Post-normal rationality in assessment of environmental damage and environmental risk

Abstract

The concern about the effects of environmental pollution, due to industries, energy extraction, waste, that has been spread into the society and increase the behavioral change of citizens. The paper tells about the environmental conflict that affects South of Italy, since the ‘90s, starting from the pollution due to steel industry, carbon power-stations, drilling and piping gas or petroleum. The conflict arose at the highest political level of discussion, by involving political and judiciary power. The perception of risk changed among people living near the work place since a long time, but exploited in the last decade. The paper compares the estimation of damage due to the consideration of the simple physical damage to soil and construction, and the assessment of the damage due to the change of behavior of consumers. It is a real pollution or only a simple perceived risk? Even in judicial processes the main concern was about the solution of such economic damage, and about how to estimate with a generally accepted method the economic damage. An iconic case study is shown, regards in the first case the loss of value of rural land crossed by Total pipelines in Basilicata region.