Environment

By Michael S. Metti

Putting the government in charge of protecting the environment is like asking the fox to guard the hen house

The government owns most of the land and waterways that are polluted today. They pollute them directly and are not held accountable for making them whole again. Next they lease our property to large companies to mine, drill and harvest lumber from. But just like abusive renters they have little respect for what's not theirs.

We needed to relieve the government of managing property that it has no constitutional right to own. These properties belong in private hands. It has been proven time and again that people treat what they own far better than things they don't own. A sensible lumber company won't destroy its property for a one-time harvesting of trees if it owns the land. It must act responsibly and resort to long-term benefits.

I know that some people will argue that companies will develop everything insight just for the sake of making a profit, and I will agree that this will happen from time to time. There is no perfect system, but if their development proves to be detrimental to others, restitution will be imposed and this should alter further harmful actions.

On the other hand, when the environment is in the care of government, it will become politicized. Elected officials with election contributions in hand will work hard to keep those who got them elected happy. Fines and punitive damage fees will be set as token gestures but will only serve as the cost of doing business by large corporations.