Dr. Sandman's web articles highlight problems many engineers and scientists have in communicating with the public. Here is a situation:
You are a new engineer with the DOT and because of your expertise in hazardous waste, you have been asked to evaluate the alternatives of the proposed "Ghost Road Extension Project" (See the attached map.) The China River frequently overflows its bank just north of The Red Baron Nightclub. The Corps of Engineers has told the DOT that the river is eroding the bank and the flooding will become both more frequent and more severe. The Corps of Engineers recommends blocking Dump Road with a dike, connecting the bank with the highground just west of Dump Road. The DOT will have to pay for either this dike or the continued repairs to the road and temporary reinforcement of the riverbank. If the dike is built, a new access to the dump will have to be built by extending Ghost Road approximately one-quarter mile, hence the name of the project.
You have completed your analysis, which demonstrates a net present worth of the costs, assuming 100 year life and interest of 9.625% (MARR), as $4 Million for the dike and Ghost Road extension versus $20 million for continuing to repair Dump Road and continuing temporary reinforcement of the river bank.
The parties that may be affected by this project include:
1. Mr. E.L. "Red" Baron, the owner of the nightclub,
2. The Pioneers of Alaska, who maintain the cemetery on Ghost Road,
3. The residents of Birch Acres subdivision,
4. The residents and guests of Shady Acres Trailer Park,
5. The students and staff of Gooder Elementary School.
Because you are local, you "know" based on your experience and what
you have read in the paper:
1. College students have frequented the Red Baron in the past because underage
students were able to buy alcohol there. The Red Baron has been named in several
lawsuits because patrons have been involved in fatal accidents after leaving
there. One of the patrons involved in an accident was a sanitation driver who
killed a child. At the trial a point was made that during the day drivers hauling
to the dump frequent Red Baron.
2. The Pioneers have elaborate burial services when one of their members is
interred in the Cemetery
3. Birch Acres is an upscale subdivision, where many upper middle class people
live.
4. Shady Acres Trailer Park, where many of your friends live while they are
paying off their student loans, has several trailers where visitors are frequent,
including political big shots from the nearby town, Mayor Quimby and Chief Wiggam.
5. Gooder School is a 600-student elementary school.
You told your boss that there were some intangible issues, although the economic analysis strongly favored the project. Your boss told you he knew of the "intangibles" and that most of them were "a lot of malarkey." He does ask you to come to the public meeting that night in the Gooder School gym and that he was "going to tell them a thing or two about engineering and how he was going to save the taxpayers money." You will be asked to explain, briefly, the economic analysis principles upon which the decision to build the project was based.
Later that day, your boss calls and tells you he has been called to Juneau
on short notice and you will have to carry the public meeting yourself. You
say you have been concentrating on the economic analysis. He mentions that there
are some letters in the file which the secretary, Bo, has. When you relate this
to Bo, he gives you a strange look and pulls out a bulging file. He wishes you
good luck and says to be sure call him at his home when you get home, otherwise
he will call the police at 10 PM, if he does not hear from you. This seems strange
to you, but you only have a few minutes to skim the files before you have to
leave for the meeting. Some letters you notice:
1. "Red" Baron has written to express his opposition to the project.
He says that dump trucks frequently have trash and debris fly out of their beds.
He has a special free picnic twice a year when he invites his patrons to cleanup
Dump Road, and then he rewards the "cleaner-uppers" with free beer.
He also says that the dump drivers frequently joke about the hazardous materials
that they haul to the dump. He also says that "anti-freedom forces"
in the community have been after him for years because he is the president of
the local NRA chapter. These forces are trying to damage his business. Besides
the new driveway, if the project goes though, he wants $8 million to compensate
him for projected loss of revenue over the next decade.
2. The pioneers (12 letters, more or less) want the DOT to build a high fence
between the cemetery and Ghost Road and to agree to close the road on days they
are having funeral services. (You had no money in your economic analysis for
the fence.)
3. The president of the Birch Acres Homeowners Association asked you to change
the public meeting to the Carlson Center because the Gooder School Gym is too
small to hold all the residents who want to speak at the meeting.
4. Several long-time residents of Shady Acres Trailer Park wrote to demand a
high fence between them and Ghost Road. Chief Wiggam wrote that his secretary
lives in that trailer park and "you had better not park in downtown Fairbanks
if you don't respect the privacy of the people who live in Shady Acres."
5. The President of the Gooder School PTA objects to the plan, and has "evidence"
hazardous materials are being carried to the dump and wants assurance that such
waste will only be carried past the school on school holidays. She also wants
the public meeting to be moved to the Carlson Center.
6. A letter from "Mothers Against Drunk Driving," the only letter
in favor of the project, stated the project will surely result in less traffic
to the Red Baron, which will benefit the public by cutting down the number of
drunk dump truck drivers.
Your assignment: Write three paragraphs. For each paragraph, choose one of
the affected parties and discuss one of the "components of outrage"
that may contribute to their opposition to the project. Then discuss how you
would work on that component of outrage and reduce some of the outrage the project
is engendering. Re-engineering the project is not an option, it will either
go approximately as it is now designed, or not go at all.