Environmental quality standards and the law -- Are they compatible?
- Swinton and Co., Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)
The fact that the public perceives risks differently from scientists and other experts complicates public policy decisions respecting the appropriate standards of risk to be reflected in environmental regulation. To proponents of controversial projects, it points to a need to educate the public about the level of risk reflected in a proposed environmental standard compared with risks familiar to the public. However, the erroneous assumption that science can always refute intuition fails to take into account the limitations of science and the knowledge base, and is partly responsible for a number of well-documented fiascoes in attempting to site hazardous waste facilities in British Columbia and elsewhere. Uncertainty respecting the justification of environmental quality standards can not only affect the policy-making and permitting processes, but has the potential to undermine a company`s compliance efforts as the goal posts are adjusted. Increasingly tough legal standards, combined with the vagaries of sampling results, also create frequent compliance dilemmas. the incompatibility of numerical criteria and the requirement to exercise due diligence (a standard of negligence) can be problematic from the perspective of regulatory compliance. Similarly, in the field of civil liability, numerical environmental quality standards are posing some troubling conflicts with the principles of common law liability. Arbitrary soil and groundwater standards may well fly in the face of judicial views respecting viable uses of land or the appropriate duty of care. This paper will look at the development of environmental quality standards, discussing some of the emerging trends reflected in recent legislation, their treatment by the courts and the implications for both business and regulators.
- OSTI ID:
- 212024
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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