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Low-level is not our level: The Save Boyd County Association's response to the siting of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Boyd County, Nebraska
Abstract
The distributional inequity of the siting of hazardous industries has been challenged by grassroots environmental activists across the nation and world wide. While some groups have been successful in avoiding the distributional inequity of environmental hazards, few seem to have been motivated to demand procedural equity (Lake 1996). Lake (1996) argued that procedural equity would involve grassroots environmental activists demanding full participation in the decisions that affect distributive outcomes, and more importantly, the many decisions surrounding the production practices that produce environmental hazardous that require distribution. In order for grassroots environmental activists to call for procedural equity, they would have to become politicized. I argue that politicalization involves the recognition of, and desire to change, traditional economic, political, and social arrangements as described by the theory of the treadmill of production (Schnaiberg 1980; Schnaiberg and Gould 1994; Gould, Schnaiberg and Weinberg 1996). Politicization involves the creation of oppositional ideologies that oppose dominate conservative ideologies which support treadmill practices (Gardner and Greer 1996). My study is based on the resistance to a proposed low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal facility by the Save Boyd County Association (SBCA), a grassroots environmental organization in rural Boyd County, Nebraska. I used in-depth interviews, observation, content analysis of local and state newspapers and other important documents, to study the process of politicization. I did find that SBCA members became politicized. They were more critical of industry and government and their awareness of environmental problems locally, nationally, and globally had been heightened. Most importantly, however, I did not find significant evidence to suggest that the SBCA fully recognized the existence of the treadmill of production or that they would be likely to become a part of a movement to demand procedural equity. In fact, my findings demonstrated the resilience of dominant conservative ideologies. I conclude that more research is needed on the political culture of midwest rural communities as they are expected to be increasingly brought into environmental conflicts. In addition, a greater understanding of the micro-politics of resistance is needed. It would assist in understanding the strategies used by proponents of hazardous facilities to thwart opposition. It also would help to illuminate how groups interested in procedural equity connect with grassroots environmental organizations that maintain conservative beliefs which ultimately support treadmill practices.
Subject Area
Sociology|Social structure|Labor relations
Recommended Citation
Snowden, Monica Ann, "Low-level is not our level: The Save Boyd County Association's response to the siting of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Boyd County, Nebraska" (1997). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9826100.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9826100