Scott FitzGerald, M.S. Candidate; Emilie Hung, M.Eng. Candidate; Judith Pederson, Ph.D.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sea Grant College Program
292 Main St., Room E38-300
Cambridge, MA 02139

Traditional methods for siting dredged material disposal areas generally start from a large but discrete universe of possible sites that get reduced to a ëshort listí of sites for review during the Environmental Impact Review / Statement (EIR/S) process using a set of predetermined criteria. The public has only limited participation in this process and as a result often does not understand the process / criteria by which sites were chosen leading to skepticism or opposition.

The emergence of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software for the desktop PC provides an inexpensive tool for manipulating the spatial data typical of siting decisions. An interactive GIS application is being developed with the objective of broadening the universe of possible sites to include a continuous region and to allow for community input in the beginning stages of the siting process. This GIS application incorporates scientifically derived data and analysis with tools to a) allow interested parties to weight the interests involved and examine the resulting tradeoffs inherent in any decision and b) retain a memory of past weights and decisions. This GIS application will be made available through the Web to allow for wide distribution of data and increased community participation.