The U.S. Department of Defense is responsible for more than 21,000 potentially contaminated military sites. The communities near these sites, faced with known and unknown risks from the contamination, frequently distrust the military’s commitment to rapid and complete cleanup. Members of the military frequently distrust the community’s willingness to ever accept that a cleanup is complete. However, military leaders and community members do agree on the goal of protecting the public’s health, both by conducting effective cleanups and by developing long-term monitoring systems. In seeking to conduct cleanup programs that will be acceptable to local communities, the military has had to – and continues to need to – change its culture. Effective relationships include active use of public participation in decision-making, strong outreach programs, and top-to-bottom efforts by the military to recognize the validity of public views. This paper, based on a qualitative review of primary and secondary sources, provides case studies of military-community relationships at several active base cleanup programs, and identifies factors that promote effective collaboration and long-term mitigation of risk. It has relevance for public involvement programs inside and outside the military, in the US and abroad. See www.jhsph.edu/Research/Centers/rsppi/research.html
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to: 1) Describe at least three factors that lead to community distrust of military stewards of hazardous waste sites. 2) Describe at least three factors that lead to military distrust of community members. 3) Describe at least three common turning points in military-community relationships 4) Describe at least three factors that promote effective military-community collaboration and long-term mitigation of risk
Keywords: Environmental Health Hazards, Health Activism
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.