Weighing and Balancing Social and Economic Considerations of Siting Landfills to Address Environmental Justice Concerns

40 p. ; This student paper has been award 2004-2005 UNM Law School Thesis Honors.Environmental justice in permitting new landfills is best addressed as one element of many weighed in an agency discretionary decision-making process. Siting landfills necessarily includes consideration of technical, social, economic and political issues. Currently, the landfill permitting process in New Mexico examines only technical, scientific, and geological factors. In effect, a permit must be granted if all of the technical specifications and notice requirements are met. To adequately address all of the impacts on a community when a landfill is sited nearby, an agency should have both the discretion to weigh and balance all relevant factors and the authority to grant or deny a permit based on its assessment of all potential impacts.University of New Mexico School of La