| Abstract: |
This paper examines the attitudes of 285 hunters and fishermen from
South Carolina about hunting and fishing, risk, environmental issues,
and future land use of the Savannah River Site. We test the null
hypothesis that there is no difference in hunting and fishing rates,
attitudes toward the safety of fish and deer obtained from SRS,
attitudes toward future land use at SRS, and perceptions of the
severity of environmental problems as a function of how far
respondents lived from the site. Respondents hunted or fished an
average of over 40 days a year, and only half felt that the fish and
deer from SRS were safe to eat. Willingness to expend federal funds
was correlated with perceptions of the severity of the problem.
Preferences for future land use at SRS fell into three categories:
high (environmental research park, hunting, fishing, camping),
medium (nuclear production, factories, preserve only), and low
(nuclear waste storage, residential). There were no differences in
hunting and fishing rates, ranking of the severity of environmental
problems, and willingness to expend federal funds as a function of
distance of residence from SRS, btit attitudes toward future land use
differed significantly as a function of location of residence.
Those living close to SRS were more willing to have the site used for
factories, residential, nuclear material production and to store
nuclear wastes than those living farther from the site. Our data on
recreational rates, attitudes toward future land use, and willingness
to expend federal funds to solve environmental problems reiterate the
importance of assessing stakeholder attitudes toward decisions
regarding future land use at DOE sites |