ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the rise of comparative risk as a decision-aiding tool and the general structure and processes used by state and local comparative risk assessment (CRA) projects. It explores one state comparative risk project in more detail — Washington’s “Environment 2010” — to provide insights into the possibility of conducting CRA in a way that more fully considers and incorporates public values, concerns, and knowledge. The bulk of the criticism of comparative risk assessment has focused upon one issue: the inability of a risk assessment framework to capture the full range of values relevant to public concerns about environmental protection. Many of the criticisms of comparative risk assessment are based upon its inability to characterize or reflect public values within its analytic and decision-making structure. As the Washington case description suggests, there are still significant barriers to integrating public values into the process.
