Inhaber's report, Risk of Energy Production (Atomic Energy Control Board Report AECB-1119, Ottawa, Canada, 1978;EAPA 5:15) has been described by its author and its sponsors as a pioneering, comprehensive, consistent, and unbiased comparison of the health hazards of conventional and unconventional energy technologies. Here, the authors say none of these descriptions is accurate, and attempt to show that the report's approach is not original, that its coverage is not complete, that its calculations are not consistent, and that it is biased against unconventional energy technologies and in favor of nuclear power. They say further that the report's widely circulated and potentially influential conclsion - that the health hazards of deriving energy from wood, wind, and sunlight are comparable to those of using coal and oil and much greater than those of using nuclear power - is in no sense derived from the actual characteristics of the technologies involved. Inhaber's errors and the consequences of correcting them are described here in documented detail. Also discussed are the circumstances - including the roles of the author, the sponsors, and the knowledgeable technical community - that permitted the report to gain widespread credibility. The authors state that they have given the matter suchmore » detailed attention for two main reasons: (1) the Inhaber report's erroneous conclusions bear directly on issues at the heart of current national and international energy dilemmas, and could easily cause or be used to justify poor policy choices; (2) the widespread notice that Inhaber's claims have drawn to the topic of comparative environmental assessment provides a good opportunity to call attention to the pitfalls as well as the potential of this important field. « less