Community Input:
In a Community Forum, attendees were asked to complete a form that forced them to rank their largest concerns to their smallest first in major categories and then in subcategories of each of as follows:
- Quantity Emitted (>25 tons, 10-25 tons, <10 tons )
- Health Effects (Cancer causing, Reproductive/birth defects, Respiratory, Neurological, Developmental)
- Environmental Effects (# Ecosystems affected, Global Warming contributor, Bioaccumulates, Acid Rain Contributor, Time to Biodegrade, Dispersion, Smog Producing)
- Dispersion-Distance (>20 miles, 1-20 miles, <1 mile)
- Dispersion-Age of Population Affected (<5yrs old, 5-18 yrs, 18-64, >64)
- Reduction Possibilities (known options, no known options)
- Disaster Risk (Yes, No)
This method specifically required a “forced” ranking in that the participants were not allowed to rank with the same number but rather had to weigh each category against the other.
While the data was collected in a simple number format of 1-7 for the major categories, and anywhere from 1-3 to 1-7 for the subcategories, the subcategory rankings were modified to reflect an even distribution between a rank of 1-10 regardless of the number of subcategories ranked within each major category.
Individual Town Priorities:
The Average for the Major Category rankings was multiplied by the average of the Sub-Category rankings per town and then converted to a simple priority ranking based on the highest resulting values being the highest priority.
3-Town Priorities:
In order to avoid any favoring of one town’s average over another based on the number of participants per town, the town averages were gathered independently, and then averaged equally (Salem+ Beverly+Marblehead/3) to derive the 3-Town Priority ranking.
| Major Category |
Sub-Category |
3-Town Priority |
SALEM Priority |
MARBLEHEAD PRIORITY |
BEVERLY PRIORITY |
| Health Effects |
Cancer causing |
1 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
| Health Effects |
Reproductive/ Birth Defects |
2 |
1 |
3 |
9 |
| Health Effects |
Respiratory |
3 |
6 |
4 |
7 |
| Env Effects |
# Ecosystems affected |
4 |
7 |
14 |
1 |
| Env Effects |
Global Warming Contributor |
5 |
14 |
7 |
2 |
| Health Effects |
Neurological |
6 |
4 |
10 |
5 |
| Env Effects |
Bioaccumulates |
7 |
10 |
6 |
6 |
| Dispersion- Population Affected |
<5 yrs old |
8 |
5 |
5 |
13 |
| Health Effects |
Developmental Defects |
9 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
| Env Effects |
Acid Rain Contributor |
10 |
2 |
13 |
16 |
| Reduction Possibilities |
Known |
11 |
18 |
2 |
11 |
| Env Effects |
Time to Biodegrade |
12 |
11 |
21 |
3 |
| Env Effects |
Dispersion |
13 |
16 |
15 |
14 |
| Env Effects |
Smog Producing |
14 |
15 |
8 |
23 |
| Quantity |
>25 tons |
15 |
8 |
20 |
17 |
| Dispersion- Distance |
>20 miles |
16 |
19 |
19 |
12 |
| Dispersion- Population Affected |
5-18 |
17 |
22 |
11 |
20 |
| Disaster Risk (Evac Radius) |
Yes |
18 |
25 |
12 |
8 |
| Dispersion- Population Affected |
>64 |
19 |
13 |
18 |
22 |
| Dispersion- Population Affected |
18-64 |
20 |
20 |
16 |
18 |
| Dispersion- Distance |
1-20 miles |
21 |
23 |
17 |
15 |
| Quantity |
10 - 25 tons |
22 |
17 |
23 |
21 |
| Dispersion- Distance |
<1 mile |
23 |
24 |
22 |
19 |
| Quantity |
<10 tons |
24 |
12 |
24 |
24 |
| Reduction Possibilities |
No Known |
25 |
21 |
25 |
25 |
| Disaster Risk (Evac Radius) |
No |
26 |
26 |
26 |
26 |
It is noted that there is significant differences in the priorities among each town.
FOOTNOTE: Please also note that these rankings are based on the actual numbers resulting from the multiplication of the major category ranking and the subcategory ranking, and therefore an average just by priority number above does not result in exactly the same ranking.
Based on these results, the top 10 concerns were focused on when evaluating the chemicals being emitted into the air in these 3 towns to allow for priority ranking of reductions to be sought for actual sources and/or specific chemicals. The results of which are presented in "Summary: Where to Start."
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