MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION MAKING  Decision making related to environmental projects can often involve a complex mixture of priority-setting and trade-offs between economic, social, political and environmental impacts. Now more than ever, government and industry are looking for methods to document and enhance their decision-making processes. For these reasons, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is increasingly being applied by Hemmera experts to assist with decisions involving prioritization of funds, and decisions involving multiple criteria of potentially unequal weight. The primary advantage of MCDA is that it is an unbiased, impartial tool in the decision-making process. Although the human mind is capable of many impressive achievements, it has shown to be inconsistent when faced with numerous criteria, mixtures of qualitative and quantitative factors, or multiple alternatives. This can result in less than optimal decision-making and even worse, can make it difficult to convince others of the rationale supporting your decisions. Despite a long history of application in other fields, MCDA’s utilization in environmental management has been relatively recent. Today it is being applied by many organizations, government agencies, and progressive consultants such as Hemmera, to enhance the quality of their decisions in areas such as program funding, prioritizing funding for contaminated sites properties, or choosing between remediation and risk-management alternatives. There are a variety of MCDA methods in common use, each with its own strengths and weaknesses depending on the application and goals. Examples include multi-attribute utility/value theory (MAUT), analytical hierarchy process (AHP), preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE), and outranking. Each can offer great benefits, especially when supported by an expert who fully understand the capabilities and theories behind each package. Hemmera’s toxicology group is eager to discuss how Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis may benefit your organization and projects.

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