Environmental Complaints Research Articles

Minimizing noise from metro viaduct railway lines by means of elastic mats and fully closed noise barriers

An adverse effect of urban elevated rail transit systems is the associated noise, which has become a source of environmental complaints. In order to effectively address this problem, an in situ experiment has been conducted on the elevated sections of Hangzhou Metro Line 1 involving three cases: a 2.2 m vertical noise barrier with integrated bed track, a 2.2 m vertical noise barrier with an elastic mat floating slab track, and a 5.1 m fully enclosed noise barrier with an elastic mat floating slab track. The noise reduction effects of the elastic mats and the two kinds of noise barriers for metro viaduct railway lines were evaluated, and the mechanisms of these countermeasures were analysed. The results show that elastic mats can effectively reduce the transmission of wheel–rail vibration energy into the bridge, thus decreasing bridge-borne noise; meanwhile, the elastic mats could lead to an increase in wheel–rail noise. An excellent noise reduction effect was achieved in the area below and near the bottom of the bridge, while an increased noise effect was observed close to the area above and near the rail surface. The fully enclosed noise barrier controlled the propagation of wheel–rail noise more effectively than the vertical noise barriers, but no difference was found between these two kinds of noise barriers in controlling bridge-borne noise.

El diseño del modelo institucional de la Procuraduría General de la República en la eficiencia de la denuncia ambiental

La Procuraduría General de la República es una institución de orden público que ha sufrido cambios estructurales que fundamentan y explican el comportamiento de la denuncia ambiental. El presente artículo tiene como finalidad el análisis de dichos patrones de comportamiento, de manera cronológica y con vista en su andamiaje institucional hasta su especialización, esto, a través de estadísticas, gráficas y líneas de tiempo, mostrando don datos duros los cambios sufridos por la denuncia ambiental dentro de las entidades federativas del país.

Determinants and implications of citizens’ environmental complaint in China: Integrating theory of planned behavior and norm activation model

Citizens' environmental complaint is beneficial for environmental regulators in China to control various pollution emissions. What drives citizens to file environmental complaint has rarely been reported. This paper presents a study using an integrated theoretical framework of the theory of planned behavior and the norm activation model to explore the determinants of citizens' environmental complaint intention. A national data set involving 1958 respondents from forty-three cities at the prefecture and provincial levels in China was developed and analyzed for model testing. Results of the structural analysis reveal that the proposed model explains 63% of the variance in intention to file environmental complaints. Personal norm is the strongest direct determinant of intention, followed by perceived behavioral control and attitude. Awareness of consequences indirectly and significantly affects complaint intention. Furthermore, the study also confirms the significant indirect effect of subjective norm on behavioral intention by way of attitude, perceived behavioral control and personal norm. The study demonstrates the applicability, comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the integrative model in predicting citizens’ intention to participate in environmental complaint behaviors. The empirical results also form a basis upon which policy interventions could be developed to promote environmental complaint intention.

도시철도 차량 주행시 곡선스킬소음 실험 및 고찰

도심을 지나는 철도 궤도는 급격한 곡선 구간이 존재하며, 철도차량이 곡선부를 주행하며 발생시키는 높은 주파수의 스킬소음은 곡선부 인근에 소음 민원을 야기하고, 해당 구간 궤도의 마모를 과도하게 발생시킨다. 본 논문에서는 대표적 비선형, 과도 특성인 스킬소음의 현상을 정확하게 파악하기 위해서 실차를 대상으로 곡선부 스킬 소음실험을 수행하였다. 특정 대차내 4 차륜을 대상으로 스킬소음의 음압의 크기, 주파수 특성, 주행 속도 변화에 따른 영향, 차륜의 진동응답특성과 스킬소음의 연관관계를 파악하였다. 동시에 차륜과 레일의 접촉 위치의 변화를 촬영한 영상을 분석하여 스킬소음 발생시 차륜의 레일에 대한 상대적 움직임에 대한 현상을 살펴보았다. 철도 차량 곡선 주행시 스킬소음은 내측 전륜에서 가장 크게 발생하며, 이는 차륜의 횡방향 진동 응답 특성과 관련이 있다고 생각된다. 이 발생 스킬소음의 크기는 차량 속도 증가와는 직접적인 관련이 없음을 알 수 있었다. High frequency squeal noise can be generated when a railroad vehicle runs a sharp curved section; this noise causes environmental complaints and excessive wear on the wheel and the railroad track. In this paper, curved squeal noise experiments on a commercial railway were carried out to investigate this phenomenon. The relationship of the squeal noise pressure level, the frequency characteristics, the railway running speed, and the modal behavior of the wheel were investigated. At the same time, the lateral motion of the wheel relative to the rail was captured using a video camera; wheel movement was calculated when the noise was generated. queal noise occurred at the highest level at the inner front wheel; this phenomena is considered to be related to the lateral vibration response characteristics of the wheel. It can be seen that the magnitude of this squeal noise is not directly related to the increase in vehicle speed.

Effectiveness of mediation in the resolution of environmental complaints against the activities of gold mining industries in the Witwatersrand region

In the Witwatersrand gold mining area, there have been recurring public complaints about dust dispersed from gold tailings storage facilities (TSFs) that traverse the landscape. Although weather aggravates the frequency and intensity of dust emission from TSFs in the study area, the rapid conversion of buffer areas around the dumps to residential land–use is exposing more people to dust hazards. This study assessed the effectiveness of Crown Mines Dust Monitoring forum in Johannesburg as an alternative environmental dispute resolution mechanism. Records of complaints from 1995 to 2010 that were made available through the forum were collated and analysed with the aid of descriptive statistics. Within the study period, complaints about mine pollution were more frequent between August and October, i.e. the dry months. More than 70% of the complaints were made by companies whose properties, operations and employees were affected by dust emission from the TSFs. While 52% of the complainants reported pollution problems for the first time within the study period, other cases were follow-up to previous complaints. Mining companies responded to 31% of the public’s grievances about dust pollution from their facilities within one week and another 12% in two weeks; response to the remaining complaints took much longer time. As part of mines’ response to public complaints, site visits were organised to indicted facilities, and pollution control measures and mitigation plan adopted at sites were also explained. Moreover, additional control measures were installed in critical circumstances to ameliorate dust pollution. Only a few of the complaints reported to the forum escalated to litigation or issuance of penalty by government agency. Although, the forum provided an avenue for resolution of environmental conflicts in a pragmatic and mutually beneficial manner, the right of the public to a clean environment is still not being realised fully.

Youth environmental complaints in Bahawalpur City, Pakistan: an informational intervention for local environmental governance

The paper comprises the concept of environmental governance, and the role played by institutions and citizens particularly youth dealing with environmental problems complaints. It represents an initial attempt to construct a fresh approach to the field of environmental governance by considering youth complaints as an important source of information for the management authorities. Local organizations and institutions are considered in order to collect information about the number and types of complaints regarding environmental problems. Moreover, the resolved and unresolved complaints data is also collected through Tehsil Municipal Administration complaints cell and particular actions are analysed. The complaints submitted by citizens are categorized on the basis of age structure. Results clearly show the interest of youth regarding environmental problems as well as the local authorities response of these complaints are recorded in the through textual interviews results. The submitted complaints made it very easy for the authorities to analyse the environmental problems at union council level and resolved complaints shows the attention of local authorities towards these problems. Youth as being educated and most active part of the community can play its vital role in this process. Youth, by its participation can make this complaint process an important avenue for community participation in environmental governance and policies. The paper tries to build a new idea about youth involvement by analysing their interests in the city related environmental problems. It gives an approach of developing collaboration between youth community and municipality for better planning concerning the problems of the city.

Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure and Respiratory Complaints in Children Aged 0-13 Years: A Cross-sectional Study in South-Limburg, The Netherlands

Background: Two forms of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure have been described: second-hand smoke (SHS), which is the direct exposure to tobacco smoke; and third-hand smoke (THS), which is the exposure to residuals from tobacco smoke after the cigarette has been extinguished. The effects of SHS exposure on children’s respiratory health are known, but not of THS exposure. We evaluated the association between both exposures and respiratory complaints in children aged 0-13 years, and assessed whether the risk of respiratory complaints due to these exposures was higher in children with genetic predisposition for asthma compared to those without. Methods: A cross-sectional survey (91 items) was performed in 10,000 families with a child aged 0-13 years living in South-Limburg, the Netherlands, assessing child and family characteristics, child’s respiratory health, and parental smoking behaviour. Data were analyzed with (adjusted) multiple logistic regressions. Results: 1899 families responded. SHS exposure was not associated with an increased risk of respiratory complaints in children. THS exposure was associated with respiratory tract infections in the past 12 months (ORadjusted: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.04-4.36; p=0.04) and recent wheezing (ORadjusted: 2.61; 95%CI: 1.19-5.71; p=0.02) in children. There was no interaction between genetic predisposition for asthma and ETS exposure. Conclusions: Unlike previous studies, our study could not reveal a significant association between SHS exposure and an increased risk of respiratory complaints in children, most likely due to study limitations concerning cross-sectional design, response rate, selection bias and parental underreporting of SHS exposure to their children. THS exposure was significantly associated with an increased risk of respiratory complaints in children. This adds to the limited knowledge about the health effects of THS exposure in children and suggests that more research on this topic is needed. A genetic predisposition for asthma combined with ETS exposure did not increase the risk of respiratory complaints in children.

Noise Propagation Calculation Service in Urban Traffic Strategic Noise Mapping

Excessive traffic noise is a major environmental complaint in residential areas. This paper investigates a SOA based hierarchical services structure for urban traffic strategic noise mapping. Service Oriented Computing Environment (SORCER) is employed to build a highly flexible distributed platform. As the key service in our structure, Noise Propagation Calculation Service and its technical detail will be introduced. The service implements functions of sound objects generation, attenuation terms calculation and line source segmentation. The Noise Propagation Calculation Service aims to generate good-quality calculation solutions in a reasonable time. At last, this paper introduces a real traffic noise mapping project to demonstrate the service and the architecture.

Citizen Complaints about Environmental Pollution: A Survey Study in Suzhou, China

This paper discusses environmental complaints made by citizens living close to industrial polluters in China. Data collected from a questionnaire survey in Suzhou City is used for the analysis. The results confirm a marginal level of citizen environmental complaints in the study area at present. Meaningful findings include the fact that citizens have a tendency to complain collectively, and that perception of the level of environmental information provided by companies significantly determines a citizen's likelihood of lodging environmental complaints. Therefore, the disclosure of corporate environmental information must be emphasized continuously; citizens must be encouraged to correctly understand the environmental performance of companies so that they might make appropriate complaints. Governments need to show their support for citizen-led environmental complaint initiatives. The successful cases would convince them to keep a closer eye on their neighbouring polluters.

Public Participation in Environmental Enforcement . . . with Chinese Characteristics?: A Comparative Assessment of China’s Environmental Complaint Mechanism

In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that China’s rapid economic development has come at a significant environmental cost. Pollution problems are now a source of serious public concern, at times even social unrest. The government has responded with an ambitious reform program that has produced a multitude of major environmental laws and significantly increased resources spent on addressing environmental problems. While environmental activism has risen with the growth in public awareness about environmental issues, the government continues to view such activity, like other organized civil society activity, with suspicion. Within this context, the increasing visibility of China’s environmental complaint mechanism is an intriguing development in the government’s efforts to enhance environmental governance. China’s environmental complaint mechanism allows citizens to report violations by pollution sources and petition the government for appropriate action. It can be likened to an accountability mechanism for polluters and government officials, with some interesting similarities to U.S. environmental citizen suits. Outside of China, this mechanism is not well known, though it has increasingly become the subject of research. In 2008, the top enforcement officer of the Chongqing Environmental Protection Bureau was honored by the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network for work in implementingthe complaint mechanism. This article introduces China’s environmental complaint mechanism and seeks to provide an assessment of its effectiveness. Drawing on Chinese and English language research, including newly available statistical data on complaint numbers and the authors’ own practical experiences, the study shows that the mechanism has been heavily used by the general public to voice its concerns and frustrations with environmental problems and has largely been successful in promoting environmental awareness and engaging the public. At the same time, its effectiveness in protecting public health and the environment, strengthening environmental enforcement and compliance, and promoting the rule of law and good governance is much more questionable. More generally, the study also suggests that the role of public participation is greatly dependent on the broader governance framework within which it is embedded and that channeling environmental activism into key governance areas can significantly influence its effectiveness.

Environmental discomfort and musculoskeletal disorders

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common occupational disease in Europe, with high prevalence among hospital workers. Both environmental and psychosocial work factors may impact significantly on the development and exacerbation of MSDs. To evaluate whether environmental factors at work are associated with MSDs in hospital workers and to investigate potential interactions between environmental and psychosocial risk factors in the workplace that are associated with MSDs. A cross-sectional investigation was performed using the Nordic questionnaire to assess MSDs, the IAQ/MM-040 indoor air questionnaire for environmental factors, the demand-control model for job strain and the Goldberg questionnaire for anxiety and depression. The association between environmental factors and MSDs was studied using logistic regression analysis. In addition, the interactions of environmental factors with strain, anxiety and depression for MSDs were examined. Environmental complaints were associated with MSDs. The strongest associations were found between temperature complaints (OR 2.73), noise and light complaints (OR 2.22), other environmental complaints (OR 3.12) and upper limb disorders. A significant interaction between temperature complaints and strain for upper limb disorders (F = 9.52, P < 0.05) was found. To prevent MSDs, a multi-level approach is needed, including environmental measures and interventions directed to both psychosocial and organizational factors.

Citizen complaints as a new source of information for local environmental governance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the relevance of citizen complaints as a new source of information for local environmental governance. It represents an initial attempt to construct a fresh approach to the field.Design/methodology/approach – The paper comprises a brief literature review around the concept of environmental governance, the role played by institutions, and the challenges of local environmental governance; an empirical study of a Portuguese municipality based on environmental complaints submitted to its City Council and a comparative analysis between the results garnered from the empirical study and the areas of intervention in the Municipal Environmental Plan.Findings – The results suggest that the information gathered from public complaints on environmental issues has the potential to reveal the most significant environmental problems from the standpoint of local actors. This knowledge is relevant for self‐evaluation by local authorities whilst remaining a promising avenue...

The determinants of citizen complaints on environmental pollution: an empirical study from China

Using China’s environmental statistical data set for the period 2001–2006, this paper presents an extensive empirical analysis of the relationships among citizens’ environmental complaints, pollution intensities, and socio-economic characteristics. We found that exposure to harmful pollutants significantly influence people’s complaint behaviors because higher densities of chemical oxygen demand and SO 2 emissions are correlated with a higher incidence of citizen’s complaints of water pollution and air pollution, respectively. In terms of demographical variables, household income has significantly positive impacts on the likelihood of citizens lodging environmental complaints regarding air, water, and solid waste pollution. Citizens in municipality and coastal regions tend to complain more than those in interior regions. Our results support the view that environmental complaints can provide valuable information for regulators to efficiently allocate inspection resources; however, the information may be noisy since complaints are more likely to arise from wealthier and more-educated regions. In order to mitigate this problem, we argue that it may be helpful to strengthen basic education in poorer regions and to encourage environmental information disclosure for attracting more people’s attention to pollution problems. In addition, regular inspection capabilities in poor and seriously polluted regions must be enhanced for investigating regulatory violation.

Development of a model to predict peak particle velocity in a blasting operation

Ground vibrations arising from rock blasting is one of the fundamental problems in the mining industry, and predicting it plays an important role in the minimization of environmental complaints. To evaluate and calculate the blast-induced ground vibration by incorporating blast design and rock strength, artificial neural networks (ANN) and dimensional analysis techniques were used. First a three-layer, feed-forward back-propagation neural network having nine input parameters, twenty-five hidden neurons and one output parameter was trained using 116 experimental and monitored blast records from one of the most important copper mines in Iran. Seventeen new blast datasets were used for the validation of the peak particle velocity (PPV) by ANN. In the second step, a new formula was developed applying dimensional analysis on results obtained from the sensitivity analysis of the ANN consequences. Results from the calculated formula were compared based on correlation coefficient and root mean square error (RMSE) between monitored and predicted values of PPV. In addition to providing the best prediction of vibration, the new formula has the greatest correlation coefficient and the lowest RMSE, 74.5% and 3.49, respectively.

Citizen complaints and environmental regulation of Michigan livestock operations

Citizen environmental complaints filed against agricultural producers in Michigan were examined to determine farm and community factors influencing citizen complaints and the subsequent response of the farmer. Secondary citizen environmental complaint data were obtained from the Michigan Department of Agriculture from 1998 to 2007 with 1,289 observations. Citizen complaints were grouped into 5 categories: odor, surface water, ground water, combination, and other complaints. Complaints were further classified as nonverified or verified where verified meant that the inspected farm was not complying with relevant generally accepted agricultural and management practices. These data were used to examine how farm characteristics affected the likelihood of a verified complaint. Odor and surface water complaints accounted for 75% of all complaints. A probit regression analysis was used to estimate the probability of a verified complaint as a function of complaint type, farm characteristics, county characteristics, and seasonal factors. Results from the probit regression analysis revealed that larger operations, poultry, and hog farms received more nonverified complaints than other livestock farms. Surface water issues were 17% more likely to be verified complaints compared with odor issues, of which the surface water complaints often originated from sources other than neighbors. In contrast, odor issues were more likely to result from accepted management practices requiring no mitigation. Farms that received a verified citizen complaint were required to mitigate the complaint by implementing corrective practices. A log-level (log Y) regression was used to evaluate how farm characteristics influenced the cost to implement corrective practices on those farms receiving a verified citizen complaint. Costs to implement corrective practices to mitigate verified complaints were greatest for dairy operations and surface water complaints. Corrective practices required to mitigate a surface water complaint were predicted to cost 46% more than an odor complaint with an estimated average cost of $7,442. The most expensive practices were associated with manure incorporation, stream bank fencing, and controlling runoff.

Evaluation of blast induced ground vibrations from underground excavation at Karoun 3 area

Ground vibrations are unavoidable in each rock blasting projects. The prediction of ground vibration components has a great importance in the minimisation of the environmental complaints. Estimating the particle velocity and other components of ground vibration with reliable approaches will be very useful in blast design. Peak particle velocity is the most important criterion for analysing dangers resulting from ground vibration. Up to now, researchers have proposed many different formulae to calculate this parameter, but none of them are applicable for all areas and based upon regional conditions such as geological, technical, geotechnical, rock mechanical and so on. Karoun 3 Project is located in southwest of Iran. The aim of this study is to predict peak particle velocity in this project. For this purpose, vibrations from the Karoun 3 excavations were measured and the recorded data were statistically analysed and two empirical relationships with good correlation were established.

Statutory zoning and the environment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a hypothesis for evaluating the potential contribution of planning conditions to protect the environment by reducing environmental complaints (ECs) in an institutional context of growing communicative planning and interpret the results of an empirical study using two received hypotheses in terms of sustainable development in the light of the actual participation of the public in influencing the formulation of planning conditions.Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesis is tested using Environmental Protection Department EC and Planning Department zoning data. In addition, field observation of the conduct the Town Planning Board in their open sessions is made over a period of 27 months.FindingsThe hypothesis about the frequency of planning permissions and the incidence of ECs using the “received” model of Lai is refuted. The results for testing Lai's model on the relationship between Comprehensive Development Area zoning and ECs are indecisive. Though a negative correlation between zoning and complaints is established, the strength of such correlation is insignificant for each of the specified periods.Research limitations/implicationsThe promise of communicative theorists about empowering the public in planning has yet to be fulfilled in terms of contribution to the shaping of planning conditions. Official suppression of addresses of locations of the occurrence of ECs does not allow the ideal hypothesis to be tested.Practical implicationsSubject to further and better qualitative research, the limitations of the new public participation law in planning for shaping planning conditions are revealed by an examination of observed facts about the time spent by the Town Planning Board in decision making and the nature of the planning conditions imposed in response to public comments.Originality/valueThe paper demonstrates an approach to evaluate the direct means of measuring the relationship between externalities and zoning with a view to interpret the contribution of planning conditions to sustainable development.

Environmental complaints in Aveiro, Portugal: actors, concerns, territorial pattern, and resolutions

This paper presents an environmental diagnosis based on public complaints on environmental issues submitted to the Environmental Department of the Aveiro City Council, Portugal, between 2000 and 2005. It discusses the potential influences of these in local environmental planning and governance. The paper has been organised into five sections. The first of these introduces the study. The second section focuses on the conceptual approaches relating to environmental grassroots movements, the main actors involved in these movements and the role played by local government. It also contains a brief review of the most recent urban environmental quality challenges in the European context together with a description of the main features of the associated political and legal framework in Portugal. The third section describes the case study and the methodology used. The results of the empirical study are detailed in the fourth section. The final section critically analyses these results with emphases on the temporal evolution of the submission of complaints, the actors involved, the local environmental problems and their associated spatial pattern as well as the responses given by the City Council. This information may then be used to provide a useful indicator for the perception of environmental quality as well as a credible instrument for the visualisation and evaluation of local performance in terms of environmental planning and management.

The environmental complaint in EU law

AbstractThe European Commission which has a large discretion to decide which infringements of EC environmental law it will pursue, has recently published communications which announce that it will concentrate on the transposition of EC legislation into the law of the Member States. This omits to structurally address the practical application of environmental legislation. Strong environmental groups which could contribute to the effective application of EC environmental law, lack; this feature makes the environmental sector different from most other economic or social sectors, where strong interests—professional bodies, trade unions, competitors, trade and industry associations, farmers' associations—promote the defense of their respective interests. All the more is the environment dependent on the commitment of the civil society to preserve and protect it. The contribution examines the instrument of the environmental complaint in EU law and criticizes the Commission's attempt to stop using the complaint system as a tool to assess practical application of EC environmental law in the Member States, though it is almost the only one existing.

Benefits and Costs of Shanghai's Environmental Citizen Complaints System

The Shanghai Municipal Government's environmental complaints system allows citizens to report environmental problems to local authorities and provides timely feedback regarding how the complaint was resolved. Using both statistical data and case studies, we conduct a qualitative analysis of the system's costs and benefits as of early 2002. The analysis shows that the complaints system is an important, yet somewhat unreliable source of information about the many environmental problems not otherwise detected by regulators. Moreover, the opportunity cost of the system is significant; the system is dominated by nuisance complaints that are either trivial or without significance to environmental quality except at a very limited geographical scale. Analysis of patterns in the case studies provides the basis for constructing hypotheses concerning whether a particular pollution problem is likely to be the subject of a complaint. This offers insights into how the system could be improved so that the benefits of citizen involvement could be enhanced.