RISK ASSESSMENT: A TOOL TO FACILITATE SOLUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES WITHIN THE GOVERNING LEGAL SCHEME

摘要

The proposed solution(s) to most environmental management problems have a very obvious and important public policy component. Any such proposed solution(s) must also be supported by credible and defensible technical data analyses. Arguably, the defensibility and credibility of the methodology(ies) used in the environmental management decision-making process is more important than the decision itself. Legal fora are becoming increasing popular as the places where many of these issues are addressed and "legal solutions" are usually formulated. For instance, given the litigious society in the USA and the diversity of public opinion about those problems, it is reasonable to expect that proposed solutions to those problems will face painstaking legal scrutiny and challenges. Each side of a legal proceeding would have technical expert(s) to challenge the other side. Risk assessment can be used as a tool to identify, formulate, defend and implement those crucial opinions, and, therefore, could produce legally plausible decisions. It is therefore critical to begin to examine and address how to establish and determine the credibility and defensibility of risk assessment as a tool in the formulation of proposed solutions to environmental management problems, within the appropriate legal context.