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"If we could just get rid of environmental and worker protections, costs would be lower!" - Every Company Ever

rcpt 4y ago
How about actually making environmental regulations matter? Blocking infill development with CEQA? You need to say how much more driving will happen as a result.
- harmon 4y ago
  Exactly this. Every project is going to impact the environment. The end goal of a risk assessment is not to bring the environmental risk to zero, it is to bring it down to an acceptable level given the benefits of the project.
  - Goronmon 4y ago
    Exactly this. Every project is going to impact the environment. The end goal of a risk assessment is not to bring the environmental risk to zero, it is to bring it down to an acceptable level given the benefits of the project. I think getting at this type of issue is specifically what I wished the article had done more of. It's easy to say "Well, environmental regulations are causing the problem." Which I guess is good to know, but the real important part is what's the next step or how could things improve. Otherwise, it comes across as "The problem is that environmental regulations exist."
- Symmetry 4y ago
  The Cape Wind project, which was going to be the US's first offshore wind farm, was famously killed by wealthy and powerful people worried about their views with environmental causes as a pretext. I think that bureaucratic review could be much better than the current case of "anybody wealthy enough can sue to stop the project" but that would have required spending money spinning up the department when the law was introduced and relying on lawsuits from the public looks free. EDIT: And of course recently fossil power interests were able to stop some power lines to bring hydro electricity in from Canada.
seoaeu 4y ago
The problem is that most environmental protection laws predate climate change being a primary concern. So even something where it is blatantly obvious that it is going to be a net good for the environment can get bogged down in years of reviews
ausbah 4y ago
the complaint is not environmental regulations, but how they are used to stonewall projects with heinous "environmental review". some obscure "endanger animal" is dug up local activists and cited as being threatened delaying the whole project

rcpt 4y ago

How about actually making environmental regulations matter? Blocking infill development with CEQA? You need to say how much more driving will happen as a result.

harmon 4y ago
Exactly this. Every project is going to impact the environment. The end goal of a risk assessment is not to bring the environmental risk to zero, it is to bring it down to an acceptable level given the benefits of the project.
- Goronmon 4y ago
  Exactly this. Every project is going to impact the environment. The end goal of a risk assessment is not to bring the environmental risk to zero, it is to bring it down to an acceptable level given the benefits of the project. I think getting at this type of issue is specifically what I wished the article had done more of. It's easy to say "Well, environmental regulations are causing the problem." Which I guess is good to know, but the real important part is what's the next step or how could things improve. Otherwise, it comes across as "The problem is that environmental regulations exist."
Symmetry 4y ago
The Cape Wind project, which was going to be the US's first offshore wind farm, was famously killed by wealthy and powerful people worried about their views with environmental causes as a pretext. I think that bureaucratic review could be much better than the current case of "anybody wealthy enough can sue to stop the project" but that would have required spending money spinning up the department when the law was introduced and relying on lawsuits from the public looks free. EDIT: And of course recently fossil power interests were able to stop some power lines to bring hydro electricity in from Canada.

seoaeu 4y ago

The problem is that most environmental protection laws predate climate change being a primary concern. So even something where it is blatantly obvious that it is going to be a net good for the environment can get bogged down in years of reviews

ausbah 4y ago

the complaint is not environmental regulations, but how they are used to stonewall projects with heinous "environmental review". some obscure "endanger animal" is dug up local activists and cited as being threatened delaying the whole project