Environmental Regualion Over Reach : Tools of Progressives

As usual, the government in Washington, and in some cases state law markers, provide too much over sight from a distance. How law makers can determine what is prudent and wise when it comes to making rules and regulations that effect all of our lives can do so from building far from the supposed crimes and using information to formulate these regulations from individuals that have a strict bias, begs the lack of good sense.

But hey, these people making the rules are being paid to make these decisions, and by God that's exactly what they will do. That most of the rules don't make sense, is irrelevant. And when one looks closely, most of the regulations that defy common sense involve the environment. And also, who are the  instigators of insane environmental regulations, progressive socialist liberals. WOW! Who knew?

Overreacting to Environmental Crimes
January 28, 2013
Source: Marc Levin and Vikrant Reddy, "Engulfed by Environmental Crimes: Overcriminalization on the Gulf Coast," Texas Public Policy Foundation, December 2012.

Overcriminalization, the act of making too many actions or behaviors illegal, is a problem that plagues Gulf Coast states struggling to stay on the right side of environmental law. Indeed, nearly 1,000 laws have passed that criminalize various activities in the five states that border the Gulf of Mexico, say Marc Levin and Vikrant Reddy of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

• Environmental crimes can be defined as crimes that relate to air, water, waste, land use or other commercial activity involving natural resources. Many of the crimes on the books can lead to imprisonment.
• Texas has 263 environmental crimes, Louisiana has 286, Mississippi has 94, Alabama has 185 and Florida has 107 environmental crimes.
• Some crimes, like the improper disposal of hazardous waste in Texas, are felonies carrying stiff sentences of up to 10 years in prison.

In each state, the attorney general, a state agency or district attorneys are responsible for prosecuting the expanse of applicable environmental laws. Unlike many prosecutable crimes, many statutes in the Gulf Coast states do not require the perpetrator to act with mens rea, or a "guilty mind," meaning that violators could unknowingly wind up on the wrong side of the law.

Levin and Reddy consider the overcriminalization of environmental crimes a scourge that disproportionately punishes criminal infractions even if no human is harmed. In many instances criminal sanctions are not necessary.

• To adjust current policies, Levin and Reddy suggest reviewing all environmental laws to ensure that the punishment matches the crime.
• Strengthening the mens rea requirements of environmental statutes so that only those who are willingly and knowingly breaking the law are punished would increase justice and equity.
• Eliminating provisions that delegate the power to criminalize an action by the rulemaking authority of an agency would reduce the glut of criminalized actions.
• Implementing a "safe harbor" provision that allows violators to come into regulatory compliance and avoid prosecution would encourage citizens to obey the law.

Business owners in particular, many of whom run afoul of environmental laws, would benefit from implementing these suggestions. Without any reform, residents of the Gulf Coast states could continue to unknowingly commit felonies every day.