3 ms·

This is a feature of all resource extraction industry. I live in New York - we have 100+ year old oil related hazards in western NY to this day. My folks had a

This is a feature of all resource extraction industry. I live in New York - we have 100+ year old oil related hazards in western NY to this day. My folks had a gravel mine near their home that would occasionally cause issues relating to flooding and some sort of contamination that was there. IMO, these industries need to be heavily taxed if not owned by the government.

mschuster91 9mo ago
> IMO, these industries need to be heavily taxed if not owned by the government. ... or for every building and infrastructure, a bond needs to be placed with the government to be a safeguard for its demolition cost, and for projects that risk environmental damage (mining, oil drills), proof of insurance needs to be provided before the construction begins, and should that insurance ever lapse, the entire property gets seized by the government.
- jgeada 9mo ago
  And don't forget retroactive claw backs on any profits taken; otherwise they'd make sure the assets to be seized are of absolutely no value (and canonically, negative value: all the environmental disaster and other collateral damage is offloaded to the public)
  - amanaplanacanal 9mo ago
    Isn't that the whole purpose of "limited liability" corporations? So that the owners can abscond with the profits and leave the mess to the public?
samplatt 9mo ago
Western Australian here confirming all resource extraction does this. Woodside and Adani are the most egregious that come to mind but they all do it.
kmeisthax 9mo ago
What stops the government from doing the same thing as private industry? My (insane) personal opinion is that resource extraction is inherently politically corrosive and we should start seriously thinking of a plan to sunset it. Resource wealth is inherently feudalist, the incentives it offers run contrary to any sane economic system, and any resource wealth that is extracted distorts the market.
- Spooky23 9mo ago
  It often doesn’t. But it is possible to have effective regulatory oversight systems and taxation. Norway is the model. It’s the ultimate rent seeking model, and like the old telecom & utility monopolies, they should be on a tight leash with moderate profits.
- closewith 9mo ago
  Where do you plan to get the resources if we aren't extracting them from somewhere?
Sabinus 9mo ago
>IMO, these industries need to be heavily taxed if not owned by the government. The problem with this is that it adds cost to the commodity and now you can't properly compete on a world stage against extraction that comes from other jurisdictions that are paid enough to not care. The world free trade regime really needs a rethink if we are going to have proper standards for extraction like this. Say, a trading bloc of ethical commerce. If countries don't play ball then they're out, and unannounced compliance inspections should occur all over the trading bloc ran by an independent member-state multinational institution.

mschuster91 9mo ago

> IMO, these industries need to be heavily taxed if not owned by the government. ... or for every building and infrastructure, a bond needs to be placed with the government to be a safeguard for its demolition cost, and for projects that risk environmental damage (mining, oil drills), proof of insurance needs to be provided before the construction begins, and should that insurance ever lapse, the entire property gets seized by the government.

jgeada 9mo ago
And don't forget retroactive claw backs on any profits taken; otherwise they'd make sure the assets to be seized are of absolutely no value (and canonically, negative value: all the environmental disaster and other collateral damage is offloaded to the public)
- amanaplanacanal 9mo ago
  Isn't that the whole purpose of "limited liability" corporations? So that the owners can abscond with the profits and leave the mess to the public?

samplatt 9mo ago

Western Australian here confirming all resource extraction does this. Woodside and Adani are the most egregious that come to mind but they all do it.

kmeisthax 9mo ago

What stops the government from doing the same thing as private industry? My (insane) personal opinion is that resource extraction is inherently politically corrosive and we should start seriously thinking of a plan to sunset it. Resource wealth is inherently feudalist, the incentives it offers run contrary to any sane economic system, and any resource wealth that is extracted distorts the market.

Spooky23 9mo ago
It often doesn’t. But it is possible to have effective regulatory oversight systems and taxation. Norway is the model. It’s the ultimate rent seeking model, and like the old telecom & utility monopolies, they should be on a tight leash with moderate profits.
closewith 9mo ago
Where do you plan to get the resources if we aren't extracting them from somewhere?

Sabinus 9mo ago

>IMO, these industries need to be heavily taxed if not owned by the government. The problem with this is that it adds cost to the commodity and now you can't properly compete on a world stage against extraction that comes from other jurisdictions that are paid enough to not care. The world free trade regime really needs a rethink if we are going to have proper standards for extraction like this. Say, a trading bloc of ethical commerce. If countries don't play ball then they're out, and unannounced compliance inspections should occur all over the trading bloc ran by an independent member-state multinational institution.