The Case for Environmental Mediation

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Next, the ferry terminal at Port Townsend, Washington, needed to be replaced by a larger landing facility, but local citizens strongly disagreed about where to locate one.
Next, the ferry terminal at Port Townsend, Washington, needed to be replaced by a larger landing facility, but local citizens strongly disagreed about where to locate one.
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Four disputes settled by environmental mediation. First, Consolidated Edison wanted to build a giant Hudson River hydropower plant in the side of Storm King Mountain (left bank) that would use water pumped up into a massive highland reservoir. Environmentalists opposed the facility on aesthetic and ecological grounds.
Four disputes settled by environmental mediation. First, Consolidated Edison wanted to build a giant Hudson River hydropower plant in the side of Storm King Mountain (left bank) that would use water pumped up into a massive highland reservoir. Environmentalists opposed the facility on aesthetic and ecological grounds.
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Portage Island, which lay with the boundaries of the Lummi American Indian reservation, was supposed to be a public park. Lummis who didn't like that idea tried to block access by any outsiders.
Portage Island, which lay with the boundaries of the Lummi American Indian reservation, was supposed to be a public park. Lummis who didn't like that idea tried to block access by any outsiders.
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Finally: The four-lane bridge (secured by floating pontoons) on Seattle's old Interstate 90 was too small to handle the booming area's traffic. However, people had been arguing about where to run a new extension since 1964!
Finally: The four-lane bridge (secured by floating pontoons) on Seattle's old Interstate 90 was too small to handle the booming area's traffic. However, people had been arguing about where to run a new extension since 1964!

It’s pretty obvious to anyone who watches television or reads newspapers that we live in a quarrelsome society, a culture that seems intent upon adding an eleventh commandment, “Thou shalt sue thy neighbor, whenever possible,” to its liturgy. Still, in many instances, particularly when environmental issues are contested, there simply haven’t been any alternatives to the use of the court system. Unfortunately, asking judges to settle environmental conflicts all too often seems to lead to crowded court calendars, pyramiding attorney fees, and results that fail to resolve–or even address–the real problems involved.

In recent years, however, mediation–which has long been accepted as a means of resolving labor/management disputes–has begun to be used in environmental confrontations, and has shown some promising results. As you likely know, the settlement technique involves allowing a neutral third party to meet with the opposing sides, separately and jointly, in order to help each to understand the other’s objectives, to point out areas of agreement, and to encourage the opponents to resolve their differences by means of compromise and negotiation.

Environmental Mediation

  • Published on Jul 1, 1983
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