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Economic Attitudes and Responses to Siting Hazardous Waste Facilities in Rural Utah 1
Author(s) -
Bourke Lisa
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
rural sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1549-0831
pISSN - 0036-0112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1549-0831.1994.tb00543.x
Subject(s) - hazardous waste , anticipation (artificial intelligence) , perception , rural area , business , metropolitan area , incentive , environmental planning , economic growth , geography , economics , engineering , political science , psychology , waste management , archaeology , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , computer science , law , microeconomics
The siting of hazardous waste facilities has become a critical problem for the United States. Many western states are plagued with proposals to site such facilities. While the host communities appear to be typical western rural communities, responses to siting hazardous waste facilities vary. Previous research suggests that key variables in predicting responses are the anticipation of economic benefits and the perception of risk. This paper proposes that response to siting hazardous industries in rural Utah is not only a result of these key variables but also residents' perception of the local economy. Results from ethnographic and survey data from three rural communities in Utah indicate that the anticipation of economic benefits and perception of risk were strongly associated with response to a proposal, and that residents of communities with poorer local economies were more likely to support siting a hazardous waste facility locally.