Compensation in hazardous facility siting : ban analysis of compensatory agreements

Although theoretically the voluntary site strategy has been commended for its success at solving local community problems, there has been a small number of siting successes actually achieved. This study investigates the approach of negotiated compensation and reward in the collaborative process under which willing individuals can come to an agreement concerning the siting of a noxious facility. Elaborating upon Kuhn and Ballard's (1998) optimistic conclusions regarding the progress of facility siting approaches in North America, the study investigated the true nature of collaborative theory in a case analysis of environmentally hazardous facility projects. The result suggest the compensation is an effective tool in the siting process. The analysis indicates that there has been an evolution in the nature of community agreements over the last ten years into more sophisticated allocations of benefits and burdens. The study also concludes that direct costs allocated by proponents for the purpose of compensation remain low and relatively small when compare to the estimated initial capital of the projects.