Delaware State University (DSU) hosted a virtual town hall meeting on Nov. 17 as part of its assessment of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s (DNREC) community-engagement efforts. That meeting focused on residents’ views and recommendations for improving the agency’s relationship with the community and those of environmental justice advocates.
DSU received funding from DNREC to conduct research designed to gather data from individuals who reside in or have concerns about overburdened communities, locations at risk for experiencing negative health outcomes from water and air pollution. DNREC’s support for the project is consistent with the agency’s interest in research data focusing on community engagement that conforms to the recent environmental justice agenda sanctioned by Presidential Executive Order 14008, commonly known as the “Justice40 Initiative.”
DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin’s opening remarks echoed his previous statements regarding the his agency’s performance around community engagement. He has said, “DNREC has a long tradition of transparency and public engagement to ensure the wise management, conservation and enhancement of the state’s natural resources.”
Town hall participants’ evaluations of the agency’s community-engagement approach disputed that, validating the secretary’s acknowledgement that DNREC can do better.
Attendees pointed to complaints about DNREC within the context of community engagement. Some include lack of response to community residents’ questions regarding applications, permitting and regulatory decisions; a pattern of top-down decision-making, exemplified by the absence of community feedback in DNREC final decisions; and that outreach DNREC is really just actions mandated by the agency’s regulations. Other commenters do not see DNREC functioning as an advocate for communities facing water and air pollution. Instead, they said it routinely and insensitively passes residents on to other agencies, thereby showing a lack of concern and collaboration with other agencies similarly mandated to ensure the health and safety of residents and the natural environments in which they live.
Participants provided concrete examples supporting criticisms and recommendations. Regarding the agency’s pattern of ignoring residents’ questions and inquiries, one town hall participant spoke of an email she sent to DNREC 20 months ago, and she had not received any kind of response from the agency. Another spoke of DNREC establishing a regulatory advisory board that was to include community residents. Despite a number of individuals with backgrounds in relevant areas who expressed desire to participate, only one person was selected. When he died suddenly, the selected replacement did not have relevant technical background. Additionally, DNREC’s final report did not reflect the technical aspects of the zoning issue the advisory board was charged to address.
Meeting participants provided concrete recommendations to improve DNREC’s community-engagement strategies, including: 1.) Establish boots-on-the-ground staff represented by a community engagement coordinator for each county who would be responsible for regular meetings with residents of overburdened communities and who would be accountable to the community and the secretary of DNREC. 2.) Convene proactive meetings with communities that inform residents about emerging issues, problems or actions (zoning, industrial developments). 3.) Have separate public comment hearings instead of one consolidated hearing on multiple permit applications, thereby giving the public ample time to hear the specifics regarding a complex permit application and to make comments. 4.) Ensure DNREC’s presence at key public meetings where issues pertaining to environmental justice are presented and discussed. 5.) Respond to all inquiries from residents in a timely manner. 6.) Schedule routinely frequent meetings in communities heavily populated by Latinx, Haitian, poor and other underrepresented populations. These meetings also should have interpreters and materials written in the language residents understand.
Some community residents acknowledged that DNREC frequently expresses a willingness to meet with community residents and leaders, but what resonated throughout attendees’ comments is their long-standing criticisms of DNREC’s outreach approach along with recommendations for improving DNREC’s community-engagement strategy. For example, commenters did not consider the community public hearing notices about regulatory and permitting matters to be community engagement but simply regulatory compliance. Those comments highlighted a disconnect between DNREC’s approach to community outreach and the community’s definitions of relationship and community engagement.
Community residents and leaders have time and again provided DNREC with a conception of relationship and community engagement that requires agency administrators to: (1.) view residents as partners with a unique level of expertise for ensuring everyone’s health, (2.) accept the ability and capacity of residents living with water and air pollution to inform and effectively participate in decision-making processes that preserve the natural environment in which they live; and (3.) listen to and integrate a definition of relationship where residents and DNREC administrators and staff are equal partners in identifying problems, etching out procedures for ensuring productive relations between DNREC and the community, and formulating solutions and recommendations that reflect input from community, DNREC administration and staff, and science.
Finally, commenters urged that the final report detailing the research project’s findings and recommendations be made easily available to community residents for review. Dissemination of the report should be followed by meetings between DNREC and communities to plan steps and procedures for following through on recommendations to improve the agency’s community-engagement strategy in ways that exemplify a genuine relationship between DNREC and communities and that yield benefits communities identify as essential to their well-being — physical and environmental.
Charlotte King is founder and chair of the Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice. Dr. Marlene A. Saunders is its co-vice chair.
