英文摘要 |
Scientific assessment in the traditional environment regulation policy is generally regarded as a rational technique. Therefore, scientific assessment has been not only a foundation of environmental administration procedure, but also a resource of legitimacy. On the contrary, the environmental regulation procedure is confronted by a legitimacy crisis because of the process design that is based on the main information provided by polluters. The process design demands that polluters should investigate environmental impact. However, it not only means that the right of environmental problem framing and interpretation is transferred to polluters, but it also damages the credibility of environmental information and policy decisions. On the other hand, the environmental administration defines "scientific assessment" narrowly in that it does not consider the characteristics and limit of "Regulatory Science" and excludes other forms of knowledge from administrative procedure. That could lead to loss of multiple sources of knowledge, and weakened regulations while the polluter uses "Science Uncertainty" as a defense. Finally, the situation brings out the possibility of a deadlocked decision. Taking the examples of the environmental impact assessment of a fire accident in the sixth naphtha cracking project in July, 2010, the study analyzes the hidden scientific framework and limitations of the administrative procedure. The finding is that the policy decision relying on the information from a single source, especially from polluters, leads to a shrinking of the government’s role and erodes the legitimacy of decisions. In order to strengthen the foundation of legitimacy, the administration should rebuild an open administrative procedure to foster socially robust knowledge. |