About 3C • AZ

This project seeks to help communities host conversations about big decisions, like where to put a power plant or how to build vibrant neighborhoods or invest in new projects. We’re developing community engagement tools to help with these conversations. Along the way, we’ll study what works and what doesn’t and we will share our findings and tools with our partner communities so they can use them in ways that work for them.

This project will inform a future process about building a nuclear waste storage facility, a process called “consent-based siting”. We are not volunteering Arizona as a place to store nuclear waste. We’re funded by the US Department of Energy to conduct research on a consent-based siting process for nuclear waste storage in the future. Consent-based siting focuses on the needs and concerns of communities who might volunteer to host a waste storage facility. Our hope is that we can help the Department of Energy create processes that work for any community that wants to engage with them. We are not volunteering any community during this project.

Importantly, the challenges with deciding where to put nuclear waste are similar to challenges with other topics, like where to put landfills and highways, or how to prioritize new industries that bring jobs to Arizona. For example, all these topics have long term consequences for communities, both good and bad. Historically, these decisions haven’t involved communities or broad discussions of consequences and we want to change that.

We want this project to help communities engage in democratic decision making about where things are built and how communities benefit from those decisions. For example, some people in a community might want a new mine or power plant to help support local jobs and to promote state or nation-wide progress. Others might see these projects as hazardous and may want guarantees that the community will not get stuck with a mess when their kids grow up. We hope this project builds tools to help communities—and Arizona—make informed decisions about what goes in their backyard.