Well, just to be clear: I believe that in the same way my freedom to swing my fist ends at your nose, my freedom to pollute ends at the boundary of my property.

Well, just to be clear: I believe that in the same way my freedom to swing my fist ends at your nose, my freedom to pollute ends at the boundary of my property. There are still a lot of externalities that are not born by those that incur them or profit from them. This is a market inefficiency. History has shown that there are plenty of people who are willing to profit in the short term and ignore such externalities, and who will fight hard to avoid paying for any large scale pollution problems. There are many examples. That is why it is necessary to put the burden of proof on the industry. That's why I see regulation as being a necessary evil. That is why a ban on fracking in NY is fine (in my opinion) - in the big picture, it shouldn't matter. If fracking is OK, time will tell and the ban will be removed. The gas can only be removed once, so who cares when? The companies are big enough to focus elsewhere in the meantime. In the US, the Citizens United vs FEC case ensured that much money can be spent on influencing the government. Much more money has been spent by the fossil fuel lobby than the renewables lobby - they have more money to spend. I don't doubt for a second that they are slowing down the shift to renewables as much as they can. It's happening right now, and it is real. This is normal, and expected, and according to the rules. I don't expect them to act outside their own significant interests. However, I think that it is not in the best long-term interests of humanity and I am willing to tolerate some ineptitude and over-regulation to shift the balance.