Calculating risks? : the spatial and political dimensions of hazardous waste policy /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Hamilton, James, 1961-
Imprint:Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 1999.
Description:1 online resource
Language:English
Series:Regulation of economic activity ; 21
Regulation of economic activity ; 21.
Subject:
Format: E-Resource Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11104414
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:Viscusi, W. Kip.
ISBN:0585078556
9780585078557
0262082780
0262274817
9780262274814
Digital file characteristics:text file PDF
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
English.
Print version record.
Summary:Annotation Hazardous wastes often head the public's list of environmental concerns. Exaggerated estimates of cancer epidemics arising from waste sites generate a sense of alarm, but little is known about the real extent of the health threats. In this book James T. Hamilton and W. Kip Viscusi present the first comprehensive analysis of the magnitude of hazardous waste risks and of the efficacy of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program. By matching agency decision data to detailed census information using geographic information systems (GIS) technology, the authors show that most hazardous waste sites do not pose sufficient risk to merit the most stringent cleanup options. Those sites that do pose considerable risk to exposed populations often receive inadequate attention, because government decisions to target cleanups are based more on political factors than on actual risks. The authors propose policy reforms that could significantly reduce cleanup costs without sacrificing the protection of human health. Beyond its analysis of a particular risk policy, the book serves as a general model for comprehensive risk analysis.
Other form:Print version: Hamilton, James, 1961- Calculating risks?. Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 1999 0262082780