Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: A Tale of Two Scientific (?) Analyses

This article is a freestyle description of the ethical concerns faced by a practicing environmental engineer who employs some techniques of environmental-impact analyses. Environmental regulations have become increasingly stringent, but the tools of decision making remain primitive. Environmental engineers are required to provide a type of condensed suitability study for a project. The process can lead to improper decisions on important projects. The decision-making process is garbed as being scientific, although it really consists of many subjective components. The paper describes two widely applied methods in environmental analysis: the Battelle Environmental Evaluation System (BEES) and Contingent Economic Valuation of Environmental Degradation. Drawbacks to the methods that lead to their potential misuse are discussed. The paper's objective is not to suggest that there is a prevailing misuse, but to show how the potential for misuse is built into application of the analyses.