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Kent E. Portney
Research & Publications:
Siting Hazardous Waste Treatment
Facilities: The NIMBY Syndrome  Since the 1960's and 1970's, a wave of environmental awareness has
swept the United States. News reports of oil spills, DDT damage to
wildlife, and the nuclear near disaster at Three Mile Island have,
along with other incidents, contributed to a widespread distrust of
industry and a collective fear of all chemical processing facilities.
This fear has been translated, according to Kent Portney, into local
political opposition to the sitting of much needed hazardous waste
treatment plants-the NIMBY ("not in my backyard") syndrome. The failure
of federal, state, and local governments to effectively control
improper hazardous waste disposal has further strengthened the NIMBY
syndrome. Portney argues that once it is understood what motivates the
array of local attitudes toward hazardous waste treatment facilities,
and the political constraints placed on the search for solutions,
effective compromises can be reached. The book begins by focusing on the facility siting dilemma and what can be done to find new policies that work. Chapter two analyzes what does and doesn't work in easing the effects of the NIMBY syndrome. Democratic political processes are investigated in chapter three, especially those that contribute to the development of NIMBY opposition. Chapters four and five present empirical correlates of changes in peoples' attitudes and explain how people can ultimately be convinced to support local hazardous waste treatment facilities. Social, cultural, and psychological construction of opposition to facility siting is studied in chapter six. Portney presents viable solutions to the facility siting problem, in light of the NIMBY syndrome, in the concluding chapter. This important book will be of great value to practitioners facing actual siting decisions, members of statewide boards, private sector parties wishing to site facilities, and those teaching courses in environmental policy or politics.
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