HOUGHTON, MI--Researchers at Michigan Technological University are studying the relationship between industrial plants and their neighboring communities. In the first phase of a $66,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Hugh Gorman, Assistant Professor in MTUs Department of Social Sciences, is heading the project to determine ways to strengthen communities understanding of industrial plants and their impacts on the environment.
Chosen for its proximity to MTU and the complexity and importance of its technical processes, the Murphy Oil Refinery in Superior, WI was used as a case study for the project.
"We want to help local communities understand how plants use their shared environment and how that use is regulated," explains Gorman. "Many people are unaware of a plants processes or precautions and don't know where to go for information."
To answer questions that community members might have, he and a team of graduate students created a guide that describes the refinery's use of the environment. The guide contains information about the community itself, including the refinerys role in the local economy. It also contains detailed information about the refinery including, who owns and operates it, what it produces and how, and its generation of emissions, effluent, and wastes. The guide also describes the pollution control regulations that the refinery must meet, how environmental standards are monitored, potential hazards, and emergency planning requirements.
Gorman says 120 surveys were sent to random households in the city of Superior to gauge perceptions and interest in the effectiveness of environmental regulations. Respondents to the survey who express interest will receive a copy of the guide.
"We are also having representatives from pollution control agencies and the refinery review it, to see if both would feel comfortable pointing people to the guide for answers to their questions," Gorman says. "After it is reviewed, the guide will be given to the public library and placed online, as a model for similar guides for other industrial plants, to be accessed by anyone with concerns."
For more information, contact Dr. Hugh Gorman by email at hsgorman@mtu.edu or at 906/487-2117.
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3/31/00--MTN269