Not Here, Not There, Not Anywhere

by Sherman, Daniel J.

• ISBN13: 9781933115917
• ISBN10: 1933115912
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-01-31
• Publisher: Resources for the Future

Summary

By combining empirical research with first hand testimonies, Daniel Sherman tells a fascinating story about the politics of radioactive waste and makes an important contribution to our understanding of social movements and environmental justice. In 1979, provoked by the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, governors of states hosting disposal facilities for low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) refused to accept additional shipments. The resulting shortage of disposal sites spurred Congress to devolve responsibility for establishing new, geographically diffuse LLRW disposal sites to states and regional compacts, with siting authorities often employing socio-economic and political data to target communities that would give little resistance to their plans.The communities, however, were far from compliant, organizing nearly 1000 opposition events that ended up blocking the implementation of any new disposal sites. Sherman provides comprehensive coverage of this opposition, testing hypotheses regarding movement mobilization and opposition strategy by analyzing the frequency and disruptive qualities of activism. In the process, he bridges applied policy questions about hazardous waste disposal with broader questions about the dynamics of social movements and the intergovernmental politics of policy implementation. The issues raised in this book are sure to be renewed as interest grows in nuclear power and the disposal of the

Author Biography

Daniel J. Sherman is the Luce-funded Professor of Environmental Policy and Decision Making at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. viii
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Not Here, Not There, Not Anywhere: An Introduction	p. 1
The Half-Life of Federal Responsibility: The Devolution of LLRW Disposal	p. 11
Glowing Recommendations: NIMBY, Environmental Justice, and the Framing of LLRW Site Selection	p. 41
Power Generation: Active Opposition to LLRW Site Proposals	p. 70
Critical Masses: Disruptive versus Conventional Forms of Active Opposition	p. 118
Radioactive Decay: Implementation Failure	p. 154
Predictable Disintegration and Stability: The Fragile Equilibrium of LLRW Disposal Policy	p. 180
Appendix	p. 210
References	p. 217
Index	p. 235
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.