Collaborative and Adversarial Analysis in Environmental Policy. G. Busenberg, University of Nevada-Las Vegas
This study examines the application of adversarial and collaborative forms of risk analysis, using data from two debates concerning the environmental management of the marine oil trade in Alaska. The first debate focused on hazardous air emissions from an oil terminal. Scientists hired by a citizens’ group concluded that these emissions threatened the air quality of an adjacent community, while scientists hired by the oil industry concluded the opposite. Neither group accepted the other group’s assessment as valid. The result of this adversarial approach to risk analysis was a policy stalemate. The second debate focused on the use of escort vessels to prevent spills from oil tankers. The citizens’ group supported the adoption of advanced escort vessel technologies in the region, while the oil industry argued that existing escort vessels would suffice. As in the previous case, this dispute revolved around differing interpretations of available risk information. Unlike the previous case, the participants agreed to collaborate in a jointly directed and funded risk assessment of the issue in dispute. The goal of this collaborative approach was to generate a risk assessment that would be credible to all of the participants. This collaborative risk analysis allowed all the participants to monitor (and adjust) the research process throughout its evolution. The resulting assessment was accepted as valid by all the participants, and subsequently used as the basis of consensus decisions for policy change. While risk analysis played a central role in both disputes, political interventions from state and federal governments also shaped the final resolution of these debates. The results of this study thereby illuminate the complex interactions between risk analysis and political processes, and the consequences of those interactions for policy change.
This study was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
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