Abstract
A methodology for rating the suitability of sites forthe location of industrial facilities is formulated and appliedto the case of a coal-fired power plant location. The methodologycomprises two major interlinked components: the environmentalplant location indexing component, which involves theidentification, scaling and weighting of environmentalsensitivity factors; and the impact analysis component, whichinvolves the superimposition of the pollution generation impactsof an industrial facility on spatially gridded zones of variousenvironmental sensitivities. For each rectangular areal unitdefined by a square grid, the Unit Pollution Potential Index isdetermined by the severity and distribution of key environmentalsensitivity factors and the coverage of superimposed pollutanteffects as determined by contaminant fate and transport models.For any alternative site of a planned facility, the summation ofthe unit indices over the area of influence of the facilityprovides the quantitative Pollution Index, which can be used as abasis for comparison of alternative sites for planned facilities.For this paper, this methodology is applied to the hypotheticalcase of the siting of a coal-fired power plant in thenortheastern region of the United States, in which threealternative sites are considered. The three sites: A, B and Cyielded indices of 47.83, 47.91 and 47.6, respectively, indicatingthat site C is the most suitable for siting the power plant.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allert, L. et al.: 1987, 'DRASTIC: A Standardized System for Evaluating Ground Water Pollution Potential Using Hydrogeological Settings', U.S. EPA Report No. 600/2-97-033, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ada, OK.
Anandalingam, G. and Westfall, M.: 1988, 'Selection of hazardous waste disposal alternative using multi-attribute utility theory and fuzzy set analysis', J. Environ. Syst. 18(1), 69-95.
Blackman, C. B., Benson, B. E., Fischer, K. E. and Hardy, U. Z.: 1980, Enforcement and Safety Procedures for Evaluation of Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites, U.S. EPA Conference on Management of Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites, Washington, DC.
Call, H. J. and Merkhofer, M. W.: 1988, 'A Multi-attribute Utility Analysis Model for Ranking Superfund Sites, Superfund '88', Proc. 9th National Conf., Hazardous Materials Control Research Institute, Washington DC, 28-30 November, pp. 44-54.
Collins, J. P. and Glysson, E. A.: 1976, 'An Environmental Procedure Applied to Solid Waste Disposal', Energ. Found. Conf. on Land Application of Residual Materials, ASCE, NY.
EPRI: 1987, 'Operational Procedures to Evaluate Decisions with Multiple Objectives', Report Summary, prepared by the University of Southern California, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA.
Halfron, E.: 1989, 'Comparison of an index function and a vectorial approach method for ranking waste disposal sites', Environ. Sci. Tech. 23, 600-609.
Hushon, J. M. and Kornreich, M. R.: 1984, 'Scoring Systems for Hazardous Waste Assessment', Hazardous Assessment of Chemicals: Current Developments, Vol. 3, Academic Press.
Hylko, J. M., Thakkar, A. R. and Khanna, J. K.: 1990, 'Site Selection Criteria for Constructing an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) at a Commercial Nuclear Power Plant. High Level RadioactiveWaste Management', Vol. 2, Proceedings of the International Topical Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, 8-12 April.
Inyang, H. I. 2000, 'Confluence of disciplines and analytical techniques on waste management facility site selection', J. Environ. Eng. ASCE 126(11), 983.
Inyang, H. I. and Fisher, G. F.: 2000, 'Spatial Indexing of Environmental Sensitivity for Selection of Industrial Sites', Proc. 6th Int. Conf. Environmental Issues and Management of Waste in Energy and Mineral Production, Calgary, Canada, pp. 683-687.
Kao, J. J., Lin, H.-Y. and Chen, W.-Y.: 1997, 'Network geographic information system for landfill siting', Waste Manage. Res. 15, 239-253.
Lin, H. S., Scott, H. D., Steele, K. F. and Inyang, H. I.: 1999, 'Agricultural chemicals in the alluvial aquifer of a typical county of the Arkansas Delta', Environ. Monitor. Assess. 58, 151-172.
Maler, G. K. and Wyzga, R. E.: 1976, Economic Measurement of Environmental Damage, Office for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris, France.
Marin, C. M., Medina, M. A. and Butcher, J. B.: 1989, 'Monte Carlo analysis and Bayesian decision theory for assessing the effects of waste sites on groundwater. Part I: Theory', J. Contam. Hydrol. 5, 1-13.
Martin, D. O.: 1976 'The change of concentration standard deviation with distance', J. Air Pollut. Cont. Assoc. 26(2), 38-45.
Medina, M. A., Butcher, J. B. and Marin, C. M.: 1989, 'Monte Carlo analysis and Bayesian decision theory for assessing the effects of waste sites on groundwater. Part II: Applications', J. Contam. Hydrol. 5, 15-31.
Olivieri, A. W., Eisenberg, D. M. and Cooper, R. C.: 1986, 'Groundwater contamination site ranking methodology', J. Environ. Eng. Sci. 112(4), 757-769.
Ozowski, S. L., Swick, J. D., Carney, G. R., Pena, H. B., Danielson, J. E. and Parrish, D. A.: 2001, 'A watershed-based cumulative risk impact analysis: environmental vulnerability and impact criteria', Environ. Monitor. Assess. 66, 159-185.
Schwartz, S. I., McBride, R. A. and Powell, R. L.: 1988, 'Models for aiding hazardous waste facility siting decisions', J. Environ. Syst. 18(2), 97-122.
Siddigui, M. Z., Everett, J. W. and Vieux, B. E.: 1996, 'Landfill siting using Geographic Information Systems: A demonstration', J. Environ. Eng. 122(6), 515-523.
Smith, M. and Carpenter, C.: 1996, 'Application of the USDA Forest Service national hierarchical framework of ecological units at the sub-regional level: The New England-New York example', Environ. Monitor. Assess. 39, 187-198.
Smith, P. N.: 1995, 'Environmental evaluation: Fuzzy impact aggregation', J. Environ. Syst. 24(2), 191-204.
Stermole, F. J.: 1982, Economic Evaluation and Investment Decision Methods, 4th ed., Investment Evaluation Corporation, Golden, CO.
Turner, D. Bruce: 1970, Workbook of Atmospheric Dispersion Estimates, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC.
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission: 1968, 'Meteorology and Atomic Energy', TID-24190.
U.S. DOE: 1986, The Multiattribute Utility Functions for Evaluating Nominated Sites: A Multiattribute Utility Analysis of Sites Nominated for Characterization for the First Radioactive Waste Repository-A Decision-siding Methodology, DOE/RW-0074, Nuclear Waste Policy Act (Section 112), U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC.
Whelan G., Strenge, D. L., Steelman, B. L. and Hawley, K. A.: 1985, 'Development of the Remedial Action Priority System: An Improved Risk Assessment Tool for Prioritizing Hazardous and Radioactive Mixed Waste Disposal Sites', 6th Int. Conf. Management of Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites, Washington, DC, 4-6 November.
Whitehead, J. C. and Blomquist, G. C.: 1991, 'Measuring contingent values for wetlands: Effects of information about related environmental goods', Water Resour. Res. 27(10), 2523-2531.
Wright, F. G., Inyang, H. I. and Myers, V. B.: 1993, 'Risk reduction through regulatory control of waste disposal facility siting', J. Environ. Syst. 22(1), 27-35.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Inyang, H.I., Fisher, G.F. & Mbamalu, G.E. A Quantitative Methodology for Indexing Environmental Sensitivity and Pollution Potential. Environ Monit Assess 84, 159–173 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022855617956
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022855617956