🚀 go-pugleaf

  Xposted:
  
  The fundamental question is whether a regulation is promulgated to
  protect the rights of people from harm (which is one definition of
  regulation of a public nuisance) or to provide a benefit that was not
  there before. That is why many of the "takings" bills include an
  exception of regulation of nuisances as defined under the common law
  of the relevant jurisdiction. Therefore, regulations to prevent toxic
  emissions are clearly not takings in most areas. The fundamental
  question is whether those actions under greatest scrutiny--wetlands
  protection, the Endangered Species Act, and other fish and wildlife
  protection--are measures to prevent harm or to secure new benefits.
  Clearly, there is a sharp disagreement over the answers to this
  question.  I suspect that the battle that has been joined will be
  played out in a legislative arena informed by the public (threats of
  not being reelected if one is out of tune with one's constituents).
  Thus, the clearer the perception that the environmental regulations
  are protecting the rights of the citizenry from harm, the less likely
  that environmental management will be dismantled.

  Now, for the better reference, I recommend: Joseph L. Sax. Property
  Rights and the Economy of Nature: Understanding Lucas v. South
  Carolina Coastal Council. Stanford Law Review 45:1433-1455. Sax has
  been a lucid scholar of this issue for a long time. If you cannot find
  this article, I recommend that you ask your librarian for advice on
  conducting database searches for journals that may carry his work. I
  used such a program at the Oregon State University Library to locate
  this work in the first place. For my search (using FIRSTSEARCH) I
  began with a search for the most recent year, and then I did
  additional searches year-by-year until I came across a reference.
  Since my library did not have this journal, I was able to use
  interlibrary loan to get a copy of the article. I encourage any of you
  near a major library to ask those interesting folks who work there how
  to find material like this. Now that they are abandoning card catalogs
  for electronic systems, they are delighted to share their new
  technologies.

  R. Bruce Rettig, Professor           Telephone: 503-737-1408
  Department of Agricultural                 FAX: 503-737-2563
  and Resource Economics           INTERNET:
  Oregon State University              RETTIGB@CCMAIL.ORST.EDU
  Corvallis, OR 97331-3601


...  False economic assumptions are the root of all environmental problems