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Preamble

The First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit of 1991 declared that “Environmental Justice demands the right to participate as equal partners at every level of decision-making, including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation.” Rather than adhering to this principle, government and corporate entities too often treat community engagement and stakeholder processes as a nuisance in decision-making, rather than a mutually beneficial process of information sharing, envisioning, and collective decision-making.  

 

In the absence of such processes in North Carolina, community members, and advocacy groups like the West End Revitalization Association, the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, the Rural Empowerment Association for Community Help (REACH), Clean Water for North Carolina, and the  Environmental Justice Community Action Network have organized to voice their needs relating to environmental justice and energy processes. Even with the power of these groups, community members are asked to sacrifice their time and energy on stakeholder processes, only to find themselves with limited power and giving feedback that is quickly dismissed. This dynamic is clear in the development of the North Carolina 2022 Carbon Plan. It failed to truly work with the public, leaving communities and advocates on their own in trying to make their voices heard. In order for the outcomes of a stakeholder process to truly reflect the needs of impacted communities, an inclusive, democratic process founded on trust and transparency is essential.

 

After researching principles of environmental justice and stakeholder processes, we have crafted the following draft Stakeholder Participation Bill of Rights is a framework to guide us in building a just, livable, democratic future for all. They should serve as a foundation for building what all communities deserve in a stakeholder process and the policies that result. 

 

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Key Definitions

  • Participation - “is the strategy by which the [participants] join in determining how information is shared, goals and policies are set, tax resources are allocated, programs are operated, and benefits like contracts and patronage are parceled out” (Arenstein 1969)

  • Stakeholder - those who have an interest (monetary, professional, personal, cultural, or otherwise) in or are affected by a decision (adapted from NOAA)

  • Accessible - often discussed in the context of disability justice, but broadly refers to spaces (whether physical or otherwise) that are useable, reachable, and understandable to the range of people who need or want them (adapted from Merriam-Webster)

  • Transparent/transparency: An effort to make sure that all relevant information is accessible to stakeholders, not just after the decision is made but throughout the process. This often requires back-and-forth communication as the group decides what information is sufficiently “relevant”. 

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Bill of Rights

We the users of energy, those who live on or near the fencelines of energy infrastructure, and those otherwise impacted by energy development and management, in order to access affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy resources, establish this Bill of Rights for just engagement in energy decision-making processes. Our commitment of time to engage these processes is only valid when processes clearly provide for meaningful engagement and a commitment to just outcomes for all involved.

 

  1. The right to participate early, often, and in an ongoing manner

  2. The right to co-create ground rules for engagement

  3. The right to be informed of agendas in advance

  4. The right to accessible educational information

  5. The right to an unbiased, community-approved facilitator 

  6. The right to speak on your own behalf

  7. The right to be informed of how input will be used

  8. The right to accommodations for participation

  9. The right to detailed summary notes

  10. The right to influence outcomes through participation

 

1. The right to participate early, often, and in an ongoing manner

  • The right to a clearly-defined and collaboratively designed participatory process early in the policy-making and/or decision-making process.

  • The right to a clearly defined set of roles, responsibilities, and goals early in the process.

  • The right to ongoing and continuing relationship and trust building with decision-makers beyond the acute moment of one stakeholder process.

  • The right to participate at all levels of decision-making, including and especially those decisions and processes that will have direct impacts on the participants’ lives and well-being.

    • The right to participate in the visioning, planning, engagement, arriving at final outcomes, implementation, and evaluation of a public stakeholder process or participatory program.

    • The right to participate early and often in a process.

    • The right to participate in respectful discussion and exploration of the best possible solutions with a willingness to understand and learn from varying perspectives.

 

2. The right to co-create ground rules for engagement

  • The right to outlined, collaboratively created, and mutually agreed upon ground rules for meaningful engagement which emphasize building trust and respect between all parties.

 

3. The right to be informed of agendas in advance

  • The right to be informed of the meeting purpose and agenda beforehand.

 

4. The right to accessible educational information

  • The right to accessible and culturally responsive educational information about social and environmental issues, especially and in particular those that directly impact stakeholders.

    • The right to have educational information provided such that anyone can meaningfully participate regardless of education level, ability, age, language, training, citizenship status, or prior familiarity with the subject matter.

 

5. The right to an unbiased, community-approved facilitator

  • The right to a mutually agreed upon facilitator who is familiar with the decision process and context.

 

6. The right to speak on your own behalf

  • The right for participants to speak on their own behalf.

    • The right to be heard within a participatory process and collaborate towards the final outcome or decision.

    • The right to provide testimony, conversation, questions, or comments and have them be recorded within a process, including informal or non-technical contributions. 

 

7. The right to be informed of how input will be used

  • The right to be transparently informed of how input is to be used and will inform decision outcomes at each stage of a decision-making process.

 

8. The right to accommodations for participation

  • The right to an inclusive location, time, and context for community engagement that is community-approved and appropriate for the decision context.

 

9. The right to detailed updates and summary notes

  • The right to detailed meeting minutes and accommodations for stakeholder procedures.

    • The right for minutes and records to be readily available and accessible to all, especially for those who may be unable to participate at the time of the meeting, who desire records of previous discussions, for those whose working hours may be non-traditional, and for those who are otherwise less able to participate in stakeholder processes.

  • The right to receive updates throughout each stage of the process.

 

10. The right to influence outcomes through participation

  • The right for participation in the process to have a clear and documented impact on the outcome.

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