Letter Report on a Technical Peer Review of the Buzzards Bay Risk Assessment (2013)

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53 Enclosure D Statement of Task At the request of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), an ad hoc committee will conduct a peer review to evaluate the methodologies and conclusions of the Buzzards Bay Risk Assessment (BBRA). The peer review of the Buzzards Bay Risk Assessment will focus on the following key questions posed by MassDEP: 1. Is the scope of the analysis (type and extent of data gathered) sufficient to support the decisions that are being made based on its results? 2. Are the methodologies used (“what if” and “change analysis”) appropriately applied to estimate the risk reduction benefits of each alternative? [Note particularly conclusions based on “change analysis” on page 70 of the BBRA (“The results of this analysis indicate that the greatest decrease in risk for tank barges operating in Buzzards Bay occurs with the addition of a pilot in addition to the crew, followed by the change to double hulls and then by the addition of escort tugs”) and conclusions based on the “what if” analysis on pages 71–73 of the BBRA.] 3. Does the data analyzed support the authors’ judgment and ranking of risk mitigation options considered?