Beyond the NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) impasse II: Public participation in an age of distrust

With the intensification of not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) responses to both nuclear and chemical waste management and facility siting, we revisit public participation goals, processes, mechanisms and results to evaluate the uses and limits of public participation for achieving legitimate siting decisions. The deepening loss of trust of the American public in most institutions jeopardizes all preemptive nuclear and hazardous waste facility siting decisions, and carefully structured public participation efforts including some form of power sharing offer the best hope of devising legitimate and durable decisions. We review the key factors in the general siting milieu as well as the thickets of public participation-public involvement. Outcomes of six public participation (PP) case studies are presented and analyzed for problems as well as common factors contributing to their success or failure. The uses as well as the limits of PP in complex nuclear and hazardous waste management and siting processes are considered. 38 refs., 1 tab.