Breakthrough Approach to Environmental Assessments Benefits Industry, Regulators, and Public

Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. is pleased to announce the availability of a
breakthrough in the preparation of NEPA documents that removes subjectivity
and avoids the three major reasons decisions are challenged in the courts.
The company's techniques produce higher quality results more quickly and at
lower costs than do the traditional approach. The method can be applied to
state environmental permitting processes as well as those of other countries.
This breakthrough is the most important improvement to the conduct of
environmental impact assessments in more than three decades while it
definitively answers the critical question of all environmental assessments:
will the project have significant negative impacts on the environment,
economy and social values?

The new method uses the FuzzyEI-AssessorTM computer program to eliminate the
three most common criticisms of traditional assessments: inclusion of all
values and beliefs during the scoping process, equal evaluation of each
proposed project alternative, and basis upon which the decision is made. The
process is completely transparent, produces an audit trail of how each final
value was calculated from input data, and is guaranteed to be technically
sound and legally defensible.

"All environmental assessments reflect subjective societal values," says Dr.
Richard Shepard, President of the company. The modern approach quantifies
subjectivity, objectively measures the value of existing conditions and
project alternatives, and gives decision-makers solid support for their
decisions. It also strongly encourages all stakeholders, NGOs and other
interest groups to participate and share their values and beliefs at the
earliest stages of the assessment process. The breakthrough approach uses the
rigorous mathematics of fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic in a new application
area for these techniques. Shepard notes that, "in our experience with
environmental assessments not all groups have their values represented
equally in the public scoping phase, the alternatives are not consistently
analyzed with the same standards and the decision-makers have no objective
criteria to compare proposed project alternatives with the existing
conditions. Our method addresses all these short-comings quickly and
consistently so regulators can confidently make the proper decision."

Other innovations that are part of the breakthrough approach include the
calculation of an Environmental Condition Index (ECI) for the existing
environment as well as as for the projected future environments under the
various alternatives and the ability to combine qualitative (observational)
data with quantitative (measured) data when establishing baseline conditions.
This provides more baseline data in a shorter time and is often more
representative of natural ecosystem variabilitiy. Agency decision-makers are
given the existing conditions and each proposed alternative as a value
between 0.0 and 1.0 so there is solid support for their decision. How each of
those numbers is derived is explained by the software application using
numbers and graphs to make it easy to understand. This audit trail can become
part of the formal Record of Decision.

A comprehensive review of the traditional approach, explanation and
justification for the breakthrough methods, and an example based on an actual
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) at the Port of Vancouver (USA) in
Washington state are in Dr. Shepard's book, "Quantifying Environmental Impact
Assessments Using Fuzzy Logic," published by Springer-Verlag in their Series
on Environmental Management (in bookstores by the end of April, 2005).

"This approach will be appreciated and valued by all companies that have
experienced frustration, delay, and high cost in past impact assessments,"
says Shepard. To learn more about how your company can benefit from this new
system call the company 503-667-4517, send a fax to 503-667-8863, or e-mail a
message to info@appl-ecosys.com.

Rich Shepard
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.
2404 SW 22nd Street
Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 USA
503-667-4517 (voice)
503-667-8863 (fax)
info@appl-ecosys.com
Visit Our Web Site: http://www.appl-ecosys.com/