With support from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust, the Center conducted a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of a proposed poultry litter-to-energy facility in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The project is believed to be the first HIA conducted on a policy or project decision in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Our research partners included The VCU Center for Environmental Studies, Human Impact Partners, and The University of Virginia's Institute for Environmental Negotiation. The research plan was guided by a group of interested and engaged stakeholders that included Valley communities, agency staff, and environmental advocacy groups.
In order to determine the health impacts of the proposed facility that were of utmost priority to stakeholders, we held public meetings with local residents and stakeholders and met with agency staff at the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Quality, including those responsible for air modeling and the evaluation of poultry litter-to-energy regulations.
