Waste is a Terrible Thing to Mind: Risk, Radiation and Distrust of Government. (Books).

John Weingart, the Center for Analysis of Public Issues, Princeton, N.J., 2001. 427 pages, softcover, $19.95.

The former executive director of the New Jersey Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility Siting Board tells an excellent story detailing his state's unsuccessful attempt to find a volunteer host community for a site.

Weingart provides a readable summary of the history of the low-level radioactive waste disposal issue, the federal legislation establishing the regional compact system and his state's efforts as part of the Northeast Compact (with Connecticut) to locate a volunteer site for a disposal facility for trash contaminated during the production of nuclear energy, medical procedures, and research and manufacturing processes.

Weingart's description of the public's distrust of government and scientific experts, while embracing pseudo-science and Internet 'information,' is an excellent commentary about the changes society has undergone in recent years. This distrust makes it very difficult to build environmental cleanup facilities (or landfills or hazardous waste incinerators) across the country.

It is amazing how communities will vie to host a new prison but have no desire to operate a state-of-the-art waste disposal operation that could generate revenue for local budgets.

The author provides an excellent case study for public policy observers about what the public expects and demands from government compared to what a state agency is able to provide. New Jersey decided to rely on a voluntary process rather than the 'decide, announce, defend' process that almost always places a community on the defensive. However, as Weingart points out, "No matter what site selection and decision making processes were used, a disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste would be extremely controversial."

Although other states attempted to use the voluntary siting process, New Jersey's efforts lasted longer (four years) and involved working with a number of rural and suburban communities. Weingart's observations about how and when to communicate information to key leaders and the general public, and about efforts to respond to community concerns, can be applied to other government attempts to site locally unpopular developments.

One of the most readable sections of the book is Weingart's journal of the board's efforts during its last year as an agency. Weingart, realizing that the siting process was not proving successful, decided to offer his thoughts as to how future policymakers could learn from the board's actions.