Siting hazardous waste facilities - Issues of fairness

Sitting hazardous waste facilities is one of the most intractable problems facing industrialized countries. Establishing the need for a facility, when many rear that it will only lead to increased waste production, is the first hurdle. An equally difficult hurdle is finding acceptable sites for needed facilities. This paper argues that the siting problem is fundamentally one of reconciling conflicting views of a fair process and outcome. Since there is no universally fair way to go about allocating the burdens of hazardous waste, the fairness of a siting process and outcome will naturally depend on how those involved view fairness in this context. This paper presents three competing views of fairness which are central to understanding siting conflicts. Only with this understanding - and with a mutual respect for the competing views - can policy makers design processes that reach robust compromises among the contending groups.