Social Values and Environmental Assessment in Thermal Power Plant Siting

摘要

A system for assessing the desirability of alternative thermal power plant siting and design proposals from the community perspective is under development by Battelle-Northwest. When implemented, this system should facilitate incorporation of community attitudes into the siting and design process along with traditional engineering and economic considerations. Effective implementation of this methodology may require a more open planning process than utilities or the public has been accustomed to pursuing, in that tentative construction plans may have to be released to permit solicitation of valid community values. Sites may have to be secured beforehand, perhaps by use of options, to avoid speculation on affected land. The proposed system, like other decision systems, should be considered advisory in nature. It is not the purpose of a decision system to automatically decree selection of the best of a set of alternatives. The system, instead, should be construed as a method for identifying and understanding important decision criteria and for structuring and aggregating them in a manner facilitating the selection of preferred alternatives. (ERA citation 02:060942)