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

非技术性说明本项目是一项为期三年的基础研究计划，旨在研究在污染生产中引起不平等模式（即不平等）的社会结构。 尽管其他人指出，经济和社会对环境影响的一个关键特征是影响的产生和暴露的不平衡，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，本项目集中在三个研究问题：1）如何在污染的生产过程中，随着时间的推移而变化的非理性？2)是什么推动了污染产生过程中的非线性变化？3)哪些因素导致了令人震惊的污染者的持续存在？该项目将通过使用定量和定性比较技术来回答这些问题，这些技术分析了美国纸浆和造纸厂，印刷电路板制造业和PVC管道制造业的600多家企业的设施级排放。 这项调查提供了一个新的框架，在其中分析环境危害的生产，挑战几个常见的假设，即环境危害是成比例的经济增长和企业是断开的决策单位的概念。除了理论和经验的见解，一个不确定性的方法也有直接的影响，对污染的监管。 与其为整个行业制定绝对标准，反污染方法的重点是确定令人震惊的污染者，并使最糟糕的行为者能够重新配置生产。 改善环境绩效的选择少数令人震惊的污染者可以显着减少污染负担所产生的industries.Technical DescriptionThe的重点是该项目的设施污染生产指标和社会结构的变化驱动力随着时间的推移。 分析将依赖于美国环保署1988年至2012年的有毒物质释放清单（TRI）数据，用于三个行业分类：印刷电路板制造（NAICS 334412），PVC管道制造（NAICS 326122）以及纸浆和造纸（NAICS 3221）。 为了回答第一个研究问题（评估不稳定性的时间维度），TRI数据将用于计算每个案例研究行业内的几个年度不稳定性措施（基尼系数，下尾不平等比率，相对排名得分和空间技术），使用原始和大小调整的设施级数据。 为了回答第二个问题（评估工业污染中的不确定性的时间变化的驱动因素），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，这些假设与工业可见度、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有关。 其中的因变量将是按行业和/或非连续性分布中单个设施的等级划分的非连续性年度测量值，在25年的研究期内共获得75个非连续性观察值。为了回答第三个研究问题（评估不成比例的模式的持续性），将根据多年平均值，规模调整的TRI数据，从每个案例研究行业中选择两个污染最严重的设施。 然后，研究小组将制定这六个设施的概况，收集有关运营特点、财务业绩、所在社区特点、与监管机构的互动以及设施在社区内的历史的数据。 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收集数据。 采访将集中在设施和当地社区之间的关系。 这些设施配置文件的目标是分析社会结构的因素，使持续的严重污染。

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.