Constructing Barriers in the Translation and Deployment of Science: Basslink - A Case Study

The effect of the translation and deployment of science by development proponents in the impact assessment process is examined. Basslink, the 300 km power cable to transport electricity across Bass Strait, is the case study. Drawing on the sociology of science, this paper analyses one critic's contestation of the Basslink proponent's science. It highlights the extent to which impact assessment statements fortify proponents' knowledge-claims, obscuring from view the conditionality of science, and making these claims resistant to independent critique, analysis and verification. These circumstances have the potential to undermine the effectiveness, equity and transparency of regulatory instruments and enforcement mechanisms that derive from the impact assessment process as well as the regime's legitimacy.