Health Considerations in Environmental Planning

Criteria often used for evaluating public and industrial projects with pollution potential include profit and job expectations, efficiency of operation, and marketability of the materials or services produced. However, the extent and severity of human health effects which may arise from exposure to environmental discharges from the project are usually not incorporated into the evaluation process. The relevant steps in such a health analysis are: (1)The types of individuals who are most susceptible (because of their genetic, disease, or age characteristics) to exposure to expected pollutant discharges; (2)the number of these individuals potentially affected by the pollution source; (3)the location of susceptible individuals with respect to the pollution source; and (4)the potential health effects such people may incur due to the additional environmental stress caused by the pollution source. These considerations have been applied to various transportation and energy conversion projects.