Feasibility of negotiated compensation as an economic solution to environmental injustice

Abstract

Environmental racism refers to the disproportionate siting of environmentally undesirable facilities (waste dumps, polluting factories, etc.) in lower-income neighborhoods, and environmental justice refers to the amelioration of this siting problem. A proposed solution is negotiated compensation, in which some sort of amenities (e.g., recreation facilities, attractive landscaping, safety enhancements) are promised to a neighborhood in exchange for locating the undesirable facility there. The current study investigated the feasibility of negotiated compensation in a sample of 140 adult respondents from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds. In a computerized procedure participants completed a demographic questionnaire, measures of neighborhood satisfaction and attachment, and indicated their willingness to accept compensations for the hypothetical nearby siting of a cement plant, a recycling center, and a plant nursery. A paired comparisons task was used to rank order a set of seven potential compensations, ranging from free cable or satellite television service to facilities for children and neighborhood beautification. As expected, the plant nursery was the most acceptable facility, followed by the recycling center and the cement plant. All seven compensations were preferred over moving out of the neighborhood. Some 83% of respondents were willing to accept at least one compensation for the plant nursery, 54% for the recycling center, and 41% for the cement plant. The most endorsed compensations were those that benefited the whole neighborhood rather than the individual households, such as facilities for neighborhood children, neighborhood beautification, expanded parks, traffic improvements, and security. Contrary to expectations, willingness to accept compensation was not related to socioeconomic status. Discriminant function analyses failed to identify a set of characteristics of people willing to accept compensation. The only individual difference variable predicting willingness to accept compensation was age, with older respondents less willing to accept any compensation (r = -.13 to -.27). Place attachment to house and neighborhood and neighborhood satisfaction were weak predictors of willingness to accept compensation (R2 = .02 to .06). Altogether, results suggest that acceptable compensations can be identified, that negotiated compensation is feasible across a variety of neighborhoods and socioeconomic groups, and that it is a viable tool to promote environmental justice.