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

• Author: Runyon, Cheryl
• Position: 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...