At the Port of Portland I was primarily interested in understanding what type of entity the Port is. It was hard for me to grasp at first whether it was a geographical area, a governmental agency, or something entirely different. By asking several of our guides I feel like I now have a better idea of what the Port of Portland does. I am still curious about how they are beholden to the community. The Port is a semi-public entity, but people (myself included) know very little about it or how we can influence it. As described in the “Local Knowledge in Environmental Health Policy” chapter, combining technical expertise with local knowledge is extremely powerful. It is also difficult, and for entities like the Port of Portland in this situation, it requires work and a level of humility. To do successful outreach they will need to fully accept that they do not have all of the answers. If done right, true partnerships must be forged; a message this chapter conveys throughout. Arnstein in her “Ladder of Citizen Participation” shows that the partnership must be established in a timely manner, at a point in the process where the public’s contribution can be effective. The ideal (top rung) would be the communities affected by the river cleanup process would be in complete control of the process with support from the Port. There is however, a major hangup embedded in this ideal as it applies to this and other situations. It requires those with power to relinquish some of that power to the disenfranchised. To claim they have adequately involved the public in this process the Port must: involve the public at the right time, show a willingness to share power, and eventually ride shotgun, not drive. A set of lengthy podcasts buried on their website will not suffice as public involvement. Kirk Arnstein, S. (1969). A Ladder Of Citizen Participation, Journal of the American Institute of Planners. 35:4, 216-224. Corburn, J. (2005). Street Science, Local Knowledge in Environmental Health Policy
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This article told the story of Rob Bilott, an attorney who usually defended large chemical companies, taking a stance against DuPont (Rich, 2016). He was fighting them over a chemical called Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), found to have negative health effects on humans (Rich, 2016). Bilott fought an uphill battle over 16 years to have DuPont cease production of PFOA and pay for the harm they had caused (Rich, 2016). Now, DuPont is settling personal injury lawsuits at a rate of four cases a year, and they have ceased production of PFOA in 2013 (Rich, 2016). PFOA is a chemical found in teflon, a material used to coat pots and pans (Rich, 2016). This reading was especially jarring for me since I had just recycled some non-stick pots and pans earlier that week because the teflon coating was chipping off.
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