RE: Identifying the Interested Public

[Glenn Landers <glenn.landers@sierraclub.org>]

It seems to me complainers are some of the most important people to involve. Of course, I would hope that an effort to identify concerned citizens does not stop with just letting them know of a public comment period. They should also be educated on the issues by the agency that seeks their input.

I should also mention that the concept of involving only the informed public is a slippery slope. My guess is that industry believes that only they are the informed public. This is ironic because sometimes industry withholds information and/or misleds the public, which does give them quite an edge.  

But, I'd argue that for some questions industry might be the least informed stakeholder. When EPA was considering new health-based standards for smog and soot, you couldn't find an industry person who was aware of the need for new standards, despite all the good science EPA had accumulated. The only studies they knew about were their own bogus research.  I don't think that's being informed.

Similarly, facilities never seems to be aware of problems they are causing for the neighborhood. Complainers, on the other hand, are well aware of the problems because it's harming the quality of their lives. These are the people you need involved. 

You just can't solve a problem if you don't first recognize it.

People who have complained in the past often have useful observations.  They are also the folks who need most to understand what is happening and what their options are as concerned citizens. 

And, failure to involve them will only make things worse. Not only is it unlikely that their concerns will be addressed if they are not involved, but because they will also feel disenfranchised and bitter toward agencies that ignore them.