DP3

DecisionPoint
http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#DecisionPoint

DP3

When the client refuses or fails to adequately remediate the unauthorized wetland fill after being confronted, should Engineer A escalate the matter to regulatory authorities notwithstanding any client confidentiality claim?

After Engineer A contacts the client in writing about the unauthorized wetland fill, the client either refuses to remediate, fails to respond, or takes only partial remediation steps of uncertain legal sufficiency. Engineer A must now decide whether to escalate the matter to federal and state environmental regulatory authorities — including the Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, and applicable state environmental agencies — or to treat the client contact as having discharged the professional obligation. The client may assert that Engineer A's knowledge of the fill is confidential information arising from the prior professional relationship, and Engineer A must evaluate whether that confidentiality claim bars external disclosure.

Escalate the matter by reporting the confirmed unauthorized wetland fill to the Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, and applicable state environmental regulatory agencies, providing the documented record of the incidental observation, the written client confrontation, and the client's failure to remediate — recognizing that client confidentiality does not bar disclosure of a substantial violation of federal and state environmental law that implicates public welfare.

Treat the client's refusal as the end of Engineer A's professional obligation, accept any confidentiality claim the client asserts regarding Engineer A's knowledge of the fill, and take no further action — effectively allowing the ongoing wetland degradation to continue without regulatory intervention.

Continue to observe whether the client takes partial remediation steps, defer escalation to regulatory authorities on the assumption that partial action may eventually achieve compliance, and avoid reporting to agencies unless and until it becomes unambiguously clear that no remediation will occur — risking that ongoing degradation continues during the monitoring period and that the partial steps are legally insufficient.

Engineer A — Environmental Engineer, Former Wetland Delineation Contractor