Limits of Environmental Risk Assessment
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 116, Issue 3
Abstract
Risk assessment plays an important but problematic role in environmental law. It can structure regulatory decision making by permitting agencies to set priorities and compare alternative decisions. Risk assessment thus can help to focus public policy discussions about the appropriate level of acceptable risk. The enormous scientific uncertainties at each stage of risk assessment, however, make quantifying risks impossible without making value‐laden, simplifying assumptions. As a result, environmental risk assessment often does not provide scientific guidance for regulatory decisions. Because, however, regulatory agencies need a method to set standards, numerical risk assessments may be given undue weight at the expense of nonquantifiable considerations. Pseudo‐science in the guise of expertise often substitutes for genuine political discourse. As long as risk assessment is unreliable, its role should be minimized. Technology‐based standards, while imperfect, may serve as a proxy until better risk information is developed.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 116 • Issue 3 • December 1990
Pages: 231 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 ASCE.
History
Published online: Dec 1, 1990
Published in print: Dec 1990
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