Public Participation in Rural Communities: The Challenge for Improving

Environmental Decisions

Heather Arata

PhD Candidate, UC Berkeley

City and Regional Planning

Rural Sociology Society, 2014

Agenda

•  Public Participation

•  Kettleman City

•  Challenges

•  Preliminary Findings

Why rural areas?

Why public participation?

Public Participation

Case Study: Kettleman City

Timeline

1929- Standard Oil 1969- NEPA 1970- CEQA 1977- Waste Management 1984- Cerrell Report 1988- Incinerator Planned 1991- Incinerator Lawsuit 2008- Expansion Applied 2008- Greenaction Health Study 2013- Expansion Approved

Challenges

•  Unincorporated •  Language/education/information •  Spatial •  Multiple simultaneous meetings

Other Challenges

•  Limited definitions

•  Enforcement

•  The exclusion of difference from the process

Preliminary Findings

•  Availability

•  Accessibility

•  Accountability

Conclusion

•  Different barriers in different places

•  Structural and individual challenges

•  Challenges are exacerbated in rural areas

Questions?