Environmental Aspects of Site Selection

New power plants can be built with little, if any, detrimental environmental effects if sufficient thought, planning, and study are given to potential problems before rather than after the project is designed and constructed. It must be recognized that environmental change does not necessarily mean environmental degradation. Engineers and others responsible for development must learn to recognize the potential environmental impacts of their projects. Environmental scientists must develop more specific objectives and criteria for environmental protection so that they may be applied by engineers during project formulation. Only if the mutual interrelationships betweeen engineering and environmental considerations are considered at the beginning of the planning stage, can a final design be developed that is both compatible with the local environment and efficient for its intended function.