Environmental Accountability and Public Involvement

Abstract

The article asserts that one of the critical elements of assuring environmental accountability is public participation in environmental decision-making. It notes that effective public participation can bring more facts to the table, ensure more thoughtful decision-making and, through well-designed permits, increase the amount of data available to monitor compliance and reduce demands on enforcement. Unfortunately, the article asserts, the principal public participation methods used today by federal, state and local governments often do not allow the kind of engaged participation necessary to produce the results mentioned above.

The author recommends several steps that governments can take to assure more authentic public participation and thereby enhance environmental accountability including: * Reforming public hearing procedures, * Providing earlier public notice about proposed permits, * Preparing public participation plans for larger projects, * Ensuring better training to agency staff that interact with the public, * Expanded use of collaborative decisionmaking, and * Making more information available to the public.

Keywords: public participation, accountability, environmental justice, collaborative decisionmaking, environment

JEL Classification: K3