Just passing through: the risky mobilities of hazardous materials transport

摘要

The scientific construction of risk is usually based on the probability ofan event occurring in a specific location from a specific hazard. Hazardouswaste transport is an example of a risk source that is fixed in neither timenor space, with materials traveling through the landscape. Residents livingalong fixed transportation routes likely to experience an increase in theamount and potency of hazardous materials traveling through theircommunities draw on distant places and spaces in order to define the riskthey face as they try to make absent places and materials present. However,because those places and spaces are distant and absent, regulatory officialscan resist their inclusion by arguing that only what is on site matters.This site of struggle over sources and construction of risks can best beunderstood through Law and Mol's spatiality of fire space. Using two NorthAmerican case studies, this paper draws on the concepts of fire space andmobilities to explain the nature of the risk that mobile materials pose,including the disconnect between citizens' objections to increased hazardousmaterials transport and the environmental review and regulatory processesmeant to prevent catastrophes from occurring.