Measuring the success of public participation on environmental restorationand waste management activities in the US Department of Energy

The value added by public participation to decision-making in the Office of Environmental Management (EM) in the Department of Energy (DOE) can be enh anced through better organization, improved participation strategies and me chanisms, and integration with other aspects of decision-making (e.g., prob lem definition, mission development, identification and evaluation of decis ion alternatives, and decision implementation). The opportunity to improve the value added by public participation, however, is contingent on being ab le to demonstrate that the resources devoted to such activity is a sensible and worthwhile investment. This article summarizes research conducted to e xpand those savings and improvements and facilitate other improvements by d eveloping a set of performance-based indicators, based on discrete attribut es of successful public involvement, for use in evaluating public participa tion programs and activities in EM, with special emphasis on activities imp lemented in the held offices of DOE. The success attributes and indicators were developed through reviews of appropriate research literatures and thro ugh intensive interviews with and surveys administered to diverse stakehold ers, including DOE project managers and public participation specialists, c ontractor project managers and public participation specialists, representa tives of tribal, state, and local governments, federal and state regulatory authorities, environmental interest groups, and other interested parties, at nine DOE facilities in the United States. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.