Suchergebnisse

SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS (SIAS) ARE PREPARED TO PROVIDE SCIENTIFIC ANALYSES OF HUMAN SOCIETIES; TO PROJECT PROBABLE CONSEQUENCES TO THEIR ENVIRONMENTS; SUGGEST WAYS TO MITIGATE DELETERIOUS CONSEQUENCES; TO AID DECISION MAKERS. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SOCIAL SCIENTISTS IN PREPARING SIAS FOR COMMUNITIES SCHEDULED FOR ENERGY RELATED PROJECTS AND STATE-OF THE-ART ANALYSES OF THOSE COMMUNITIES IS DISCUSSED.

In a book made especially timely by the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill in March 1989, Joseph Jorgensen analyzes the impact of Alaskan oil extraction on Eskimo society. The author investigated three communities representing three environments: Gambell (St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea), Wainwright (North Slope, Chukchi Sea), and Unalakleet (Norton Sound). The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, which facilitated oil operations, dramatically altered t

Social Impact Assessments (SIAs), prompted by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and by complementary legislation in certain states, are prepared, ostensibly, to provide expert scientific analyses of human societies; to project the probable consequences to those societies from largescale projects planned for their environments; to suggest ways to mitigate deleterious consequences; and to aid decision makers. The majority of SlAs prepared in relation to proposed energy developments have not been based on expert scientific analysis; omit crucial topics; are seldom based on primary analyses of the communities that will be affected; and often suggest ways to mitigate infrastructural problems (roads, houses and utilities) but l i t t l e else. Interests of the corporations that seek development permits are served by research houses commissioned to prepare SIAs, and by the agencies that approve the SlAs and subsequently grant permits to the corporations to commence with their energy‐related projects‐the interests of the community residents are not served. The responsibility of social scientists in preparing SlAs for communities that are scheduled for energy‐related projects and state‐of‐the‐art analyses of those communities are discussed.