a happy Earth Day to you all

On this Earth Day, I remember places and things like Love Canal, the burning Cuyahoga River, dioxin and mercury in fish, and I thank the EPA for helping to prevent such travesties in the future.

Much is made of the economic effects of EPA regulations.  Forgotten are the reasons behind said regulations.

Environmental regulations were, for the most part, not simply pulled from somebody's ass.  They were enacted in response to genuine problems.

Federal regulations needed to be imposed because state-by-state rules simply encouraged dirty industries to move to a more lax environment in a different state.  The desire to prevent loss of tax base discouraged tighter regulations.  We still see this today, with industries moving to places like China - less stringent regulations allow corporations to pollute more and thus save money that would otherwise be spent ensuring cleaner processes.