Elizabeth Hodges Snyder, PhD, MPH; Assistant Professor of Public Health; Soil and Water Scientist; UAA Department of Health Sciences

Health Impact Assessments in Alaska Alaska Pipeline Project Oil & Gas (Comprehensive) Chuitna Project Coal (Comprehensive) Donlin Creek Project Gold (Comprehensive) Foothills West (Umiat) Roadway (Comprehensive) Pt. Thomson Project Oil & gas (Rapid Assessment) Pebble Prospect Gold/Copper (Comprehensive) Susitna-Watana Hydro (Comprehensive) Wishbone Hill Project Coal (Rapid Assessment)

HIA and the State of Alaska Program First HIAs conducted in 2004 (North Slope) First HIA workshop in state in 2008 Produced HIA toolkit State program founded in DHSS in Summer 2010 Identified key activities include: Maintaining toolkit Performing HIAs Collaborating on HIAs Refining scientific approach Identifying best practices

Probability of Effect Immediacy of Effect Proportion of population affected Application of DALYs Acute versus chronic effects Severity of Effect Modifiability of Effect Duration of Effect Level of Community Concern Physical Economic Sociocultural Category of Effect Strength of Evidence Positive Negative Neutral Direction of Effect Effects on Underserved Association With Climate Change(?) Air Water Soil Natural Resource Effect Prioritization of Effect

Evaluation of Stakeholder Engagement Various interpretations of what an HIA can and cannot do Issues of trust Issues of confidence in the HIA process Concerns about objectivity Concerns over weight and use of local information Concerns over the inclusion of cultural information Understanding community context Participant selection Community conflict (retribution and racism) *Findings will be available Summer 2013

Positives of HIA in Alaska Alaska is leading the way in the field of HIA, particularly in the area of resource development Increasing community awareness of new policies, programs, and projects – and of their potential health impacts Increasing community opportunities for public participation Increased collaboration between State and Tribal entities

Positives of the HIA Process The HIA process encouraged the community to begin thinking about health in the context of resource extraction projects. The HIA brought up several key areas for further evaluation which would likely have gone without attention had the HIA not been completed. The HIA helped to develop a collaboration between Tribal and State entities which we hope will be further developed on future projects.

BenefitsFlaws Provides systematic method of impact assessment Time-consuming Estimates the cost/benefit trade-off of alternative actions Costly Facilitates public participationLittle public participation in actual implementation Provides an effective mechanism for coordination environmental integration negotiations feed back Unavailability of reliable data Top-level decision makingToo focused on scientific analysis Poor presentation of EIA report (bulky volumes, scientific explanation, difficult to understand) Achieve a balance between the impacts of developmental and environmental concern Compliance and impact monitoring after assessment is seldom carried out Adapted from Harvard iSites

Resources State HIA Program – – See Alaska HIA Guidance Document HIA on Line One: Your Health Connection – Health Impact Project – Human Impact Partners – UCLA Health Impact Assessment Clearinghouse –

Conferences/Associations International Association of Impact Assessment – – Society of Practitioners of Health Impact Assessment (SOPHIA) –