Cappiello Houston Chronicle NUARTC/TCEQ Air Toxics Workshop.](https://reader036.fdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062803/56649cf35503460f949c1375/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Communicating Risk:Lessons from an Environmental
Journalist
Dina Cappiello
Houston Chronicle
NUARTC/TCEQ Air Toxics Workshop
![Page 2: Communicating Risk: Lessons from an Environmental Journalist Dina Cappiello Houston Chronicle NUARTC/TCEQ Air Toxics Workshop.](https://reader036.fdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062803/56649cf35503460f949c1375/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
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![Page 5: Communicating Risk: Lessons from an Environmental Journalist Dina Cappiello Houston Chronicle NUARTC/TCEQ Air Toxics Workshop.](https://reader036.fdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062803/56649cf35503460f949c1375/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
So why is it so difficult??
• Different natures of the media and science
• Interest groups – industry, environmentalists, government – present data in ways that serves their ends, but to lay public appears contradictory/dishonest
• Flaws of the media: mainly looking for conflict, rather than answer
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THE NEWSPAPER
• Most readers 5th grade-level understanding of science
• Deadline-driven/immediate
• Want certainty – good/bad, healthy/unhealthy
• Public audience: Chronicle ~ 700,000 readers per day
• Concerned with quality of life questions
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SCIENCE
• Specialists, with multiple degrees
• Research takes time, peer review etc.
• Uncertain outcomes, incremental
• Inaccessible to public: audience is other scientists
• Concerned with advancing knowledge, not necessarily solving public dilemmas
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![Page 10: Communicating Risk: Lessons from an Environmental Journalist Dina Cappiello Houston Chronicle NUARTC/TCEQ Air Toxics Workshop.](https://reader036.fdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062803/56649cf35503460f949c1375/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Ozone vs. Air Toxics
OZONE- Smog alerts- Clear standard: above
bad, below good- Extensive research- Good communication
among stakeholders
IN THE NEWS
AIR TOXICS- No alerts- No clear-cut standards- Research lacking- Poor communication
among stakeholders
NOT IN MASS
MEDIA
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Example 1
Galena Park monitor
- Records some of the highest concentrations of benzene in state. Above state long-term ESL since 1998
- Located across from public school
YET….
School district, public officials and residents were completely unaware of readings
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Example 2
TCEQ Mobile Monitoring
State’s own workers, in some heavily polluted areas will not sit in monitoring van
or wear gas masks….
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State concludes:
• Monitoring not close enough to neighborhood to make predictions
• Levels for those chemicals measured below short-term ESL, so no health effects expected
• In cases when long-term ESL busted, until recently, state reports said that it only indicated need for further evaluation
RESULT: MIXED MESSAGES, CONFUSION,
DISTRUST
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Example 3
CAP MEETINGS- Came out of the 1990 CAA, set up and run
by local industry- Industry touts CAP meetings as
communicating with publicYET…
Residents who have attended for years still are unclear what is in their air and whether
it will harm them
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Closing the gap…In Harm’s Way
- Citizen-collected science…science engaged community, became real
- Analyzed existing state data to answer following questions:
1. What is in the air in neighborhoods near chemical plants/refineries?
2. Is it enough for to put people that live there at greater risk?
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ESLs
• Part of the communication problem• In some cases, Texas allows levels of air
toxics not allowed in other states• Level not uniform. Some ESLs set at 10-4
cancer risk, others 10-6• When used in permitting, ESLs are
compared to dispersion models from one facility, sometimes not entire site, and never multiple sources
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SOLUTION
• Compared to EPA IRIS RfCs set at 10-6 level and calculated cancer risk
• Did not count values not above 1996 NATA level as exceedance
• Compared to stationary monitors in non-industrial neighborhoods
RESULT:Very different picturewww.chron.com/toxic
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CRITICISM
72-hour grab vs. annual standard
This is a fair criticism….
However, in all cases our median value was below that detected by TCEQ in all of 2003 and our value fell within range of TCEQ monitoring data…show chart
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