Community Mobilization for Environmental Problems: How a Grassro ...

While the remediation plans were being debated, the DOH undertook a health study that began in June 2000. Department members classified it as an exposure study, in which they asked residents about lifestyle and health problems. They concluded that even though health problems existed in the community, they were not statistically significantly different from those present in other Western New York communities. The results were released in May 2001 at a public meeting held by the DOH. Residents did not feel appropriately informed of the results, having received the report only four hours before the meeting. Health officials offered the meeting as an opportunity for the public to comment on and ask questions about the study, but because of the short notice, residents boycotted the meeting. Instead of attending armed with questions, residents organized a protest rally and a march to the meeting site; once there, residents refused to cooperate with health officials. During the remainder of the evening, protesting residents shouted at health department officials, and state officials retreated after about two hours.

Residents involved in the HWCHA did not feel that the DOH study adequately represented the problems in Hickory Woods. The homeowners’ association asked the ESI to perform a peer review of the DOH study. Members created a committee to review the results. In a report released in September 2001, the committee concluded that serious problems existed in the methodology and analysis of the DOH study. Furthermore, the report stated that the conclusions drawn in the DOH study were not valid, based on the information that had been collected for that study:

Through the Health Consultation, the term “average” is frequently used to refer to soil concentrations and exposure to contaminants. Relevant aspects of the report should be reworked to clarify the meaning of this term in a particular context, and discuss the magnitude and significance of any difference between “average” and “maximum” exposure scenarios. Effort should be