Communicating Risk:Lessons from an Environmental

Journalist

Dina Cappiello

Houston Chronicle

NUARTC/TCEQ Air Toxics Workshop

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

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

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

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

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

Example 2

TCEQ Mobile Monitoring

State’s own workers, in some heavily polluted areas will not sit in monitoring van

or wear gas masks….

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

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

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?

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

Show ESL chart

www.chron.com/toxic

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

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