Hazardous waste sites : the credibility gap / Michael R. Greenberg and Richard F. Anderson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Greenberg, Michael R.

Contributor:

Anderson, Richard F., 1950-

Rutgers University. Center for Urban Policy Research.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hazardous waste sites--United States.

Hazardous waste sites.

United States.

Physical Description:

xvii, 276 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Center for Urban Policy Research, [1984]

Summary:

Mutual distrust defines the relationship between those who are the sources of hazardous wastes and those who oversee their activities. A lack of credibility, argue the authors, is a formidable, if not the biggest, obstacle to properly managing hazardous waste in the United States. Nowhere is the credibility gap wider than where there are hazardous waste management facilities or where sites have been proposed.

The purpose of this book is to provide comprehensive perspectives on hazardous waste sites in the United States. The sources of hazardous waste are described, along with the scientific and legal climates that allowed wastes to be discarded with little attention to impacts. Evidence is weighed for and against public health, as well as environmental, economic, and social damages at abandoned sites. Political processes and analytical techniques are suggested and illustrated for those who are involved in the siting of new facilities. A strategy for hazardous waste management is offered, together with approaches to substantially reduce the difficulties faced by local planners and site managers who face a hostile public.

A historical legacy of mismanagement, fueled by exaggeration of impacts and by a lack of information, characterizes hazardous waste management in the United States. This book will be important to planners, environmental scientists, and public health officials. In order to assure accessibility for the casual reader, the authors keep the explanation of mathematical methods and technologies in this area to a minimum. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Hazardous Waste Sources and Volumes: The First Dimension of a Credibility Gap 1

2 The Conditions for the Creation of a Wide Credibility Gap: Private and Public Control of Hazardous Waste and Waste Sites 30

3 The Uncertain State of Knowledge About the Effects of Hazardous Waste Sites 84

4 The Orphans: Abandoned Hazardous Waste Sites in the United States 106

5 Abandoned Hazardous Waste Dumpsites in New Jersey: Where and What Effects 130

6 The Unwanted: Finding New Hazardous Waste Sites in the United States 164

7 Adding Credibility to the Siting Process at the Local Government Scale: Constraint Mapping and Location Standards as Planning Tools 191

8 Changes Needed to Gain Credibility 235.

Notes:

Includes index.

Bibliography: pages 265-268.

ISBN:

0882851020 :

OCLC:

10825254