Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at IIT

December 30, 1977

WHEREAS, the goal of my endeavor is to provide a full-discLosure environmental document in which decision makers and the public can place Nil confidence,

THEREFORE, I subscribe to this Code of Ethical Practice.

I WILL examine all relationships or actions which could be legitimately interpreted as a conflict of interest by clients, officials, the public, or my peers; and I, will fully disclose in the environmental document or other writing available to the public or the client, my financial or personal interests in the project and each alternative, including the no-build or null alternative.

I WILL encourage,by every reasonable means, environmental planning to begin in the earliest stages of project conceptualization.

I WILL refuse to create an environmental document as a justification of a project or as a platform for opposition or advocacy.

I WILL abstain from attempting improperly to delay the outcome of an action or project through the environmental document process.

I WILL produce an objective environmental document; I will not allow any of my relationships with clients, employers, or others to interfere with my duty to provide a full disclosure environmental document.

IF PREPARING A DOCUMENT PURSUANT TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROCESS, I WILL

define a level of investigation appropriate to the nature and scope of the proposed project or action, and its probable impacts;

select and use qualified persons of pertinent disciplines in the conduct of the study;

incorporate the best principles of the design and environmental planning arts in recommending measures for mitigation of environmental harm and enhancement of environmental quality;

rely upon the independent judgment of an interdisciplinary team to determine impacts, define and evaluate all reasonable alternatives to the proposed action, and assess short-term versus long-term productivity with and without the project or action;

encourage public participation from the beginning in an open, frank arid productive atmosphere to stimulate democratic consensus;

write in a clear and accurate manner, to achieve objectivity and remove all 'possible bias;

list all study participants, their qualifications and affiliations;

cite all sources, written and oral;

strive to create a complete, scientifically accurate, objective environmental document that can be defended professionally.

IF REVIEWING AN ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENT, I WILL:

insist upon review of original technical reports or findings upon which conclusions or recommendations summarized in the environmental document are based, to ensure they are in conformity with applicable laws and guidelines;

assure that the assessment reflects my own best judgment where I am qualified to judge, and that of independent persons expert in areas beyond my capability to assess effects deemed "significant";

determine that the document is consistent with all pertinent laws, ordinances, guidelines, plans and policies to be best of my knowledge and ability;

certify acceptability of the environmental document only if I am satisfied that it has been prepared and reviewed in conformance with all of the above.