Social Impact Assessment of Avila Beach Clean - Up

Avila Beach is a small coastal town in California whith an oil spill under the downtown and beach. An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the cleanup examined two approaches excavation and biosparging. This project used research to develop a social impact assessment of cleanup alternatives, examined resident responses to the EIR, and evaluated the effectiveness of mitigations. The social impact assessment used environnemental stress as an organizing theme to examine the effects of the alternatives. The public attitude survey showed substancial community conflict. An evaluation of the social effects identified issues related to environmental, community, and compensation issues.