All the above words have been used to describe the recent draft HIA report for the Garfield County Battlement Mesa natural gas extraction project.
Check out the Glenwood Springs Post Independent article.
Most experienced HIA practitioners will have come across similar statements on their HIAs (from all kinds of stakeholders including communities and proponents). Making judgements under uncertainty and trying to quality assure these judgements is one of the most difficult aspects of doing good HIAs.
There are no easy answers but peer review both internal to the organisation doing the HIA as well as from external HIA practitioners and scientists (something suggested for this HIA) and having an explicit and detailed report can both help.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Click here to download the draft Battlement Mesa HIA Report.
