Official Frames and Corporate Environmental Pollution

Abstract

This paper examines a contentious environmental dispute surrounding a decommissioned zinc smelter facility in Blackwell, Oklahoma. The environmental conflict stems from potential health effects associated with lead, cadmium, and arsenic contamination. The company that owns the former zinc smelter facility argues that they are in compliance with all environmental health and safety standards and city residents praise their ongoing remediation efforts. Based on in-depth interviews, observation, and thematic content analysis, we examine the company's establishment of an official frame to characterize their role in the environmental case. This frame is based on corporate citizenship, the diffusion of responsibility, and the multiplicity of contamination sources. We examine the salience of this frame within the broader community and address challenges to the official frame by local community activists. The results of the study indicate that local community residents are at a tremendous disadvantage when challenging large corporate polluters.