Knowledge of Damaging Information

CE 480

The State Pollution Control Authority advises the Bright Corporation that it has 60 days to apply for a permit to discharge manufacturing wastes into a body of water. In order to convince the Authority that it will meet the environmental standards, the Bright Corporation employs Smith, an engineer, to perform consulting engineering services and submit a detailed report. After completing the studies, Smith concludes that the discharge from the plant will violate environmental standards and that the corrective action will be very costly to Bright. Smith verbally notifies the company, which terminates its contract with Smith with full payment for the services performed. It instructs Smith not to render a written report to the corporation.

A short time later, Smith learns that the Authority has called a public hearing, where the Bright Corporation has presented data to support its claim that the present plant discharge meets minimum standards.

Questions:

(1) After learning of the hearing, is Smith obliged to report the violation of environmental standards to the Authority?

(2) Smiths Smith have any residual obligation to the Bright Corporation that would stand in the way of doing so?

(3) Is there any additional information that you feel you need in order to make an adequate assessment of the ethical situation?

definitions

CONTRACT

As used in ethics, the term "contract" means an explicit agreement which is freely entered into. Only a small number of these would qualify as legal contracts. A legal contract is a legally binding agreement among two or more parties. (Breach of contract is the failure to fulfill a legal contract.)

OBLIGATIONS

Requirements arising from a person's situation or circumstances (e.g., relationships, knowledge, position) that specify what must or must not be done for some moral, legal, religious, or institutional reasons. For example, students have an obligation to see their advisor on or before Registration Day. People have a moral obligation to keep their promises. Notice that usually statements of obligations specify what acts are required or forbiddden without reference to the consequences of performing the act (except insofar as these consequences are a part of the characterization of the act itself -- for example, killing is an act that results in death.) However, occasionally you will see such statements as "engineers have an obligation in their work to ensure public safety," meaning that engineers are morally required to ensure the public safety but without specifying what acts they should or should not perform in order to ensure safety. A legal obligation is a legal requirement that specifies what types of actions are permitted, forbidden, or required on legal grounds. Often legal obligations are monetary debts. When we speak of an obligation without specifying its nature we will mean a moral obligation.