In determining whether or not a proposed building is structurally
sound, a government engineer will not only look at the structural design of the
edifice as it exists above ground, but also the foundation of the structure. If
the foundation is not sound, the building will eventually collapse under its
own weight. Is it too much to ask that our government would apply the same
logic and level of examination to policies before they codify the same?
What a foundation is to a building, so is a
presupposition to a paradigm. Radical environmentalists are continually pushing
forth policies based on junk science. The policies may look good on the
surface, but beneath is a foundation of thought and principle that does not
support the construct. The two major related fallacies of the environmental
movement as it exists today is that Mother Nature is benign, and it is
mankind’s responsibility to make the earth purer, cleaner and healthier
than is natural.
At the very heart of this belief system, radical
environmentalists believe that any contribution mankind makes to pollutant
loading is intolerable and should be eliminated. Additionally, there is a
belief that mankind can eliminate the environmental impact of its own
existence, and Mother Nature, left to her own devices, is a world environ in
harmony with itself. The final truth we must come to terms with is that neither
environmental activists nor regulators (their governmental counterparts) will
ever admit that things are clean enough, because both would be out of a job!
Let me give you an example of what I am talking
about. The Santa Barbara County
Board of Supervisors is in the midst of a review of a proposed storm water
discharge ordinance, which is part of a larger effort to control storm water
runoff. On the one hand, farmers and ranchers who collectively own hundreds of
thousands of acres are supposed to guarantee that they will prevent sediment
and nutrients from leaving their property in the event of a major storm event! On
the other side of the spectrum, homeowners will be relieved to know that air
conditioning condensate is an allowable discharge! There is no way any farmer
and rancher can possibly control storm water discharges from their property. It
is ridiculous that some regulator even bothered to name air conditioning
condensate as something worthy of an exemption, as that is a demonstration of
the fact there is virtually no recognition of a reasonable de minimis pollution
stream worthy of their attention. The ordinance goes so far as to require
residents to report non-hazardous releases! Why on earth would regulators need
that information? There is no limit as to what can be considered a
non-hazardous release!
An example of how extremely obtuse we are
getting as a society has to do with the fact that there is no community in
Let’s consider the natural watershed. What
happens to the dead carcasses of wild animals in the event of a storm? What
about fecal material generated from wildlife? What of the erosion effects of burrowing
animals? What about the sediment loading from naturally occurring landslides or
runoff in the aftermath of fires? Are there no oil and gas leaks in the natural
world? Are there no naturally occurring concentrations of mineral levels in our
soil? Is there truly a chemical difference between Mother Nature’s
pollution stream and that of mankind? Is it possible that Mother Nature has the
means to deal with cycles of pollution, even manmade?
Nobody is asking that we turn back the clock to
the days of untreated sewage and industrial waste being dumped into our
watersheds. But let’s face the facts, and admit that we have done a good
enough job thus far to date, and that trying to achieve perfection, is not affordable,
possible, necessary or natural.
Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB
and a 39-year resident of the