Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Once the decision is made regarding the scope and nature of public
outreach, a draft plan is developed that details the elements of the outreach
program (meetings, web page, newsletters, CAC, TAC, etc.). Frequently a
draft plan is presented prior to the initial scoping meeting and then public
feedback is solicited on the structure and organization of public outreach
as part of the scoping process. If a CAC and/or TAC is to be included in
the outreach program, this first meeting, and the publicity leading up to the
meeting, is a prime opportunity to solicit membership in the committees.
But before stakeholders are expected to commit to a role in the process, they
must understand what they are getting into.
The first step in establishing a public outreach program is to determine the
“rules of engagement.” In other words, what is the role of the public (includ-
ing subsets such as a CAC and TAC), what are their responsibilities, and
perhaps most importantly what if any authority do they have? Making this
determination is the shared responsibility of the major players including
proponent and funding entity of the proposed action, government agency
with oversight or permitting authority, local government, and sometimes an
environmental or citizen advocacy organization which has a history with the
issues. Also it is important to ask the public what they want out of outreach
and consider their desires when structuring the program and establishing
roles, responsibilities, and authority. The role of the public can evolve with
time and can vary for different aspects of the environmental evaluation, but
certain aspects of the outreach program must be firmly established from the
beginning and be held sacrosanct throughout the process. The most impor-
tant is the commitment, clearly expressed by the proponent (and if appro-
priate, government oversight agency) to hold firm to the role the proponent
assigns to the public.
The role of the public can range over a broad spectrum. At one extreme, the
public is assigned the role of a passive audience. In this role they are simply
kept informed so that they can be aware and prepared for implementation of
the proposed action. At the other extreme, the CAC or some other body rep-
resenting the public can be assigned equal input with the project proponent
or regulatory agency to major decisions, such as selection of the proposed
action among alternatives. Such delegation of authority is unusual, but it
can happen. When the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority
began the planning for the new Whitney Water Treatment Plant, they del-
egated (within defined bounds) the selection of the architectural design firm
and approval of the design to a citizen group. Major responsibility can also
be assigned to the CAC, such as “veto” power over major decisions, although
this is also rare.
More common is the example discussed above for the Lake Whitney
Management Plan. The public was afforded the opportunity to actively rank var-
ious alternatives, and the RWA committed upfront to seriously take into account
the public's ranking in making a decision. A common variant on this assignment
Search WWH ::




Custom Search