| Many technological developments benefit society but also possess potential to harm human beings and the natural environment. Citizens recognize and accept a certain level of technological vulnerability, but they expect government to protect them from unreasonable technological risk. This dissertation looks at the risk management problem from three perspectives: statute writing; organizational form; and safety regulation.; In this dissertation the first perspective takes the form of an in-depth study of the Washington State energy facility siting act, the first one-stop siting law in the nation, and prototype for similar statutes in other states. This study creates and employs the geologic metaphor of relative time to identify distinct periods in the statute's development and interpretation. Using the scientific analogy, the study equates the statute's legal history with that of complex geological strata, created in response to crisis, complexity, and catastrophe.; The second perspective poses the question, does the organizational form chosen by statute writers really matter? In a case study of pipeline siting decisions in Washington, Oregon, and Montana, it explores how mandated form and procedures, expanded by agency rulemaking, actually play out. Findings suggest that principals who attempt to regulate a complex technology may well encounter difficulty in determining future outcomes through organizational reform and that although form matters, exogenous events and a state's culture may exert even greater influence over outcomes.; The third perspective is a normative analysis of the precautionary principle with respect to Washington's siting statute. The research examines how the precautionary principle might be implemented to suggest changes in the statute. The approach holds constant an existing legal system. Applying Ashford's conceptual framework for using the precautionary principle in law reveals deficiencies in four areas. Rectifying these would, in all likelihood, ensure a more effective process and an outcome more consistent with the legislative goals.; The three foregoing approaches in which the Washington energy facility siting process is examined have created a model that has the potential to be applied to risk management issues for other technologies. |
