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117 Appendix C Disclosure of Unavoidable Conflicts of Interest The conflict-of-interest policy of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (www.nationalacademies.org/coi) prohibits the appointment of an individual to a committee like the one that au- thored this Consensus Study Report if the individual has a conflict of interest that is relevant to the task to be performed. An exception to this prohibition is permitted only if the National Academies determines that the conflict is unavoidable and the conflict is promptly and publicly disclosed. When the committee that authored this report was established, a determination of whether there was a conflict of interest was made for each committee member given the individualâs circumstances and the task being undertaken by the committee. A determination that an individual has a conflict of interest is not an assessment of that individualâs actual behavior or character or ability to act objectively despite the conflicting interest. Mr. William (Bill) C. Shust was determined to have a conflict of inter- est because he owns Objective Engineers Inc., which performs mechanical testing and analysis for clients in the railroad industry. Mr. Patrick J. Student was determined to have a conflict of interest because he consults for a railroad industry trade association that represents freight rail carriers. In each case, the National Academies determined that the experience and expertise of the individual was needed for the committee to accom- plish the task for which it was established. The National Academies could
118 PREPARING FOR LNG BY RAIL TANK CAR not find another available individual with the equivalent experience and expertise who did not have a conflict of interest. Therefore, the National Academies concluded that the conflict was unavoidable and publicly dis- closed it through the National Academies Current Projects System (https:// nationalacademies.org/pa).
