10.2190/8DNE-43TM-1C1F-16AT 8DNE43TM1C1F16AT 3 Citizen Views of Transporting Radioactive Waste in Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, and New Mexico 147 161 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 8DNE43TM1C1F16AT.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=8DNE43TM1C1F16AT 2 Ann S. Oakes Mark K. Mcbeth Idaho State University, Pocatello The proposed opening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico has generated a flurry of studies that examine public perceptions of the hazards involved in transporting radioactive waste to that site. Presently, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, and New Mexico are most affected by the potential WIPP opening and future shipments of wastes. This study synthesizes the findings of independent surveys among residents in those states regarding their concerns. Five topics are commonly measured: trust, safety of highway shipments, moving waste versus maintaining the present temporary storage, risk perceptions, and economic impact. People in the four states report high levels of trust for scientists and low levels for federal officials. of the four populations, Idahoans are most likely to support moving the waste. Respondents agreed that traffic accidents are likely but this is also true of shipping other cargo such as toxic chemicals. Residents in New Mexico and Colorado perceive the greatest economic gains while Oregonians think that transporting radioactive waste will have adverse effects in their state. These findings will assist public officials in making decisions regarding the eventual shipments. Suggestions for public officials are included. D. MacGregor, P. Slovic, R. G. Mason, J. Detweiler, S. E. Binney, and B. Dodd, Perceived Risks of Radioactive Waste Transport through Oregon: Results of a Statewide Survey, <i>Risk Analysis, 14</i>:4, pp. 5-14, 1994. H. Jenkins-Smith, Public Assessments of the Risks from Managing Transuranic Wastes: The View from Idaho and New Mexico, <i>UNM Institute for Public Policy Report</i>, 1991. H. C. Jenkins-Smith, Perceptions of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and Colorado, <i>UNM Institute for Public Policy Report</i>, 1992. H. C. Jenkins-Smith, A. Fromer with S. Rosenberg, <i>Public Assessment of the Risks from Managing Transuranic Wastes: The View from Idaho and New Mexico</i>, UNM Institute of Public Policy, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1993. M. K. McBeth and A. S. Oakes, Citizen Perceptions of Risks Associated with Moving Radiological Waste, <i>Risk Analysis, 16</i>, pp. 421-427, 1995. L. Gulick, Politics, Administration, and the New Deal, <i>Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science</i>, pp. 545-566, September 1933. R. P. Hummel, <i>The Bureaucratic Experience</i> (3rd Edition), St. Martin's Press, New York, 1987. R. B. Denhardt, Toward a Critical Theory of Public Organizations, <i>Public Administration Review, 43</i>, pp. 174-179, 1981. D. F. Thompson, Bureaucracy and Democracy, in <i>Democratic Theory and Practice</i>, G. Duncan (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1983. N. Luhmann, Technology, Environment and Social Risk: A Systems Perspective, <i>Industrial Crisis Quarterly, 4</i>, pp. 223-231, 1990. U. S. Department of Energy, <i>Transporting Radioactive Materials</i>, DOE/EM-0097, U. S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, Virginia, 1993. B. Fischhoff, S. R. Watson, and C. Hope, Defining Risk, <i>Policy Sciences, 17</i>, pp. 123-139, 1984. B. J. Jones, B. J. Gallagher, and J. A. McFalls Jr., <i>Sociology: Micro, Macro, and Mega Structures</i>, Harcourt Brace, Fort Worth, 1995.