Public Policy Engineering Debate Open Resolution — Dam Design Legislative Hearing
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/114#Public_Policy_Engineering_Debate_Open_Resolution_—_Dam_Design_Legislative_Hearing
Properties
Instance of
PublicPolicyEngineeringDebateOpenResolutionPrinciple
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#PublicPolicyEngineeringDebateOpenResolutionPrinciple
Applied to
State legislature hearings on water supply, flood control, and electric power production bills
Balancing with
Loyalty
Retained Engineer Public Hearing Advocacy-Objectivity Balance Principle
Concrete expression
The question of whether a series of low dams or one high dam is the most efficient and economical solution is a legitimate engineering policy debate that has been ongoing for years among the legislature and citizenry; both engineers' positions are ethically valid contributions to that open debate, and the legislature — not either engineer — is the appropriate authority to resolve it.
Confidence
0.92
Importance
high
Interpretation
In this legislative context, the open-resolution principle means that neither the state PE nor the private company PE is ethically obligated to defer to the other's conclusion; the legislature is the proper decision-making authority and both engineers serve the public interest by presenting their competing analyses.
Invoked by
Private Power Company PE Legislative Witness
State Power Commission PE Legislative Witness
Tension resolution
No tension requiring resolution — both engineers' participation in open legislative debate is affirmatively sanctioned by the principle that public engineering debates must be resolved by appropriate public authority through open deliberation.
Source Evidence
Source text
The most efficient and economical method to achieve the desired result has been debated within the legislature and among the citizenry generally for several years.
Text references
Hearings are called by a committee of the state legislature to receive comments and recommendations on the various proposals which have been offered.
The most efficient and economical method to achieve the desired result has been debated within the legislature and among the citizenry generally for several years.
TTL
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<http://proethica.org/ontology/case/114#Public_Policy_Engineering_Debate_Open_Resolution_—_Dam_Design_Legislative_Hearing> a proeth:PublicPolicyEngineeringDebateOpenResolutionPrinciple,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Public Policy Engineering Debate Open Resolution — Dam Design Legislative Hearing" ;
proeth:appliedto "State legislature hearings on water supply, flood control, and electric power production bills" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Loyalty",
"Retained Engineer Public Hearing Advocacy-Objectivity Balance Principle" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The question of whether a series of low dams or one high dam is the most efficient and economical solution is a legitimate engineering policy debate that has been ongoing for years among the legislature and citizenry; both engineers' positions are ethically valid contributions to that open debate, and the legislature — not either engineer — is the appropriate authority to resolve it." ;
proeth:confidence "0.92" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "114" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "facts" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-02T15:19:51.753769+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "114" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-02T15:19:51.753769+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "In this legislative context, the open-resolution principle means that neither the state PE nor the private company PE is ethically obligated to defer to the other's conclusion; the legislature is the proper decision-making authority and both engineers serve the public interest by presenting their competing analyses." ;
proeth:invokedby "Private Power Company PE Legislative Witness",
"State Power Commission PE Legislative Witness" ;
proeth:principleclass "Public Policy Engineering Debate Open Resolution Principle" ;
proeth:sourcetext "The most efficient and economical method to achieve the desired result has been debated within the legislature and among the citizenry generally for several years." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "No tension requiring resolution — both engineers' participation in open legislative debate is affirmatively sanctioned by the principle that public engineering debates must be resolved by appropriate public authority through open deliberation." ;
proeth:textreferences "Hearings are called by a committee of the state legislature to receive comments and recommendations on the various proposals which have been offered.",
"The most efficient and economical method to achieve the desired result has been debated within the legislature and among the citizenry generally for several years." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 114 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-02T15:38:37.734407"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 114 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
114
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-03-02T15:19:51.753769+00:00
First case
114
Generated
2026-03-02T15:19:51.753769+00:00
Attributed to
Case 114 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-02T15:38:37.734407
Generated by
ProEthica Case 114 Extraction