Burger Joanna
Division of Life Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8082.
Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP), Rutgers University and Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235.
J Risk Res. 2024;27(1):108-123. doi: 10.1080/13669877.2023.2299829. Epub 2024 Jan 17.
Many lands were degraded or destroyed by human activities, including contamination from industry and military facilities. The United States and other industrialized counties have legacy wastes remaining from the Second World War, the Cold War, and industrialization. There is increasing need to return degraded land to suitable future land uses, including ecological parks and preserves. This paper proposes a conceptual model of the different levels of information needed to understand the risk to human health, the environment, and ecological resources. I propose a four-part approach: 1) general model for assessing ecological resources, 2) model for assessment needed for remediation or restoration projects, 3) a sliding scale, conceptual model for causes, events, and sources that lead to exposure and risk, and 4) an additional step that includes environmental justice (equity, diversity and inclusion) as a necessary consideration of traditional exposure assessment. While the factors involved in ecological risk assessment are well established, the combination of human health, ecological health, and environmental justice determining risk for remediation or restoration projects is not. Major factors useful for human health, environmental, and ecological evaluation include causes, events (earthquakes, accidents, chemical releases), sources, exposure, and informational challenges, as well as barriers to exposure. I propose that exposure through an environmental justice (diversity, equity, and inclusion) lens should be a key component of risk assessment. Each of these factors involves a sliding scale or continuum that must be considered in evaluating risk and communicating with the regulators, resource trustees, land managers and the public. The conceptual model also serves as a template for obtaining information about the environment that will be useful for communicating the importance of different risk factors. The model was developed for consideration of remediation on Department of Energy lands, it can be applied more broadly to other projects.
许多土地因人类活动而退化或遭到破坏，包括来自工业和军事设施的污染。美国和其他工业化国家存在第二次世界大战、冷战及工业化遗留下来的废物。将退化土地恢复到适合未来土地利用的需求日益增加，包括生态公园和保护区。本文提出了一个概念模型，用于说明理解对人类健康、环境和生态资源的风险所需的不同信息级别。我提出一种四部分方法：1）评估生态资源的通用模型；2）修复或恢复项目所需的评估模型；3）针对导致暴露和风险的原因、事件及来源的滑动比例概念模型；4）额外的一步，即将环境正义（公平、多样性和包容性）作为传统暴露评估的必要考虑因素。虽然生态风险评估所涉及的因素已广为人知，但确定修复或恢复项目风险的人类健康、生态健康和环境正义的结合并非如此。对人类健康、环境和生态评估有用的主要因素包括原因、事件（地震、事故、化学物质泄漏）、来源、暴露、信息挑战以及暴露障碍。我认为通过环境正义（多样性、公平和包容性）视角进行暴露评估应是风险评估的关键组成部分。这些因素中的每一个都涉及一个滑动比例或连续体，在评估风险以及与监管机构、资源受托人、土地管理者和公众沟通时都必须予以考虑。该概念模型还可作为获取有关环境信息的模板，这将有助于传达不同风险因素的重要性。该模型是为考虑能源部土地的修复而开发的，它可更广泛地应用于其他项目。
