Subject: (OT) Fwd: Liberty: Saving the environment starts with stopping the government Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:31:25 -0400 To: From: Bob Armstrong ( Off Topic , but responsive to previous discussion ) The unaccountablity of the State Monopoly is why we libertarians fear it so . ( Of course , everything they do is for your own good . ) --- Original Message --- From: "Marc Brands Liberty" To: Marc Brands Liberty Sent: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 12:16:11 -0400 Subject: [LPNY DISCUSS] Liberty: -- Solution -- Saving the= environment starts with stopping the government Saving the environment starts with stopping the government by Bill Winter There's an environmental villain loose in America. This criminal has leaked radioactive waste into drinking water,= dumped sewage into national parks, and poured PCBs into rivers. This same lawbreaker contaminated at least 61,155 sites around= the USA, and produces more toxic waste annually than the nation's= five largest chemical companies combined. Who is this environmental villain? Is it Exxon? DuPont Chemical? General Motors? No. It's the federal government. According to a major= investigative report by the Boston Globe in 1999, the federal government has= become "the worst polluter in the land." Experts say the cost of cleaning up the damage done by federal agencies and the military could exceed $300 billion. That's five= times the cost of the environmental harm done by all private= businesses combined. Even more chilling, many federal agencies are exempt from environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act; individual= bureaucrats are immune from criminal prosecution; and Congress even passed a= law that protects the military from having to pay environmental= fines. As a result, the Boston Globe noted, the federal government "has= a license to pollute." The record of environmental devastation caused by the federal government -- and uncovered by the Boston Globe -- is= staggering. * In Yellowstone National Park, "tens of thousands of gallons of= raw sewage" have been dumped into pristine lakes and streams.= Although this would be a crime if committed by a private company, the= Park Service is exempt from the Clean Water Act. * The Environmental Protection Agency's laboratories in= Lexington, Massachusetts were discovered leaking mercury into ground water. * In Washington's Puget Sound, the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier= USS Kitty Hawk dumped 6,000 gallons of jet fuel into the water. A= private ship would have been fined $90,000 for that crime; the Navy paid nothing, and refused to allow state environmental inspectors to= board its ships. * The Department of Energy has polluted 475 billion gallons of= ground water, thanks to years of missile and bomb production. * The Department of Defense generates 750,000 tons of hazardous= waste annually -- more than the country's five largest chemical= companies combined. * As recently as 1996, 27% of all government facilities were not= in compliance with clean water laws. In fact, federal facilities= are "more likely to violate water standards" than private companies, reported the Globe. * NASA has admitted to creating 913 potentially contaminated= sites in 10 states. * In the Shenandoah River in Virginia, a military contractor= dumped carcinogenic PCBs into the river for 50 years with the approval= of (and subsidies from) the federal government. Who will foot the bill to clean up the damage to the air, water,= and soil caused by politicians and federal bureaucrats? The U.S.= taxpayer, of course. According to the Boston Globe, the tab to clean up the federal government's 61,155 toxic waste sites is estimated at $300= billion. (By comparison, it will cost only $57 billion to clean up all= the pollution caused by chemical and oil companies.) And don't expect this to happen in your lifetime. It will take= at least 75 years to clean up the 113 radioactive sites created by= the Department of Energy alone -- which means your grandchildren= will still be paying the cost of yesterday's polluting politicians. If you've never heard about the ecological havoc perpetrated by= the federal government, you're not alone. Environmental activists= like to criticize private companies, while pretending that only= government can "save" us from polluters. We know better. We want our families to be able to drink clean= water and breathe clean air. And we know that trusting the= environmental scofflaws in the federal government to make that happen is like trusting a fox to guard the hen house. So the first step for any sensible environmental protection= program must be to stop the nation's #1 polluter -- the federal= government. That's why we would: * Make government officials personally liable for the damage they= do to the environmental and to American citizens. Currently, government officials are protected by sovereign= immunity, "the legal doctrine that the government and its agents cannot be legally prosecuted for harm done in the line of duty," wrote= Jarret B. Wollstein for the International Society for Individual Liberty. As a result, the government can not only pollute almost at will,= it can also hurt or kill people, and the bureaucrats and politicians= who authorized those actions will never face criminal charges. Here's just one example: Starting in 1951, the federal= government detonated 1,051 nuclear blasts in Nevada. Those tests blanketed= the state -- and, indeed, all of the lower 48 states -- with deadly radioactive material. The government did this despite the fact that "declassified transcripts released from 1978 to 1980 show that scientists knew= as early as 1947 that fission products released by atomic bomb= tests could be deadly to humans," wrote Janet Burton Seegmiller in The History of Iron County. "The AEC [Atomic Energy Commission] chose= to ignore warnings from its own scientists and outside medical= researchers." As a result, the National Cancer Institute estimated in 1997 that= as many as 230,000 Americans were exposed to high levels of= radioactive Iodine 131, and up to 75,000 of them might develop fatal thyroid= cancer. In 1984, in the landmark case Irene Allen et al v. United States,= a Utah judge held the U.S. government responsible for causing= leukemia, cancer, and other radiation-caused illnesses in more than 1,000= people. The victory was short-lived: The ruling was overturned by the= Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on the grounds that the= government had sovereign immunity for its actions -- even though it knew= the nuclear testing was deadly. In 1988, the Supreme Court refused to= hear an appeal. As Mary Ruwart wrote in Healing Our World: "Sovereign immunity violates the principle of non-aggression. It allows government officials to do what individuals cannot." If you dumped PCBs into a river -- or showered the nation with radioactivity -- you would face criminal charges, jail time, and possibly the death penalty. Government officials should pay the= same price if they endanger our health with radiation, chemicals, and= other toxins. But there's more to protecting the environment than just halting= the damage caused by government. Private companies pollute, too.= That's why Libertarians would: * Make polluters pay for their crimes. When corporations act irresponsibly -- by dumping poisons on others' property or by= risking other peoples' health with air or water pollution -- corporate officers should face strict civil liability. In some states, corporate leaders are already being held= responsible. For example, in Indiana, Lawrence Roseman, the president of RLG,= Inc., was held personally liable for over $3 million in civil penalties= for leaks in a landfill his company operated. And in Connecticut,= two officers of the BEC Corporation were found personally liable for= oil contamination. In other countries, common-law statutes protect not just= property, but rivers and streams, too. For example, in the United Kingdom, the English Anglers= Cooperative Association defends fishing rights by suing upstream polluters= who damage fish stocks. Salmon in Scotland and New Brunswick, Canada= are protected in the same way. Holding polluters directly responsible is a more efficient= solution than "one size fits all" government regulations. * Repeal taxes and regulations that discourage free-market environmentalism. Already, individuals and community groups have made enormous= progress in protecting endangered species. For example, the American= Bison Association helped increase the number of buffalo from only 25 a century ago to over 100,000 today -- with 90% of them living on private land. In Pennsylvania, Hawk Mountain -- a privately owned 2,000-acre wildlife refuge -- is one of the nation's largest protected sanctuaries for hawks and other migrating birds. And the Exotic Wildlife Association protects more scimitar-horned oryx on= private lands in the United States than exist in its native African= range. By reducing taxes and regulations, America can encourage more entrepreneurial environmentalism. Conclusion In most measurable ways, the environment is better off in the= United States than it was just 20 or 30 years ago. "The air in the United States and in other rich countries is irrefutably safer to breathe now than in decades past; the= quantities of pollutants -- especially particulates, which are the main= threat to health -- have been declining," noted Julian L. Simon for the= Cato Institute in 1996. "More generally, the environment is= increasingly healthy, with every prospect that this trend will continue." Despite this (or perhaps because of this), Americans think that protecting the environment is an important goal, but by no means= the most important goal for the nation. A national survey in 2001 by the Gallup Organization found that= only 7% of adults ranked "protecting the environment" as their= highest priority. A survey of people in Western states by the Los= Angeles Times that same year found that only 13% listed the environment= as "as the most important problem facing our country today." For Americans who consider the environment to be a pivotal issue= -- and for the millions more who want to see environmental progress continue -- Libertarians have a compelling, if unexpected,= message: Protecting the environment does not start by turning to the= federal government for help. It starts by protecting Americans from "the= worst polluter in the land" -- the federal government. ----- Source: LP News Archive: http://www.liberty-news.com/newsletter.html =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D Quote: - No one can read our Constitution without concluding that the= people who wrote it wanted their government severely limited; the words= "no" and "not" employed in restraint of government power occur 24= times in the first seven articles of the Constitution and 22 more times in= the Bill of Rights. -- Edmund A. Opitz =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D To Post Comments, Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Change E-mail Address or Other inquires please go to the following link for instructions: http://www.liberty-news.com/sub.html --=A0 =A0Bob Armstrong -- http://CoSy.com -- 212-285-1864 Liberty : http://cosy.com/Liberty.htm