AWARENESS AND CONFIDENCE IN INFORMATION SOURCES ABOUT LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG)

Abstract

This article deals with the results of empirical research on the local inhabitantsʹ awareness of the project of building the
liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal near Omišalj on the island of Krk, which provoked very different public responses.
The author set a hypothesis that the local inhabitantsʹ participation in building of such facilities of high ecological risk was
absolutely necessary and that they should be well‐informed about the project in time.
The research was conducted with random sampling ( N= 240; 2006), in several towns on the island of Krk and several
towns within the Kvarner Gulf which gravitate to the location of LNG. In the analysis there were used the univariate,
bivariate and multivariate statistics techniques.
The results showed that only 7.9% of the examinees were «entirely» informed, while the others were either «only partially
informed» or «not informed at all» of the project. When it comes to the information sources, local and state government
sources, just as the governing and opposition parties were the worst information sources according to the examinees,
while the ecological associations, friends and acquaintances and mass media served them as good information sources.
It turned out that the examinees believe ecological associations, experts and local information means the most, while political
parties, ministries and investors proved to be unreliable sources when it comes to the peopleʹs trust.