Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

The Dynamic Balance Between Experts And The Public In The Assessment Of Hazards: Ocean Incineration - The U.S. Experience, Sally J. Spadaro

Theses and Major Papers

Understanding environmental threats posed as a byproduct of technology has become an important role for our federal governmental agencies. This study examined environmental hazard assessment in theory and in practice. Discussion established the unique nature of environmental hazard assessment as compared to financial or natural hazard assessment. This first section examined advantages and shortcomings of four methods to judge the tolerability of environmental hazards: Natural Baselines, Risk/Cost/Benefit Analysis, Revealed Preferences, and Expressed Preferences. The differences in perspectives between expert risk assessors and the lay public was highlighted. For the case of ocean incineration of hazardous wastes the dilemma faced by …