Vid: We could have coal companies dumping in our rivers before the end of the year!!!

[BenIsForRon]

About 4 minutes in (the first 4 are covering politics).

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10242008/watch.html

If you want to let the Department of Interior know how you feel about this, leave a comment at: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&d=OSM-2007-0008-0553

This could have drastic consequences for the local human and wildlife populations. I really hope word gets out about this.

[AutoDas]

I'm not given much actual information or facts except for an appeal to emotion. "As a parting gift" "turned over to the industries they were trusted to regulate"

[BenIsForRon]

The second link I gave has the PDF of the proposed Dep. of Interior revision (link is on Moyer's site).

Basicailly it will allow coal companies to dump their coal slurry as close to streams as they see fit, even directly into the water.

[mediahasyou]

lol @ regulations.gov on RPF

[NMCB3]

They are not "our" rivers, they belong to the Oligarcy...get it. If they were privately owned and the government actually protected property rights, then there would be vastly less pollution. DEMOCRACY SUCKS. :)

[BenIsForRon]

Rivers run for hundreds of miles and ground water from miles in every direction feeds into them, they are simply above ownership by any one entity. If we relax these regulations, the coal companies WILL dump into the streams and rivers. If anyone can give me a reason as to why eliminating regulations in this scenario would help, then I'm all ears. All I know is that there will be massive, irreversible damage if big coal is allowed to do this.

[Mini-Me]

Rivers run for hundreds of miles and ground water from miles in every direction feeds into them, they are simply above ownership by any one entity. If we relax these regulations, the coal companies WILL dump into the streams and rivers. If anyone can give me a reason as to why eliminating regulations in this scenario would help, then I'm all ears. All I know is that there will be massive, irreversible damage if big coal is allowed to do this.

As far as I'm concerned, you're 100% correct! I normally call for absolutely no "regulations," because government should only exist to protect the rights of the people, and I simply choose to define the word "regulation" as pretty much any arbitrary law regarding commerce that goes beyond that primary purpose (and therefore harms that purpose). However, dumping large amounts of foreign objects/chemicals/etc. into streams and rivers is a huge and extremely dangerous violation of property rights as they apply to flowing resources. Frankly, it's flat-out criminal. Regardless of whether we call laws prohibiting this "regulations" or not, they're entirely valid and necessary laws. Since rivers flow between states, these are rare laws that can actually be legitimately Constitutionally justified at the federal level. Unfortunately, they're not usually written from the principled framework of property rights, and that [along with the general arbitrariness of government] prevents them from actually being as strong as they should be, but...that's a bit of a minor quibble.

Anyway, you're not missing anything at all in your analysis, in my opinion. While I have no idea how bad the effect of coal dumping may be, the point is there shouldn't be any systematic dumping.

[NMCB3]

Rivers run for hundreds of miles and ground water from miles in every direction feeds into them, they are simply above ownership by any one entity. If we relax these regulations, the coal companies WILL dump into the streams and rivers. If anyone can give me a reason as to why eliminating regulations in this scenario would help, then I'm all ears. All I know is that there will be massive, irreversible damage if big coal is allowed to do this.The GOVERNMENT owns them, they are "one entity" Why is government monopoly of rivers and oceans good in your opinion? Private ownership would be by individuals and corporation's, not one entity, protecting property rights means anyone aggressing on another's property would be prosecuted. Government regulation means favored groups can pollute all hey want. Government is the problem not the solution..

"Big Coal" lol rothlmmfao!!! hahahaha..what a joke. :)