Qualitative and quantitative assessment of land-use managers' attitudes toward environmental justice

On 11 February 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898 "Federa l Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low- income Populations." Under the order, 17 federal agencies and offices are r equired to compile information about the race, national origin, and income of populations in close proximity to federal facilities that may have a sig nificant effect upon ecosystem and human health. The goal is to protect his torically disenfranchised groups from being disproportionately impacted by negative externalities associated with federal actions. This study examines the outcome of efforts to educate federal land-use mana gers about their roles in implementing the Executive Order in their respect ive districts. The managers participated in a 6-h Nominal Group Technique ( NGT) workshop where they were instructed to weight environmental justice is sues versus others associated with hazardous waste problems in their distri cts. Participant responses were quantified and analyzed through a series of rounds. After each round, participants received increasing amounts of info rmation on environmental justice issues. It was hypothesized that the managers would come to a consensus that enviro nmental justice is an important issue that should be seriously addressed. P rior to administering the NGT, the managers appeared to have limited knowle dge of environmental justice issues and thus assigned relatively low rankin gs to such concerns. After being "educated" by viewing films on environment al justice and reading related literature, in general, managers' weightings decreased and a narrower consensus developed. The authors conclude that exposure to the issue may not be as effective as expected in convincing land-use managers to become sensitive to justice iss ues so that they may effectively implement the Executive Order.