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

该项目是一个为期三年的基础研究项目，旨在研究在污染生产中产生不平等模式（即不成比例）的社会结构。虽然其他人指出，经济和社会对环境的影响的一个关键特点是产生影响和受到影响的不均衡，但很少有人设法评价造成和支持这种不均衡的社会结构因素。为此，本项目主要关注三个研究问题：1)污染生产中的歧化是如何随时间变化的？2)是什么推动了污染产生的不成比例随时间的变化？什么因素导致了恶劣污染者的持续存在？该项目将通过使用定量和定性比较技术来回答这些问题，该技术分析了美国600多家制浆造纸、印刷电路板制造和PVC管制造行业的设施级排放。该调查提供了一个分析环境危害生产的新框架，挑战了几个常见的假设；也就是说，环境危害与经济增长成正比，企业是相互脱节的决策单位。除了理论和经验的见解，歧化的方法也对污染的管制有直接的影响。不均衡方法不是为整个行业设定绝对标准，而是侧重于识别严重的污染者，并使那些最坏的行为者能够重新配置生产。改善选定的少数严重污染者的环境绩效可以大大减少工业产生的污染负担。技术描述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。该分析将依赖于美国环保署1988年至2012年有毒物质释放清单（TRI）的三个行业分类数据：印刷电路板制造（NAICS 334412）， PVC管制造（NAICS 326122）以及纸浆和造纸（NAICS 3221）。为了回答第一个研究问题（评估歧化的时间维度），TRI数据将用于计算每个案例研究行业中歧化的几个年度度量（基尼系数、低尾不平等比率、相对排名得分和空间技术），使用原始数据和规模调整后的设施级数据。为了回答第二个问题（对工业污染中不相称性的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）等分析技术来评估与行业可见性、资本成本、对GDP的贡献、离岸外包、增长和衰退、监管和利基寻求行为相关的八个假设。这方面的因变量将是按工业和/或在不相称分布范围内个别设施的等级对不相称性的年度测量，在25年的研究期间共产生75次不相称性观察。为了回答第三个研究问题（评估不成比例模式的持久性），将根据每个案例研究行业的多年平均值，调整规模的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、其所在社区特征、与监管机构的互动以及该设施在社区内的历史的数据。数据将通过档案来源和与设施管理人员、地方政府代表和社区组织的现场访谈来收集。访谈将侧重于设施与当地社区之间的关系。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因素。

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.