Objectivity Obligation — Engineer A Regulatory Testimony
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/145#Objectivity_Obligation_—_Engineer_A_Regulatory_Testimony
Properties
Instance of
Applied to
Engineer A's expert testimony on coal bed methane discharge permit rules
Balancing with
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits
Loyalty
Concrete expression
Engineer A's simultaneous employment by the U.S. DOE in the coal bed methane domain and private consulting for coal bed methane companies whose interests were directly implicated by the State Y hearing rules fundamentally compromised his ability to offer objective testimony at the regulatory proceeding
Confidence
0.87
Importance
high
Interpretation
Objectivity in regulatory testimony requires freedom from financial and institutional conflicts of interest that could bias the engineer's technical opinions; dual employment in the same domain as the subject matter of the proceeding makes objectivity unattainable
Invoked by
Engineer A DOE Coal Bed Methane Regulatory Witness
Tension resolution
Objectivity obligation cannot be satisfied when the engineer is simultaneously employed by a government agency in the same domain and compensated by an interested private party
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients
Text references
Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients
Engineer A's attendance at the hearing was paid for by a private coal bed methane company.
TTL
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@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
<http://proethica.org/ontology/case/145#Objectivity_Obligation_—_Engineer_A_Regulatory_Testimony> a proeth:Objectivity,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Objectivity Obligation — Engineer A Regulatory Testimony" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's expert testimony on coal bed methane discharge permit rules" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits",
"Loyalty" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's simultaneous employment by the U.S. DOE in the coal bed methane domain and private consulting for coal bed methane companies whose interests were directly implicated by the State Y hearing rules fundamentally compromised his ability to offer objective testimony at the regulatory proceeding" ;
proeth:confidence "0.87" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "145" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-28T18:20:54.697195+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "145" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-28T18:20:54.697195+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "Objectivity in regulatory testimony requires freedom from financial and institutional conflicts of interest that could bias the engineer's technical opinions; dual employment in the same domain as the subject matter of the proceeding makes objectivity unattainable" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A DOE Coal Bed Methane Regulatory Witness" ;
proeth:principleclass "Objectivity" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients" ;
proeth:tensionresolution "Objectivity obligation cannot be satisfied when the engineer is simultaneously employed by a government agency in the same domain and compensated by an interested private party" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients",
"Engineer A's attendance at the hearing was paid for by a private coal bed methane company." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 145 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-28T18:32:03.192918"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 145 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
145
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-28T18:20:54.697195+00:00
First case
145
Generated
2026-02-28T18:20:54.697195+00:00
Attributed to
Case 145 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-28T18:32:03.192918
Generated by
ProEthica Case 145 Extraction