Risk Management & Environmental Impact Flashcards
7 cards from real CEA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Risk Management & Environmental Impact flashcards as text
Which approach to risk communication is considered MOST effective for conveying low-probability, high-consequence environmental risks to the public?
Answer: Comparing the risk to familiar everyday risks on the same scale
Comparative risk communication places an unfamiliar risk alongside familiar benchmarks (e.g., lifetime cancer risk from smoking), making abstract probabilities more comprehensible.
What distinguishes a 'recognized environmental condition' (REC) from a 'historical recognized environmental condition' (HREC) in an ASTM Phase I ESA?
Answer: RECs are current conditions; HRECs are past conditions now resolved to regulatory satisfaction
A HREC is a past REC that has been remediated to the satisfaction of the applicable regulatory authority with no further action required, whereas a REC represents an unresolved potential liability.
Under OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) standard, which element requires facilities to analyze potential failure modes and their consequences for highly hazardous chemical processes?
Answer: Process Hazard Analysis (PHA)
Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) systematically identifies, evaluates, and documents process hazards using methods such as HAZOP, What-If, or FMEA.
Which remediation technology uses electrical current to move ionic contaminants through soil toward collection electrodes, and is particularly suited to fine-grained soils?
Answer: Electrokinetic Remediation
Electrokinetic remediation applies a low-level direct current to move charged contaminants (heavy metals, some organics) through low-permeability soils where pump-and-treat is ineffective.
A risk auditor reviewing a facility's Risk Management Plan (RMP) under CAA Section 112(r) finds the worst-case scenario analysis uses incorrect meteorological data. This finding most directly affects which program element?
Answer: Offsite consequence analysis accuracy for regulatory reporting
Offsite consequence analysis (OCA) in the RMP relies on meteorological dispersion data to estimate toxic or flammable release endpoints; incorrect data invalidates the reported hazard zones.
Which concept in environmental risk management refers to the principle that protective action should be taken when there is scientific uncertainty about potential serious or irreversible harm?
Answer: Precautionary Principle
The Precautionary Principle holds that lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason to postpone protective measures when facing potential serious environmental harm.
When auditing an underground storage tank (UST) facility, which combination of findings represents the HIGHEST environmental risk?
Answer: No cathodic protection on a bare steel tank combined with a high water table and permeable soils
Bare steel tanks without cathodic protection corrode and leak; a high water table in permeable soils accelerates contaminant migration to groundwater, maximizing the likelihood and consequence of a release.