Egregious Polluters: A socially-structured explanation of disproportionality in the production of pollution

严重污染者：对污染产生不成比例的社会结构解释

• 批准号: 1534976
• 负责人: Simone Pulver
• 金额: $ 34.93万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1534976&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Egregious; Polluters; socially; structured; explanation

Non-Technical DescriptionThis project is a three-year program of basic research designed to examine the social structures that give rise to patterns of inequality (i.e. disproportionalities) in the production of pollution. Although others have noted that a key feature of economic and social impacts on the environment is unevenness in the creation of and exposure to impacts, few have sought to evaluate the socially-structured factors that create and support such disproportionality. Towards this end, this prjoect focuses on three research questions: 1) How has disproportionality in the production of pollution changed over time? 2) What drives changes over time in disproportionality in the production of pollution? 3) What factors account for the persistence of egregious polluters? This project will answer these questions by using both quantitative and qualitative comparative techniques that analyze facility-level emissions for over 600 establishments in the pulp and paper milling, printed circuit board manufacturing, and PVC pipe manufacturing industries in the U.S. This inquiry offers a new framework within which to analyze the production of environmental harm, challenging several common assumptions; namely the notion that environmental harm is proportional to economic growth and that firms are disconnected decision-making units. In addition to theoretical and empirical insights, a disproportionality approach also has direct implications for the regulation of pollution. Rather than setting absolute standards for an entire industry, a disproportionality approach focuses on identifying egregious polluters and enabling the reconfiguration of production among those who are the worst actors. Improving the environmental performance of a select few egregious polluters can significantly reduce the pollution burden generated by an industry.Technical DescriptionThe focus of this project is on facility pollution production metrics and socially-structured drivers of change over time. The analyses will rely on US EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data from 1988 to 2012 for three industry classifications: printed circuit board manufacturing (NAICS 334412), PVC pipe manufacturing (NAICS 326122), and pulp and paper milling (NAICS 3221). To answer the first research question (assessing the temporal dimensions of disproportionality), TRI data will be used to calculate several annual measures of disproportionality (Gini coefficients, lower-tail inequality ratios, relative ranking scoring, and spatial techniques) within each case study industry, using both raw and size adjusted facility-level data. To answer the second question (an assessment of the drivers of temporal changes in disproportionality in industrial pollution), analytical techniques such as regression and/or Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) will be used to to evaluate eight hypotheses, related to industry visibility, capital costs, contribution to GDP, offshoring, growth and decline, regulation, and niche-seeking behavior. The dependent variable in this will be annual measures of disproportionality by industry and/or ranks of individual facilities within the disproportionality distribution, yielding a total of seventy-five observations of disproportionality over the twenty-five year study period. To answer the third research question (assessing the persistence of disproportionate patterns), two most polluting facilities will be selected, based on multi-year average, size-adjusted TRI data, from each case study industry. The research team will then develop profiles of these six facilities, collecting data on operational characteristics, financial performance, characteristics of the communities in which they are located, interactions with regulators and the history of the facility within the community. Data will be gathered both through archival sources and through on-site interviews with facility managers, representatives of local government, and community organizations. Interviews will focus on the relationship between the facility and the local community. The goal of these facility profiles is to analyze the socially-structured factors that allow for the persistence of egregious pollution.

非技术描述这个项目是一个为期三年的基础研究计划，旨在研究造成污染生产中不平等(即不成比例)模式的社会结构。虽然其他人指出，对环境的经济和社会影响的一个关键特征是造成影响和暴露于影响的不平衡，但很少有人试图评估造成和支持这种不成比例的社会结构因素。为此，本课题侧重于三个研究问题：1)污染产生的不均衡性是如何随着时间的推移而变化的？2)是什么推动了污染产生的不均衡性随着时间的推移而发生变化？3)什么因素解释了可怕的污染者的持续存在？这个项目将通过使用定量和定性的比较技术来回答这些问题，这些技术分析了美国制浆和造纸、印刷电路板制造和聚氯乙烯管道制造行业中600多家机构的设施水平排放。这项调查提供了一个新的框架，在其中分析环境危害的产生，挑战了几个常见的假设，即环境危害与经济增长成正比，企业是相互脱节的决策单元。除了理论和经验上的见解，不成比例的方法对污染管制也有直接影响。不成比例的方法不是为整个行业设定绝对标准，而是专注于识别严重的污染者，并使那些最糟糕的参与者能够重新配置生产。改善少数严重污染者的环境绩效可以显著减少一个行业产生的污染负担。技术说明本项目的重点是设施污染生产指标和随时间变化的社会结构驱动因素。分析将基于美国环保局1988年至2012年的有毒物质释放库存(TRI)数据，分为三个行业类别：印刷电路板制造业(NAICS 334412)、聚氯乙烯管材制造业(NAICS 326122)以及纸浆和造纸(NAICS3221)。为了回答第一个研究问题(评估不相称性的时间维度)，将使用TRI数据来计算每个案例研究行业内不相称性的几个年度衡量标准(基尼系数、下尾不平等比率、相对排名得分和空间技术)，使用原始数据和调整后的设施水平数据。为了回答第二个问题(对工业污染不相称性时间变化的驱动因素的评估)，将使用回归和/或定性比较分析(QCA)等分析技术来评估八个假设，这些假设与行业可见度、资本成本、对GDP的贡献、离岸、增长和下降、监管和利基寻找行为有关。这方面的因变量将是在不相称性分布范围内按行业和/或个别设施等级划分的不相称性年度衡量标准，从而在25年的研究期内总共观察到75个不相称性问题。为了回答第三个研究问题(评估不成比例模式的持续性)，将根据每个案例研究行业的多年平均、规模调整后的TRI数据，选择两个污染最严重的设施。然后，研究小组将编制这六个设施的概况，收集有关运营特征、财务业绩、它们所在社区的特征、与监管机构的互动以及社区内设施的历史的数据。数据将通过档案来源和对设施管理人员、当地政府代表和社区组织的现场访谈来收集。采访将集中在该设施与当地社区之间的关系上。这些设施概况的目标是分析导致严重污染持续存在的社会结构性因素。