Siting and the Politics of Equity

Abstract

Success in waste management, nationally and in every region of the country, founders on the impasse of today's siting paralysis. Facilities are needed, desperately; but they cannot be sited in the face of intense local opposition. Most people would agree that such facilities are needed -- but nearly everyone wants them located in someone else's town. Pressures to clean up abandoned dumpsites and manage new wastes better are intensifying: from the Congress, nearly every state's legislature, and the citizenry as a whole. These actions all require siting of new facilities, however, if they are to succeed. This siting dilemma can be resolved through implementation of an overall waste management strategy based on the politics of equity. The reasons for local resistance need to be understood, so that they can be confronted. An effective balance of federal, state, and local siting authority; a focus on treatment rather than continued dumping on the land; an emphasis on onsite rather than offsite waste treatment; an acceptance of the need for fair patterns of compensation negotiated with the local communities selected; simultaneous siting of numerous new facilities in accordance with regional needs and with local patterns of equity; and a firm commitment to reestablish the integrity and credibility of both government and industry. These are all crucial components of an innovative strategy to site new hazardous waste management facilities, and therefore to achieve responsible waste management.