Beyond self‐interest: a model of public attitudes towards waste facility siting

This study examines the attitudinal and demographic determinants of public preferences towards siting solid waste disposal facilities in the United States. Survey data is collected from a random sample of 400 individuals selected from the population of the State of Connecticut. A logit statistical model of public preferences towards siting is created. The results are consistent with previous research indicating the importance of variables reflective of self‐interest motivations, such as perceptions of costs and benefits, in influencing attitudes. However, it is also revealed that more longstanding values, in addition to narrowly defined personal costs and benefits, influence siting preferences. These include widely‐shared norms concerning need for the facility and the appropriate sphere of government influence. Effective, efficient and equitable siting policy must consider and respond to these additional public motivations.     

Host community attitudes towards solid waste landfill infrastructure: comprehension before compensation

One of the most controversial planning issues internationally is the siting of waste disposal infrastructure in local communities. Compensation is viewed as a possible solution to siting difficulties in many countries. However, existing empirical evidence is conflicting as to whether or not compensation-based siting has reduced opposition to such developments. Thus, before compensation policy can be considered as the solution for recognising social costs and introducing equity into the waste planning system, it is important to understand why people reject waste disposal infrastructure developments and if this rejection continues over the lifetime of facility operations. This paper utilises information gathered through surveys to examine the effects of distance, local authority consultation efforts, experience and other factors, on attitudes towards non-hazardous solid waste landfill developments in two examples of a potential and actual host communities. Our findings suggest distance proxies expectations of environmental risk in communities with no experience of living with landfill infrastructure. Community consultations by authorities are consistently important, even after a landfill has been in operation for a number of years. This suggests to policy makers to consult thoroughly and adequately before pursuing compensation policies.     

Making or breaking waste facility siting successes with a siting framework

Waste facility siting successes depend on many linked factors of facility design and impacts, site characteristics, and community beliefs and values. A facility siting framework is constructed to combine important elements and cause–effect linkages that affect the siting outcome. The framework consists of three main components: (1) core elements of facility design, effects, and community beliefs, attitude and response; (2) contributing factors of site and community characteristics, community beliefs and values that affect the interpretation of the facility and its effects; and (3) siting management interventions to manage the process and facility impacts. The framework is applied in an unsuccessful and a successful siting case to determine the key elements that contribute to siting outcome: (1) thorough need justification for the facility from the proponent's and the community's perspective; (2) careful facility design and prediction of the impacts and to select impact management compensation measures; (3) screening and selection of communities where the beliefs and values are compatible with the type of facility and its effects, (4) cooperatively selected impact reduction (i.e., prevention, control, and mitigation) measures followed by compensation and incentives; and (5) intensive process management to balance the community characteristics and values with the proponent's efforts to plan, design, assess and manage impacts, and ultimately, gain approval of the facility. The siting framework provides a comprehensive and robust structure of key factors that contribute to siting outcome and, therefore, provides the tool to identify, evaluate, and design siting interventions to enhance the chances of successful siting outcome.     

Compensation for risks: host community benefits in siting locally unwanted facilities

This article analyzes the recent negotiations connected with siting 24 solid-waste landfills in Wisconsin. We examine the association between the type and amount of compensation paid to host communities by facility developers and the size of facilities, certain facility characteristics, the timing of negotiated agreements, the size of the host community, and the socioeconomic status of the host area. Our findings suggest that the level of compensation after adjusting for landfill capacity is positively associated with the percentage of total facility capacity dedicated to host community use, positively associated with the percentage of people of the host area who are in poverty, and larger for public facilities that accept municipal wastes. Other explanatory variables we examined, whose association with levels of compensation proved statistically insignificant, were facility size, facility status (new vs expansion), facility use (countyonly vs multicounty), timing of negotiation, host community size, and the host area education level, population density, and per capita income. We discuss the policy implications of our principal findings and future research questions in light of the persistent opposition surrounding the siting of solid-waste and other waste-management facilities.     

Environmental justice: A louisiana case study

The paper begins with a brief analysis of the concepts of environmental justice and environmental racism and classism. The authors argue that pollution- and environment-related decision-making is prima facie wrong whenever it results in inequitable treatment of individuals on the basis of race or socio-economic status. The essay next surveys the history of the doctrine of free informed consent and argues that the consent of those affected is necessary for ensuring the fairness of decision-making for siting hazardous facilities. The paper also points out that equal opportunity to environmental protection and free informed consent are important rights. Finally, it presents a case study on the proposed uranium enrichment facility near Homer, Louisiana and argues that siting the plant would violate norms of distributive equity and free informed consent. It concludes that siting the facility is a case of environmental injustice and likely an example of environmental racism or classism.     

Using citizen science in environmental justice: participation and decision-making in a Southern California waste facility siting conflict

Uses of science by environmental justice (EJ) activists reflect struggles to challenge professional scientific expertise, achieve fair outcomes, and effectively participate in decision-making processes. This qualitative research analyses the relationship between citizen science and EJ in a new waste facility siting conflict in urban Los Angeles, namely connections between citizen science and four dimensions of EJ: fair distribution, respect and recognition, participation in decision-making, and community capabilities. Citizen science is one tactic in EJ, yet little research investigates its role in a new facility siting conflict, particularly in relation to multi-faceted EJ goals. The research reveals opportunities for individual empowerment and community capacity building using citizen science, and a small measure of improved respect and recognition for participants who brought their own knowledge, research, and voices to the table. At the same time, the work identifies limitations on citizen science to improve local participatory procedures and decision-making, which also constricted the achievement of outcomes most desired by the EJ group: to prevent approval and construction of the new waste facility. This paper argues that uses of citizen science contributed to partial achievement of EJ goals, while hindered by governance processes that call for public participation yet shield decision-makers from substantive engagement with the volume or content of that participation.     

(Not) talking about justice: justice self-recognition and the integration of energy and environmental-social justice into renewable energy siting

Renewable energy often provokes heated debate on climate change, energy security and the local impacts of developments. However, how far such discussions involve thorough and inclusive debate on the energy and environmental-social justice issues associated with renewable energy siting remains ambiguous, particularly where government agendas prioritise renewable energy and planning systems offer limited opportunities for public debate on value-based arguments for and against renewable energy developments. Using the concept of justice self-recognition, we argue for greater attention to public discussion of the justice dimensions of renewable energy to assist in developing mechanisms to integrate distributive and procedural fairness principles into renewable energy decision-making. To explore how justice is currently invoked in such contexts, we examine recent U.K. policies for renewable energy and public submissions to applications for small-scale wind energy projects in Cornwall, U.K. The analysis of public comments revealed that justice concerns were rarely discussed explicitly. Comments instead did not raise concerns as justice issues or focused implicitly on distributive justice, stressing local aesthetic, community and economic impacts, clean energy and climate change. However, the findings indicated limited discussion of procedural or participatory justice, an absence that hampers the establishment of coherent procedures for deciding acceptable impacts, information standards, public participation and arbitrating disputes. We conclude by suggesting procedural reforms to policy and planning to enable greater public expression of justice concerns and debate on how to negotiate tensions between energy and environmental-social justice in renewable energy siting decisions.     

On-farm assessment of biosolids effects on soil and crop tissue quality

Agronomic use of biosolids as a fertilizer material remains controversial in part due to public concerns regarding the potential pollution of soils, crop tissue, and ground water by excess nutrients and trace elements in biosolids. This study was designed to assess the effects of long-term commercial-scale application of biosolids on soils and crop tissue sampled from 18 production farms throughout Pennsylvania. Biosolids application rates ranged from 5 to 159 Mg ha(-1) on a dry weight basis. Soil cores and crop tissue samples from corn (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine spp.), alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), orchardgrass (Dactylis spp.) hay, and/or sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] were collected for three years from georeferenced locations at each farm. Samples were tested for nutrients, trace elements, and other variables. Biosolids-treated fields had more post-growing season soil NO3 and Ca and less soil K than control fields and there was some evidence that soil P concentrations were higher in treated fields. The soil concentrations of Cu, Cr, Hg, Mo, Mn, Pb, and Zn were higher in biosolids-treated fields than in control fields; however, differences were < or = 0.06 of the USEPA Part 503 cumulative pollutant loading rates (CPLRs). There were no differences in the concentrations of measured nutrients or trace elements in the crop tissue grown on treated or control fields at any time during the study. Commercial-scale biosolids application resulted in soil trace element increases that were in line with expected increases based on estimated trace element loading. Excess NO3 and apparent P buildup indicates a need to reassess biosolids nutrient management practices.     

Assessing the demand of solid waste disposal in urban region by urban dynamics modelling in a GIS environment

The twentieth century saw a dramatic increase in the production of urban solid waste, reflecting unprecedented global levels of economic activity. Despite some efforts to reduce and recover the waste, disposal in landfills is still the most usual destination. However, landfill has become more difficult to implement because of its increasing cost, community opposition to landfill siting, and more restrictive environmental regulations regarding the siting and operation of landfills. Moreover, disposal in landfill is the waste destination method with the largest demand for land, while land is a resource whose availability has been decreasing in urban systems. Shortage of land for landfills is a problem frequently cited in the literature as a physical constraint. Nonetheless, the shortage of land for waste disposal has not been fully studied and, in particular, quantified. This paper presents a method to quantify the relationship between the demand and supply of suitable land for waste disposal over time using a geographic information system and modelling techniques. Based on projections of population growth, urban sprawl and waste generation the method can allow policy and decision-makers to measure the dimension of the problem of shortage of land into the future. The procedure can provide information to guide the design and schedule of programs to reduce and recover waste, and can potentially lead to a better use of the land resource. Porto Alegre City, Brazil was used as the case study to illustrate and analyse the approach. By testing different waste management scenarios, the results indicated that the demand for land for waste disposal overcomes the supply of suitable land for this use in the study area before the year 2050.     

Public perception of locally unwanted facilities in Hong Kong: implications for conflict resolution

This paper aims to investigate factors affecting public attitude towards the siting of locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) and to explore the possible strategies to resolve such conflicts. Three questionnaire surveys were undertaken in communities with different siting experiences and socio-economic profiles. Over 750 individuals were successfully interviewed in each study district. The three communities were found to share similar risk beliefs but show variations in the level of awareness of and response to LULUs. In communities with a disproportionate share of LULUs, many residents did not trust the government in handling LULU issues and thought that the siting process was unfair. The results of the binary logistic regression analysis show that people are likely to oppose the siting of a LULU in their community if they have a negative siting experience, do not perceive the need, accord a high risk to the facility and have a low level of trust in government. The resolution strategies preferred by the public are greater public participation and effective mitigation of risks and impacts, rather than provision of compensation and incentives. All these call for policy-makers to be sensitive to local concerns, engage the public in the process, communicate risks effectively and foster trust building.     

Canadian Innovations in Siting Hazardous Waste Management Facilities

/ Siting hazardous waste facilities is an extremely complex and difficult endeavor. Public aversion to the construction of these facilities in or near their community often results in concerted opposition, referred to as the NIMBY syndrome. For the most part, siting processes do not fail because of inadequate environmental or technical considerations, but because of the adversarial decision-making strategies employed by the proponents. Innovative siting processes used in the provinces of Alberta and Manitoba offer tangible evidence of the successful application of an innovative siting approach based on the principles of decentralization of decision-making authority and full and meaningful public involvement. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate four Canadian siting processes from the perspective of public participation and access to decision-making authority. Examples of siting processes related to hazardous waste management facilities are provided from the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Ontario. Siting has evolved from approaches dominated by top-down decision making to increasing decentralized and pluralistic approaches. Focusing on social and political concerns of potentially affected communities and on the process of decision making itself are fundamental to achieving siting success. In Alberta initially, and later in Manitoba, this new "open approach" to siting has resulted in the construction of the first two comprehensive hazardous waste treatment facilities in Canada.KEY WORDS: Hazardous waste facilities; Siting methodologies; Public participation     

Effect of biosolids processing on lead bioavailability in an urban soil

The potential for biosolids products to reduce Pb availability in soil was tested on a high Pb urban soil with biosolids from a treatment plant that used different processing technologies. High Fe biosolids compost and high Fe + lime biosolids compost from other treatment plants were also tested. Amendments were added to a Pb-contaminated soil (2000 mg kg(-1) Pb) at 100 g kg(-1) soil and incubated for 30 d. Reductions in Pb bioavailability were evaluated with both in vivo and in vitro procedures. The in vivo study entailed feeding a mixture of the Pb-contaminated soil and AIN93G Basal Mix to weanling rats. Three variations of an in vitro procedure were performed as well as conventional soil extracts [diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) and Ca(NO3)2] and sequential extraction. Addition of the high Fe compost reduced the bioavailability of soil Pb (in both in vivo and in vitro studies) by 37 and 43%, respectively. Three of the four compost materials tested reduced Pb bioavailability more than 20%. The rapid in vitro (pH 2.3) data had the best correlation with the in vivo bone results (R = 0.9). In the sequential extract, changes in partitioning of Pb to Fe and Mn oxide fractions appeared to reflect the changes in in vivo Pb bioavailability. Conventional extracts showed no changes in metal availability. These results indicate that addition of 100 g kg(-1) of high Fe and Mn biosolids composts effectively reduced Pb availability in a high Pb urban soil.     

“Liberating” social knowledges for water management,and more broadly environmental management,through “place-change planning”

In response to the big policy problem of increasing failures of traditional, largely technical, policy approaches to constructively address transformational or radical socio-environmental problems from major facility siting, landscape modification, and/or new environmental management at the local level, this paper introduces “place-change planning”. This concept is applied to recent calls by Australian water scientists and policy-makers “to liberate the knowledge, skills and individual leadership and collaboration of all stakeholders to reflect a more decentralised, disaggregated and localised water world”. Local community stakeholders appear the most neglected stakeholder currently in such water management, despite increasing international recognition of their importance for constructive change in transitional sustainability contexts. As such, place-change policy design focuses on the importance of collaborative participatory approaches for better understanding of the underlying rationalities, and, by association, of better liberating the social knowledges, of place-based local communities for better policy input to realise new visions of sustainable water management, and beyond.     

Biosolids impact soil phosphorus accountability, fractionation, and potential environmental risk

Biosolids land application rates are typically based on crop N requirements but can lead to soil P accumulation. The Littleton/Englewood, Colorado, wastewater treatment facility has supported biosolids beneficial-use on a dryland wheat-fallow agroecosystem site since 1982, with observable soil P concentration increases as biyearly repeated biosolids applications increased from 0, 6.7, 13, 27, to 40 Mg ha(-1). The final study year was 2003, after which P accountability, fractionation, and potential environmental risk were assessed. Between 93 and 128% of biosolids-P added was accounted for when considering conventional tillage soil displacement, grain removal, and soil adsorption. The Fe-P fraction dominated all soil surface P fractions, likely due to an increase in amorphous Fe-oxide because Fe2(SO4)3 was added at the wastewater treatment facility inflow for digester H2S reduction. The Ca-P phase dominated all soil subsurface P fractions due to calcareous soil conditions. A combination of conventional tillage, drought from 1999 to 2003, and repeated and increasing biosolids application rates may have forced soil surface microorganism dormancy, reduction, or mortality; thus, biomass P reduction was evident. Subsurface biomass P was greater than surface biomass, possibly due to protection against environmental and anthropogenic variables or to increased dissolved organic carbon inputs. Even given years of biosolids application, the soil surface had the ability to sorb additional P as determined by shaking the soil in an excessive P solution. Biosolids-application regulations based on the Colorado Phosphorus Index would not impede current site practices. Proper monitoring, management, and addition of other best management practices are needed for continued assurance that P movement off-site does not become a major issue.     

Collaborative learning for policy innovations: sustainable urban drainage systems in Leicester,England

ABSTRACT

Collaboration among multiple stakeholders is crucial in decentralised governance settings. The success of such collaboration hinges upon collaborative learning – the acquiring, translating, and disseminating of policy-relevant knowledge. However, despite much research, a knowledge gap persists in the public policy literature on the relationship between learning and policy change. It is debated whether learning is necessary and sufficient for policy change, and if so, under what conditions. To contribute to this debate, this paper examined whether collaborative learning has had any impact on the emergence and implementation of sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) in Leicester, England. We first examined implementation of SuDS in Leicester, and then study collaborative learning focused on SuDS. We found that implementation of SuDS in Leicester is marginal despite active collaborative learning that has resulted in the change in beliefs and attitudes towards SuDS among all policy actors in the setting. Social dynamics factors and leadership of two SuDS champions proved crucial for collaborative learning. We conclude that collaborative learning, while essential for legitimacy of a policy innovation, is not sufficient for policy change and a national legal and institutional framework is required to incentivise broader SuDS practices in Leicester and England.     

Public concerns and the public role in siting nuclear and chemical waste facilities

Nuclear and chemical waste facilities can be successfully sited, despitenimby responses, if siting programs account for the sources of public concern. Irrational fear is not the main source; instead, waste managers must deal with perceived inequities in the distribution of benefits and costs, and concern about facility safety. Benefit-cost inequities may be dealt with in part by keeping wastes where they are generated, through political restrictions, or by providing economic compensation and political incentives (for example, a local veto). Assuring people of facility safety includes allowing local control (monitoring, health assessment, regulation), and enhancing trust of facility managers through such means as rectifying past mistakes, individual-oriented education campaigns, and negotiation of compensation packages with local residents. These means should reduce —without eliminating—public opposition to local siting of nuclear and chemical waste facilities.     

A comparative analysis of the psychosocial impacts of waste disposal facilities

This paper reports the results of a comparative analysis of the psychosocial impacts of municipal solid waste disposal facilities (both landfills and incinerators) in six communities in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. Telephone surveys were administered to random samples of residents living around each facility between 1990 and 1995 (total n=1203). The results of logistic regression analyses show that type of facility was the strongest predictor of residents' awareness, concern, and actions taken in response to site concerns. Essentially, residents living in close proximity to a landfill had a higher probability of reporting awareness, concern or actions than residents living around an incinerator site. There was little evidence of differences in reactions between Ontario and British Columbia (BC) residents, despite variations in provincial policies on waste disposal. The effects of other predictors, with the exception of involvement in the local community, were not consistent, supporting previous findings that the determinants of facility impacts are outcome‐specific. It is essential that environmental managers take this constellation of factors into account in the operation of existing, or siting of new, facilities.     

Phosphorus and nitrogen runoff from a forested watershed fertilized with biosolids

Municipal biosolids are typically not used on the steepest of forested slopes in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The primary concern in using biosolids on steep slopes is movement of biosolids particles and soluble nutrients to surface waters during runoff events. We examined the pattern and extent of P and N runoff from a perennial stream draining a small, forested 21.4-ha watershed in western Washington before and after biosolids application. In this study, we applied biosolids at a rate of 13.5 Mg ha(-1) (700 kg N ha(-1) and 500 kg P ha(-1)) to 40% of the watershed following nearly 1.5 years of pre-application water sampling and 1.5 years thereafter. There was no evidence of direct runoff of P or N from biosolids into surface water. Elevated surface water discharge did not change the concentration of PO4-P, biologically available phosphorus (BAP), bioavailable particulate phosphorus (BPP), or total P nor did it affect the concentration-discharge relationship. Some instances of total P concentrations exceeding the USEPA surface water standard of 0.1 mg L(-1) were observed following biosolids application. However, total P in 27 Creek was predominately in particulate form and not labile, suggesting that detritus moving into the main creek channel and ephemeral drainage courses may be the principal P source. Ammonium N concentrations in runoff water were consistent before and after biosolids application, ranging from below detection limits (0.01 mg L(-1)) to 0.1 mg L(-1); no concentration-discharge relationship existed. Biosolids application changed the 27 Creek concentration-discharge relationship for NO3(-)-N. Before application, no relationship existed. Beginning nine months after biosolids application, increases in discharge were positively related to increases in NO3(-)-N concentrations. Nitrate concentrations in runoff following biosolids application were approximately 10 times less than the USEPA drinking water standard of 10 mg L(-1).     

Policy conflicts in the siting of natural gas pipelines

ABSTRACT

Researchers often focus on the most intense conflicts, skewing our perception of the diversity and nature of policy conflicts. The paper examines the discourse engaged in the siting of three pipeline projects under construction, each with varying levels of conflict, and one rejected project of high conflict. We analyze over 700 newspaper articles that span the life of each proposed pipeline and supplement the news media data with interviews. Using these data, we compare differences in actor types, frames, and behaviors in natural gas pipeline siting processes characterized by high, medium, and low conflict. Comparing the characteristics of energy siting conflicts at varying intensities helps support corresponding portrayals of how people engage in the policy process. This paper offers theoretical and empirical guidance on understanding policy conflict intensity variation.     

Environmental criteria in industrial facility siting decisions: An analysis

Environmental criteria are increasingly being employed in industrial facility siting, usually in multicriteria decision contexts, together with technical, socioeconomic and other considerations. This paper analyzes the criteria that have appeared in the published literature with the aim to offer guidance for their selection in a particular facility location problem. A number of alternative classification schemes are presented, first based on the most prevalent classification dimensions which are: the economy-environment relationship, purpose of the criterion, complexity, spatial and temporal scale, and level of measurement. The major scheme adopted draws from the economy-environment relationship and assigns environmental critera to one of seven categories: general characterizations of the environment, characteristics of individual environmental components, measures of the magnitude and intensity of the activity, measures of the nature and volume of wastes which are produced, characteristics of impacts on separate environmental media and receptors, general characterizations of environmental quality, and impacts on humans. Within each of these categories the criteria are analyzed in terms of the other classification dimensions. Common characteristics among the various criteria as well as future trends in their development are identified. This paper also discusses the most important factors conditioning the choice of criteria in a particular facility siting context and outlines a systematic procedure for their selection in real-world applications.