A PROCESS FOR INCORPORATING COMPARATIVE RISK INTO ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY-MAKING IN LOUISIANA

The goal of Louisiana's 1990-1991 comparative risk project, also calle d the Louisiana Environmental Action Plan (LEAP), was to incorporate r isk assessment into state environmental planning and policymaking. Sci entists, government officials, and citizens were brought together to e stimate the relative risk to human health, natural resources, and qual ity of life posed by 33 selected environmental issues. The issues were then ranked according to their relative estimated risks. It was hoped that this ranking of ''comparative risks'' would enable state policym akers to target the most important environmental problems and allocate scarce public resources more rationally and efficiently. As a result of the project, the governor issued an Executive Order forming a perma nent Public Advisory Committee to continue this type of comparative ri sk assessment in Louisiana.