Multiattribute Utility Analysis as a Framework for Public Participation: Siting a Hazardous Waste Facility

In an attempt to facilitate the resolution of contentious environmental problems, public agencies are increasingly using collaborative approaches wherein stakeholders participate in the decision-making process. A dilemma for the design of collaborative approaches is the technical complexity of many environmental problems. How can members of the public play a meaningful role in decisions that involve complicated scientific arguments? <br/><br/>This paper describes a public participation exercise in which stakeholders used an approach based on multiattribute utility analysis to select a site for a hazardous waste facility. Key to success was the ability to separate and address the two types of judgments inherent in environmental decisions--technical judgments regarding the likely consequences of alternative choices and value judgments regarding the importance or seriousness of those consequences. The approach enabled technical specialists to communicate the essential technical considerations and allowed stakeholders to establish the value judgments for the decision. Although rarely used in public participation, the multiattribute utility approach appears to provide a useful framework for the collaborative resolution of many complex environmental decision problems.