ABSTRACT
The effort to establish the basis for risk-based management at the US Environmental Protection Agency has been underway for some time now. One problem in moving forward to actual implementation of a system for risk-based environmental management is that the very meaning of the phrase “risk-based management” has remained somewhat fuzzy. Some have talked more specifically of “risk-based priority setting” and of “risk-based resource allocation”. The chapter describes the specific algorithm and procedural steps to be included in the proposed system and the outputs that will be obtained and discusses the adjunct activities needed to make this process work smoothly and equitably. It proposes that the total available resources be divided as follows: 45% to health risks, 45% to ecological risks, and 10% to welfare risks.
