Talking trash about landfills: Using quantitative scoring schemes in landfill siting processes

Policymakers and the public often turn to scientific experts for help in ma king decisions about complex policy? problems. Such decisions, however may involve tradeoffs among desired goals and so require considerable technical and political judgment. Typically there is no objectively "best" answer; a lthough some answers may be better than others. MIC use a case study, of a landfill siting process in Orange County: North Carolina, to analyze how qu antitative scoring schemes may best be used to facilitate sire selection pr ocesses. Quantitative scoring schemes, used and interpreted properly can he lp policymakers and the public focus their attention on central rather than peripheral issues, and thereby conduct a more informed political debate. F or the quantitative scoring scheme to fulfill this role, however the commun ity must be explicit about how the scoring scheme will be used within rite larger decisionmaking framework. Clarifying the power and limitations of qu antitative scoring schemes shows promise for facilitating decisionmaking re garding other locally unpopular land we siting processes, as well as any pu blic policy decision involving multiple objectives. (C) 2000 by the Associa tion for Public Policy Analysis and Management.