Abstract
Management of dredged contaminated sediments can be a contentious, difficult, and expensive task. Because the waterways from which sediments are dredged have multiple uses, competing interests are often brought to bear on any decision. No single best alternative is likely to emerge; different stakeholder groups will prefer different alternatives. This chapter investigates the utility of multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) as a tool for incorporating stakeholder values into the decision process, for soliciting public participation, and analyzing novel technological alternatives. An outranking method called PROMETHEE is employed for three reasons. First, the emphasis placed on assessing new technologies — and especially beneficial reuse technologies — requires a method that facilitates introduction of new alternatives at any point during the analysis. Second, outranking methods are conducive to elucidating the contrasting value structures of different stakeholder groups. Third, they are more capable of handling semiquantitative scales (e.g., high, middle, low) than optimization methods such as MAUT or AHP. To illustrate the decision process under development, this chapter presents the results of a case study example involving stakeholders in Dover, New Hampshire concerned with the dredging of the Cocheco River.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Belton, V. and Steward, T. (2002) Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis An Integrated Approach. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Boston, MA.
Borsuk M, et al., (2001) Stakeholder values and scientific modeling in the neuse river watershed, GROUP DECISION AND NEGOTIATION, 10(4): 355–373.
Brans, J. and Mareschal, B. (1994) How to decide with PROMETHEE. ULB and VUB Brussels Free Universities, http://smg.ulb.ac.be.
Brans, J.P. and Vincke, P.H. (1985) A preference ranking organisation method: The PROMETHEE method for multiple criteria decision-making. Mgt. Sci. 31(6):647–656.
Corburn, J. (2002) Environmental justice, local knowledge, and risk: The discourse of a community-based cumulative exposure assessment, Env. Mgt., 29(4): 451–466.
Dale, V. and English, M. (eds.) (1999) Tools to Aid Environmental Decision Making. Springer: New York, NY.
Emro, R. Foster’s Daily Democrat. 2002.
Gregory, R. and Wellman, K. (2001) Bringing stakeholder values into environmental policy choices: A community-based estuary case study. Ecological Economics. 39:37–52.
Gregory, R. and Keeney, R. (1994) Creating policy alternatives using stakeholder values. Management Science. 40(8).
Hermans, C. (2003) Overview of MCDM Methods in Environmental Decision Making. Unpublished manuscript. University of Vermont, School of Natural Resources. Burlington, VT.
Keeney, R. (1992) Value Focused Thinking A Path to Creative Decision Making. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.
McDaniel, T. and Roessler, C. (1998) Multiattribute elicitation of wilderness preservation benefits: A constructive approach.” Ecological Economics. 27:299–312.
National Research Council. (1996) Understanding Risk Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society. Edited by Paul Stern & Harvey Fineberg. National Academy Press: Washington, D.C.
NHDES Wetland Permit Application. File #2001-932
Renn, O. et. al. (1995) Fairness and Competence in Citizen Participation. Evaluating Models for Environmental Discourse. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, NL.
Sills, M. Waiver Request for Cocheco River Maintenance Dredge. NHDES. July 20, 2000.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2000) Toward Integrated Environmental Decision Making. EPA-SAB-EC-00-0011.
USACE. (2003) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Navigation Data Center. http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/ndc/index.htm.
Visual Decision. (2000) See documentation for Decision Lab 2000 on-line http://www.visualdecision.com/
Wilson, M. and Howarth, R. (2002) Discourse-based valuation of ecosystem services: Establishing fair outcomes through group deliberation. Ecological Economics. 41:431–443.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this paper
Cite this paper
Rogers, S.H., Seager, T.P., Gardner, K.H. (2004). Combining Expert Judgement and Stakeholder Values with Promethee: A case Study in Contaminated Sediments. In: Linkov, I., Ramadan, A.B. (eds) Comparative Risk Assessment and Environmental Decision Making. Nato Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences, vol 38. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2243-3_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2243-3_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-1895-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2243-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)