Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
In parallel, alternatives assessment has formed the basis of pollution-
prevention planning efforts, the chemical-alternatives assessment processes un-
dertaken by the EPA Design for the Environment program (see Chapter 3), and
technology options analysis in chemical safety efforts. Although alternatives
assessment is not strictly tied to risk assessment and risk management, it simi-
larly involves the systematic analysis of a wide array of options for a potentially
damaging activity that are evaluated on the basis of hazard, performance, social,
and economic factors. Beyond HIA and alternatives assessment, there are sev-
eral other tools for applying systems thinking that are intrinsically solutions-
oriented. For example, LCA emphasizes comparing alternative methods for ad-
dressing a defined need, and benefit-cost analysis is designed to compare multi-
ple policy options to arrive at an optimal choice.
Regardless of the specific approach and application, those approaches all
provide a tool for focusing on solutions and innovation opportunities and draw-
ing attention to what a government agency or proponent of an activity could be
doing to solve the problem at hand rather than simply characterizing it in finer
detail. They also provide opportunities to evaluate the reduction of multiple risks
rather than simply focusing on controlling a single hazard, potentially leveraging
the methods and approaches within cumulative risk assessment. Finally, if agen-
cies' actions promote restriction of a particular activity, there is a responsibility
to understand alternatives and support a path that is environmentally sound,
technically feasible, and economically viable and that does not create new risks
of its own. Box 4-4 gives an example of a solutions-oriented approach for reduc-
ing chemical use.
Many of the above solutions-oriented approaches are currently in use in
some manner in EPA, but they are not applied comprehensively and systemati-
cally across the agency. However, alternatives-assessment approaches are built
into numerous laws and international treaties. The process for carrying out an
environmental impact statement under NEPA and state programs is one of the
most comprehensive examples for the requirement of alternatives assessment at
the national level (Tickner and Geiser 2004). When assessments are undertaken
under NEPA, agencies and organizations that use public funds and that are car-
rying out activities that might have substantial effects on the environment need
to undergo the process for creating an environmental impact statement. “The
goal of NEPA is to foster better decisions and 'excellent action' through the
identification of reasonable alternatives that will avoid or minimize adverse im-
pacts” (Tickner and Geiser 2004).
NEPA regulations require that the process described above be carried out
before the start of any activity that might have environmental effects. An inter-
disciplinary approach is undertaken to ensure that environmental effects and
values are comprehensively identified and examined; to ensure that appropriate
and reasonable alternatives are rigorously studied, developed, and described;
and to recommend specific courses of action. The first step of assessing effects
is a scoping process, during which potential effects are broadly defined and
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