Participation and Power

W. Michele Simmons is Assistant Professor of English at Miami University in Ohio.

• Figures and TablesAcknowledgments 1. Citizens, Institutions, and the Construction of Environmental Policy 2. Citizens Involved: Mapping Public Participation and Power in Risk Communication Practices3. A Case of Institutional Power: Public Participation Decisions about VX Nerve Agent Disposal at the Newport Chemical Depot 4. Toward a Participatory Approach to Decision Making: Creating a Space for Public Discourse in Technical Issues 5. Participation and Power: Transforming the Possibilities of Public Participation in Environmental Policy Decisions 6. Toward a Just and Participatory Environment: Civic Research in/from the Academy Epilogue: Heightened National Security and Public Participation Appendix A:  Public Notice SampleAppendix B:  Sample of Comments Section from Draft Environmental Impact StatementAppendix C:  Sample of Comments Section from Final Environmental Impact StatementAppendix D:  Sample of Comments Section from IDEM Notice of DecisionAppendix E:  House Enrolled Act No. 1143Appendix F:  Questions and Answers about the Newport Chemical Depot NotesBibliographyIndex

"Simmons forges a strong claim for the greater value and potential of meaningful dialogue in risk communication." — Bill Karis, coeditor of Technical Communication, Deliberative Rhetoric, and Environmental Discourse: Connections and Directions "Not only is the problem of risk communication relevant, but the use of both rhetorical and technical communication theory makes the approach to the problems in risk communication seem solvable. Further, the question of actual public participation in risk communication should be of interest to scholars and practitioners beyond the immediate field of technical and scientific communication." — Robert R. Johnson, author of User-Centered Technology: A Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other Mundane Artifacts