Sun Communicators' Group Blog

Don't Forget Communications 101 in a Web 2.0 World

I was really looking forward to my visit to Squam Lake in NH (aka: Golden Pond) this past weekend.  I was able to beat the traffic on Friday afternoon, by leaving work a little early (and even got to stop at the new Coach outlet along the way!) Columbus Day weekend is the 2nd busiest travel weekend in NH - people like to visit to see the fall foliage.  (aka: changing leaves)  

On Saturday am, I turned on the local news  to see who won Game 2 of the Sox/Angels series on Friday night (I dozed off before the end of the game...must have been all that fresh northern NH air!)

Before I got the baseball news, I heard of BREAKING NEWS of a 3 alarm fire in Nashua (the city where I live.)  The next thing I heard was that the fire was on my street -- at the site of a former leather tannery  that is under EPA jurisdiction.  The former Mohawk Tannery is about 100 yards from my front door!  (My heart sank!)

I tried to call home, but being in the northern woods of NH, my mobile phone was roaming to find a signal all night and I lost the new charge on my battery - besides there was no reception to get a message.  After a few calls and exchanged voice mail  messages, I made the decision to go back to Nashua.    

This is what I missed:

By the time I got back to Nashua, it was around 9am and this is what I did see:

Thankfully no one was injured or lost their homes to this fire.  I did arrive home to see hundreds of chunks of burnt debris that came from the site that  landed in my yard and on my roof.   Several of my neighbors had 'stuff' in their yard, too.  (So, here's where the COMMUNICATIONS  part of my story comes in -- but I need to give a little background, first!)

I've been in contact with the EPA re: this hazardous waste site since late 1998.   Ironically, the way I personally connected with the agency was via their website.  There was little information about the tannery posted on the web (was just listed as a "Superfund", but there was a link to CONTACT EPA.  So I sent them a question about the site which had been abandoned years earlier. )

A few months later - I had actually forgotten about my email inquiry - but got a phone call.   It was from the NH Dept of Environmental  Services that had received my email from the EPA -- they told me that they would go check out the site.  Within a year, the long abandoned site had state and federal attention again.   And some investigation and remedial cleanup began.  But it would take tens of millions of dollars for a complete cleanup to make the land useable again. (And no one had the tens of millions of dollars!)

By 2002, my city leaders took a more active interest, because the site ties to other development issues in the community.  But they also took action because the community came together to do something to push for cleanup of the site.  Local residents were outraged and frustrated.    I joined the Mohawk Tannery Steering Committee created by the City and participated as both a resident, but also helped to drive communications and awareness.  I liked that my professional skills could help my community.

Really long story short.......when you have a hazardous site in your community, it takes several steps, many years and tons of political pressure to get 'listed' for federal Superfund cleanup -- and today, there's no more money going into the Superfund for sites like this.  (All issues worthy of a blog entry someday, but not today.)

So here it is, almost 10 years since my initial email contact to the EPA via their website. We've had dozens of neighborhood meetings, I've asked all of the Presidential candidates that I've met since 1998 about their environmental platform (Including Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Lieberman, Richard Gephardt -- and Howard Dean, who actually came to the site before anyone knew who he was - he was the most empathetic of any of the candidates since he dealt with a similar issue while Gov of VT.) 

During the past decade, I (and the community) have been told time and time again that the site is not a hazard to the neighborhood - but is only  dangerous if you go behind the gates (gates that  most of the time are not locked.)  Unfortunately, no one thought about a fire and what could happen.

Today, I can not use my backyard patio, sit on outdoor chairs or get my garden ready for winter due to debris from the fire on Saturday am.   The EPA and NH DES took samples of the debris (put them in plastic bags) and also had air monitoring devices up thru Saturday evening.  The concern is of asbestos that burned on site and scattered across nearly a 1/4 - 1/2 mile area of the neighborhood.

Here's where Communications 101 comes in for situations like this.  While there may have been a disaster response to follow - the communications part of the plan was sorely missing.  Yes, we have the web to read all the stories in local papers and blog entries like this, BUT good old fashioned face to face, people to people communications need to happen.  Fliers should have been made and brought door to door by these agencies conducting the testing, etc. Tell us what you are testing. Tell us how long the testing will take and who will contact us with more information. Tell us whom we can contact if we have questions.

Ironically, I'm still on the committee focused on this site and have helped support the communications.  Even I haven't been told when test results would be back and for sure  if we should really be worried. (Sometime this week - maybe Wed. isn't a good answer when the health dept picks up samples from your yard!) 

All I know is "don't touch anything."  (and that's the message I've been told to share with my neighbors.)

Don't get me wrong - all of the officials have been very nice as well as professional - they seem to really have concern for my neighborhood.  But they get to go home - not stay here and worry about what is in the debris that is scattered across my neighborhood  - a neighborhood that was supposedly safe from this closed down hazardous waste site.

From a professional perspective, this experience will have me revisit all of my Sun related communications plans today to ensure that I revisit my own Communications 101 suggestions!

Update: I got a call from the Health Dept at 5pm ET -- thankfully, there are no health hazards and I can clean up my yard!

Posted at 09:27AM Oct 08, 2007 by sandyb in Best Practices  |  Comments[0]