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Developing Information in Wind

Siting: Joint Fact-Finding  

Stacie Nicole Smith

October 26, 2012

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© 2012 The Consensus Building Institute 2

Overcoming the Myth of Science

“A myth has grown up in the midst of naturalresource decision making [that] good science can, byitself, somehow make difficult natural resourcesdecisions for us and relieve us of the necessity toengage in the hard work of democratic deliberationsthat must finally shoulder the weight of those

decisions.”

M ark R ey Ass is tant Secretary USDA

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© 2012 The Consensus Building Institute 3

It’s not just about information…

•  We tend to treat problems as informationproblems or a technical problems. We assume

more information = better results

• “Since I know a lot and think X, if more people

know what I know, they’ll think X too.”

•  Assume people base their decisions and support

based on knowledge and information

• “Biased assimilation:”

• If you are predisposed favorably toward wind

energy, presentation of more information willlikely increase your support

• If you are predisposed unfavorably toward wind

energy, presentation of more information will

likely decrease your support

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 The limits of “Facts”…

• People think in stories notstatistics

• Cognitive biases tend to filter out

information that does not support

ones predetermined view of issues•  The human mind tends to reach

conclusions first, rationales

second

•  The human mind tends to doubledown on beliefs in the face of

facts that threaten or challenge that

belief

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 Adversarial Science

• On contentious public policy issues, advocates seek (or are

perceived as seeking) to prevail rather than to uncover the

“truth.” Rather than being a common resource to inform

 wise decision-making, science is used by each side to backup their views.

• Uncertainty, which always exists in complex situations,

becomes fodder to prevent decisions opposed by one group

or individual.• “Dueling Scientists”, with different interpretations or

different data, are pitted against each other, thereby

canceling out what they have to say.

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© 2012 The Consensus Building Institute 6

Undesired Outcomes: Science Under Attack

• Scientific and technical knowledge is central to windsiting:

• Cost benefit analyses

• Studies of environmental and noise impacts

• Biological studies 

• Data generated from scientific studies is needed todetermine whether specific sites are appropriate.

•  When there is inadequate public participation ininformation-making, science can more easily become aproxy for pre-existing beliefs and underlying interests,impacts, and values.

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Public Participation in Information-Making

•  To be more effective, science used in public

policymaking needs to:

• scope environmental, health, and natural resource

problems effectively

• generate useful forecasts of what is likely to happen if

nothing is done and how various responses might

 work, and• assist stakeholders in selecting among possible

responses even when they have very different levels of

scientific and technical capability.

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 Joint Fact Finding

 Joint Fact Finding is a collaborative procedure

for involving those affected by policy decisions

in the continual process of generating and

analyzing the scientific and technical

information used to inform value-laden

decisions.

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 What Joint Fact Finding Does

• Bring together stakeholders (including decision-makersand experts) to seek agreement on:• Nature of the problem

•  What we know, don’t know, and need to know

• How to collect, analyze, and present information• Produce information that is:

• Publically and politically credible

• Scientifically legitimate

•Relevant (useful or salient)

•  An approach to resolve scientific disagreements andmaximize public participation

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Joint Fact-Finding Process

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Five Principles of JFF

1. Clarify the questions jointly before

gathering more data

2. Focus on decision-relevant information

3. Clarify the role of science and experts

4. Learn Together

5. Use contingent agreements to deal withuncertainty