The Social Organization of Risk: Public Involvement in Federal Environmental Planning

Abstract

This paper describes how the social construction of risk has been institution alized by two U. S. Federal environmental programs. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund), and related regulations require public involvement in determining impacts, iden tifying threats and deciding on remedial environmental actions. Federal environmental planning is oriented towards allowing forums for airing pub lic concerns, without direct public control of decisions. The paper uses the sociology of risk literature to show how the actors and processes have been structured through law and regulation. Following Stallings's (1990) frame work of the social organization of risk discourse, this paper identifies the claims makers, stakeholders, and risk definers within the NEPA and CERCLA processes. The processes include definition soliciting, information dissemi nation, claims making and risk defining. The paper concludes by stressing the need for public involvement policy to be grounded theory and research.

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