Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
BOX 6.1
THE POWER OF INACTION
Theorists of power in the social sciences and humanities have long
considered social power as a capacity to act - as an ability to influence
other people or the material world in non-trivial ways. This under-
standing, however, necessarily implies that power is also a capacity not
to act, unwittingly or intentionally. Such inaction can legitimately be
regarded as a form of social power with potentially significant conse-
quences. It can hinder or even prevent important changes that could
otherwise occur, leading us to consider so-called counter-factual situa-
tions. Consider what happened (or rather did not) in Friendly Hills, a
suburb of Denver, Colorado, in the 1980s. Mothers in the neighbour-
hood began to notice a higher than average incidence of birth problems
and childhood illness. Specifically, several children had died from can-
cer, had other serious diseases or suffered severe birth defects. Their
mothers came to suspect that the root cause was toxic waste discharged
from a nearby industrial facility. It was operated by the now-defunct
Martin Marietta chemical and armaments/defence company. The facil-
ity had opened in 1956 and was suspected of contaminating the public
water supply upstream of Friendly Hills, managed by the Denver Water
Department.
A health assessment of Friendly Hills residents was begun in 1987
by the Colorado Department of Health. This was three years after res-
idents had identified the potential link to the Martin Marietta plant.
With no sign of action by the Department two years later, 14 families
in Friendly Hills and nearby Harriman Park filed a lawsuit against Mar-
tin Marietta and the Denver Water Department. They sought damages
for the deaths of four children and the serious illnesses suffered by sev-
eral others. The suit was thrown out; however, the judge, based on the
voluminous evidence presented in court, acknowledged in her ruling
that there was clear and overwhelming evidence of groundwater pol-
lution in a plume stretching from the Martin Marietta plant towards
a nearby the public water plant. The doubt was about whether this
groundwater pollution had affected the public water supply channels.
Clearly, Martin Marietta and the Denver Water Department felt
there was no case to answer. By contrast, many Friendly Hills residents
felt there was. They felt especially let down by the public authori-
ties tasked with delivering basic services and upholding their rights as
local citizens. These authorities decided not to act to redress a per-
ceived injustice and were accused of colluding with an economically
important local employer by withholding important hydrological and
 
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