F. Larry Leistritz

[Local Social Disruption and Western Energy Development: A Critical Review]: Commentary

The critical review of the literature on social disruptions associated with large-scale western energy development by Wilkinson, Thompson, Reynolds, and Ostresh is an important contribution. The authors correctly identify some of the problems evident in the early stages of this literature, and one cannot deny the tendency on the part of later authors to continue to cite some of the earliest descriptions of energy-impacted communities, even though the empirical bases for these early descriptions were often questionable. While I agree with many of the criticisms expressed by these authors and while applauding their effort o promote a literature on energy-impacted communities that is more soundly basedboth empirically and theoretically-I believe their analysis raises some points that require a response.

The Consequences of the Farm Crisis for Rural Communities

The farm financial crisis of the 1980s will change forever the face of communities in rural America. The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically some of the more important changes that are occurring as a result of the farm crisis and to discuss how these changes affect rural community development needs. Specifically the paper examines: (1) the characteristics of those failing in agriculture, (2) changes in farm production practices resulting from the crisis and (3) the problems being experienced by farmers and their families. For each of these changes the implications for businesses and services in rural communities are discussed. It was found that farmers who were less well-educated and innovative and who were operating smaller farms were more likely than others to leave agriculture as a result of the farm crisis. Further, it appears that farmers leaving agriculture are not drawn randomly from the population of financially stressed farmers, but are those with particularly disadvantaged socioecono...

Waste facility experience and perceptions of waste‐related health and safety risks

Based on ecological theory, we hypothesize that positive experience with waste facility siting and storage will reduce the perceived health and safety risks associated with waste sites. Evidence is presented from data collected in 15 communities in the states of Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Colorado. Seven of these communities are hosting or were potential sites for hazardous waste facilities, four were the sites of other types of rural industrial developments and four were communities that had experienced only baseline socioeconomic activity. Surveys of residents in each of these communities on a variety of issues including concerns related to the health and safety of waste storage are examined and compared. The results indicate that residents in communities with positive experience with waste facilities perceive lower waste‐related health and safety risks than residents in other types of communities when controls are included for other sociodemographic and perceptual factors.

WESTERN COAL: PROMISE OR PROBLEM

Public policies affecting the disposal of public domain lands for future coal production are examined. The study is divided into two major parts. The first deals with micro or leasehold aspects of coal leasing--factors related to ownership patterns, logical mining units, leasing policies, end uses of coal (and the attendant impacts on fair market value) and intertract competition questions. The second evaluates macro or leasing schedule aspects of western coal development. The pace of leasing through time and its location, as dictated by demand (magnitude and location), transportation economics, geology and production economics (by mining area) is examined. The emphasis is on western surface mining possibilities.

EFFECT OF FARM FINANCIAL STRESS ON OFF-FARM WORK BEHAVIOR OF FARM OPERATORS AND SPOUSES IN NORTH DAKOTA

Discriminant and regression analysis are used to examine the effects of selected individual, family, farm, area, and financial characteristics on off-farm work behavior of farm operators and their spouses. Data are from a 1985 survey of 933 farm operators. Results support the importance of individual (e.g., age, education), family, and farm characteristics in determining off-farm work participation. No consistent relationship was found, however, between area characteristics (e.g., proximity to larger cities) and off-farm work. Perhaps the most salient finding was the consistent influence of financial variables on off-farm work behavior of both operators and spouses.

Farm Families in Transition: Implications for Rural

This study explores the characteristics of North Dakota families who quit farming between 1980 and 1986 for economic reasons. It describes (1) the demographic characteristics of former operators as well as the structural and financial characteristics of their former farms, (2) the financial circumstances of their departure from farming and the support systems they used in their transition, and (3) their current employment situation and perceived family financial well-being. These data are compared with those of a cross section of households that were operating farms in the state in 1986. The findings clearly indicate that significant numbers of farm families are making the transition to other occupations and that, in many cases, this transition involves migrating to urban areas. Displaced farmers who chose to leave their community were typically younger, more educated, and had less equity than those who chose to stay. Such selective migration poses numerous negative consequences for communities, such as d...

Local fiscal impacts of large-scale projects: Use of impact models as planning and policy analysis tools

Abstract Rapid economic and population fluctuations, which often accompany large-scale industrial and resource development projects located in rural areas, may lead to serious fiscal problems for local jurisdictions. These problems typically arise from the unequal distribution of project-related costs and revenues, both over time and among jurisdictions. Growing awareness of these problems has stimulated a variety of responses at both state and local levels. Several states have enacted special taxes on large energy and mineral development projects, with part of the proceeds being distributed to affected local governments. Local officials, meanwhile, have become increasingly active in negotiating a variety of compensation agreements with the development entities. Such impact agreements have included grants, loans, loan guarantees, or a combination of these measures. With the increasing interest in fiscal impacts and their mitigation, a number of fiscal impact simulation models have been developed. This paper describes the use of one such model as a tool for the development of state taxation policies, as a guide for distribution of impact assistance funds, as a source of information for local governments in development and public service planning, and for the siting of large-scale projects. In addition, generalizations about the policy use of such models are presented and discussed in relation to the likely needs of policymakers.

THE STATE OF SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS IN THE UNITED STATES: AN EXAMINATION OF EXISTING EVIDENCE, LIMITATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALTERNATIVE FUTURES

ABSTRACT The field of socioeconomic impact analysis ha developed rapidly since the early 1970s. Despit extensive development, the field is facing a crisi with the publics environmental concern, the numbe of researchers devoting primary attention to impac analysis, and the financial support essential to th areas future productivity declining. It is thu appropriate to assess the present state of knowledg in socioeconomic impact analysis, to evaluate it conceptual and methodological limitations and t examine the likely future of the area as both a academic and a policy-relevant field of analysis This article assesses the current state of knowledg related to the economic, demographic, public servic and fiscal, and social impacts of large-scale deve lopments, discusses conceptual and methodologica limitations in the field and outlines three possibl scenarios for its future development. Its future i seen as dependent on extensive conceptual and metho dological developments and on increased sensitivit to polic...

Waste Facility Siting in Rural Communities in the United States: An Assessment of Impacts and Their Effects on Residents' Levels Of Support/Opposition

Local community opposition is the major reason for failures to site waste facilities in rural communities. Residents perceive such facilities as posing unacceptable risks while offering few benefits. Although of clear importance, analyses of such support/opposition have been conceptually and empirically inadequate. We propose an expanded ecological framework which includes both structural and perceptual dimensions of environmental, social demographic, technological-risk, and organizational-exchange variables, and use survey data from 15 communities in 5 western states to examine the effects of ecological variables on residents levels of acceptance of waste facility siting. Waste facilities are seen as having few unique positive or negative impacts; perceptions of technology-based risks, economic benefits, and the nature of the interactive exchanges occurring during the siting of waste facilities are most determinative of levels of support/opposition.

Project-related inmigration: empirical evidence from western USA and some policy implications

Some literature on the impact of labor moving to large project-related developments in the western USA is briefly reviewed. The present analysis is based on the relatively good data now becoming available for this region. Large in-migrations have tended to halt population declines, rather than lead to rapid increases. Over 40% of inmigrants were moving from within their state, and another 22% from adjacent states; previously, it had often been thought that inmigrants came from far away. Compared to both nonmigrants and outmigrants, the newcomers are not poor and unskilled: they have more education, are more likely to be in professional or skilled jobs, have higher incomes, fewer elderly dependents, and are from ethnic majority groups. Implications for the policy maker and others stem from the number of migrants attracted by a project being hard to predict (and wrongly anticipated in many past cases); from there being scope for influencing the numbers (through hiring and training policies, etc); and from t...