NIMBY-TIMBY: Analysis of stakeholder perspectives on hazardous waste controversies in Oklahoma

Abstract

Local opposition to unwanted hazardous waste facilities has spawned an extensive social science literature on the so-called "NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) Syndrome" (Brion 1991; Bullard 1994; Greve
1989; Morris 1994; O'Looney 1995; Rabe 1994; Rosenbaum 1998). "NIMBY," a pattern of intense citizen opposition to local sitting of risky activities or technologies (Mazmanian and Morrell 1990: 126), has been a
major obstacle to hazardous waste facility sitings throughout the United States (Brion 1991; Bullard 1994; Greve 1989; Morris 1994; O'Looney 1995; Rabe 1994; Rosenbaum 1998). NIMBYism has been variously
attributed to differences in perception of risk (Armour 1991; Kunrether, Fizgerald, and Aarts 1993: Mazmanian and Morrell 1990; Visocki and Brennan 1993), to citizen distrust of government and industry
(Hunter and Leyden 1995;Kraft and Carly 1991; Leroy and Nadler 1993, Rabe 1994}, to feelings of loss of citizen control (Edelstein 1988), and to inequities in distribution of costs and benefits (Armour 1991;
Portney 1991 ). A comparative study of six hazardous waste controversies in Oklahoma found that a lack of responsiveness by state officials to local citizen activism contributed to the NIMBY phenomenon
(Lawler, Focht and Hatley 1990)