An Astounding Crime: He Didn't Get a Permit (wsj letter)

this is a letter of mine that the wsj published, both in response to an earlier letter from a Senior Policy Adviser of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Richards's letter encapsulates the regulatory mess we've made. Although disregard for the law should not be excused, neither should we condone the law's mindless expansion. Mr. Richards offers no real answer to the crucial question: Why should the Army Corps of Engineers regulate wetlands in the first place?

That the words "commerce clause" would enter the purview of the court deciding this case gives good reason to be skeptical of even the best regulatory intentions. When the courts refuse to draw a sensible line that limits the corps' power, what's to stop it from regulating everything, including the kitchen sink?

The idea that political institutions will necessarily safeguard our natural resources goes hand-in-hand with the belief that we could not benefit from a market economy's influence thereupon. Neither has proved true. What we new environmentalists propose is that our federal and local governments recognize the limited benefits of regulation and create a system of private water rights, enabling free-market, least-cost resource preservation.

Fred Smalkin
Baltimore