Achieving Consensus through Stakeholder Engagement

摘要

Background/Objectives. This paper will present the processes utilized to develop consensusamong the stakeholders for an integrated upland and sediment remedy: the siteowner, the local municipality, the regulators, and regional environmental advocacygroups. This site consists of two operable units, upland (OU-1) and sediment (OU-2).Augmenting the technical evaluations during the feasibility study (FS) process for OU-2with consistent, intentional, stakeholder engagement resulted in a revised PRAP for OU-2, issuance of a ROD for OU-2 and issuance of a ROD Amendment for the existing OU-1ROD. This process achieved two key objectives: (1) the revised FS was accepted by theregulators with no formal comments, and (2) the OU-2 ROD and OU-1 ROD Amendmentachieved a reduction in the estimated construction cost of over $100 million.Approach/Activities. The owner and engineer undertook an extensive review of possiblealternative approaches and simultaneously initiated an extensive program of stakeholderengagement. The goal was to develop a technically feasible, environmentally-protective,integrated remedy for OU-1 and OU-2 that would be supported by all the stakeholders.The stakeholders and activities included:1. Ownera) Reset owner management expectations with more precise cost estimates,2. Regulatorsa) Reset regulatory expectations by focusing on technical and constructabilityissues and options using new data,b) Improve communications using face-to-face discussions and a series of informalpresentations in lieu of extended submittal and review cycles,c) Jointly developing a range of alternatives for analysis,d) Conducting interim discussions regarding the FS to seek to achieve a“zero comments” FS submittal,3. Communitya) Building community trust by proceeding with site activities that will berequired regardless of the final remedy (e.g. building demolition),b) Inviting community representatives to the technical presentations,4. Advocacy groupsa) Initiating regular discussions with advocacy groups to educate membersregarding technical and constructability issues,b) Inviting technical representatives to the technical presentations.Results/Lessons Learned. This process has changed the dynamics of the stakeholdersfrom a prior pattern based on a formal exchange of paper to a cordial working relationshipwhere communication flows in both directions and has achieved consensus for anintegrated site remedy.