Stakeholder Engagement and Survey Tools for Oil Spill Response Options

Abstract

ABSTRACT Oil spill stakeholders, including decision makers and other groups, have expressed concerns about and questioned the use of dispersants and other non-mechanical response options for years. Concerns in past decades were primarily ecological, but during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill some individuals and communities in the Gulf of Mexico states also articulated perceptions of public health risks associated with the use of dispersants. Effective risk communication is essential to manage the potential risks associated with oil spills. Stakeholders concerned about risks want or need information in the form of communications products, such as guides or briefs. Because people process new information within the context of their existing beliefs, such communication products are likely to be more effective and useful for their intended audiences if they are designed to: (1) take into account the communication recipients' existing beliefs; and (2) directly address the decisions/judgments faced by recipients by providing them with the information they want and need to make those decisions. Stakeholder engagement is essential to learn about risk perceptions, to learn about what information stakeholders want and need to make decisions effectively, and to develop communication products to that end. This paper builds upon a mental models approach to dispersant risk communications research from the 1990s. It describes and presents results from an industry-government collaborative project to develop risk-based tools designed to communicate the subject of dispersants to local level stakeholders among others. This project includes an expanded science-informed dispersant decision model, two stakeholder open houses, and two surveys (interactive and online) to gather data-driven insights about local stakeholder knowledge and understanding of dispersants, as well as their perceptions of the risks and benefits associated with dispersant use during a spill in relation to other response options. The surveys were distributed at two open houses for local stakeholders on the Eastern Shore of Virginia (Wallops Is.) and the Pacific Northwest (Port Townsend, WA). Both open houses were co-sponsored with USCG-led Area Committees. The Virginia workshop was also co-sponsored by The Nature Conservancy and the Virginia Shore Keeper. It is expected that the surveys may be incorporated into future meetings and open houses involving stakeholders at any level, e.g., local, state, regional or national. The data from the surveys can guide the improvement of future communication efforts about dispersants, as well as provide support for enhanced stakeholder engagement during preparedness and response.