Lead Investigator: Michael Greenberg (Vanderbilt University)

Additional Investigators: Henry Mayer (Vanderbilt University) and David Kosson (Vanderbilt University)

Project Objectives:

The goals of this project are to:

• Objective 1: Measure migration trends into and out of the areas surrounding EM’s 10 major sites, focusing on the loss of key residents whom DOE will otherwise likely want to draw upon for employment.
• Objective 2: Translate these results into steps DOE can take to reduce the loss of these people.

Significance/Impact:
The expectation is that portions of these 10 DOE regions will disproportionately represent what the U.S. Census Bureau classifies as “persistent poverty” areas, which implies loss of working age and selective out-migration of the more educated and younger people. The DOE will be engaged at these sites for decades and will want to draw upon local residents for a reliable labor force. These results should reinforce DOE’s local efforts under Justice40 to provide training assets, infrastructure, and other programs that will reduce the loss of key population assets and attract new residents to DOE’s site regions. In essence, it is in DOE’s interest to identify steps it can take to slow down migration in these regions by creating opportunities for local people who will support DOE’s missions. This means prioritizing the places and investigating methods for supporting local organizations and their populations.

Public Benefits:
This project will identify specific programs that DOE can build on to provide jobs, training, and other activities and programs to reduce the loss of key local residents and to help boost local economies. These activities will build a path to success for ambitious local residents and provide reasons for them to stay in the region thereby improving the areas near DOE facilities.

References: (* indicates CRESP publication)

Greenberg, M. (2022) Stigma as a Multi-Spatial-Scale Process: Revisiting the Worst U.S. Superfund Sites. Risk Analysis, 42 (12), 1-13.

Greenberg, M., and Schneider, D. (2023). Toward a Healthier Garden State: Beyond Cancer Clusters and COVID. New Brunswick, Nj, Rutgers University Press.

Schneider, D. and Greenberg, M. (2023) Remediating and Reusing Abandoned Mining Sites in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: Raising Visibility and Value. Sustainability, 2023, 15(9), 7080, https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097080

*Greenberg, M. and Kosson, D. (2023). Persistent Poverty, Migration, and Demographic Change as Baseline Indicators for Federal Investment: A Pilot Study of the Savannah River Site, CRESP.

Greenberg, M. and Schneider, D. (2024). Review Paper: Trust and Building Sustainable Local Health and Well-Being Programs in the United States. Sustainability. 16, 1670. https://doi.org/10.3390/su/6041670.   14pp.

Greenberg, M., and Schneider, D. (2024) Income Disparities and Risk: Geographical Manifestations of Extreme Income Disparities in the United States. Risk Analysis, https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.14349 .

Greenberg, M., Schneider, D., and Cox, AL. (2024). Opportunities and Challenges Associated with Using Publicly Available U.S Spatial Data Bases: A Tutorial. In final review, April 9, 2024.