Siting bioenergy facilities in the United States: Measuring participation in decisions and distribution of effects

Abstract

Indicators are crucial for measuring progress in sustainability, community development, and energy equity objectives. Thus, indicators are vital for siting or repurposing energy facilities, revealing benefits and adverse effects on underserved communities compared to those under baseline or alternative conditions. However, the use of quantitative metrics can reduce the assessment of progress to a technical exercise of data collection, frequently lacking citizen participation. In this paper, we emphasize the importance of incorporating procedural and distributional justice into the siting process, through the identification of indicators aimed at avoiding the perpetuation of or increase in socioeconomic disparities. More specifically, we describe the process through which a diverse committee of US agriculture, energy, and environmental justice stakeholders and experts, along with US energy researchers, collaboratively developed a list of indicators reflecting justice objectives for siting bioenergy. Stakeholders emphasized categories of procedural justice indicators such as trust, influence, informed consent, and private property rights, whereas energy burden, for example, was identified as an important distributional justice indicator. The proposed indicators can be selected or modified to reflect local needs and priorities. This paper demonstrates that indicators can be developed through participatory processes to guide stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding siting and permitting of biorefineries or biopower facilities. These indicators enable the comparison of siting options; early identification of key problems, concerns, or priorities; and tracking of progress toward justice-related targets. Ultimately, this approach contributes to a more equitable and sustainable energy transition.