Environment and Energy

Overview

By increasing private property rights, libertarians would ensure a cleaner environment than we have now.  Federal agencies like the EPA should be abolished.  The free market offers quicker, more effective ways to clean the environment and more efficient and effective technologies. 

Energy subsidies and regulation stifle innovation in both energy production and environmental protection.  These illegitimate bureaucracies arbitrarily impose rules and regulations in order to solidify power.  In doing so, they drive up costs and reduce technological innovation that benefits regular people.   

Opinions

Natural resources should be privately owned and operated with the full transfer of rights based on contracts among those involved and accountable for harms to other parties through common law standards.  Subsidies, prohibition, regulations, and taxes are illegitimate.  The EPA should be abolished as should limited liability laws, subsidies, and taxes for nuclear, fossil fuel, solar, or any energy form.

David Theroux, The Independent Institute

The only role of government or comparable agency is to protect freedom of contract and strict private property rights wherever possible. 

Tibor Machan, Chapman University

The environment is best protected by eliminating sovereign immunity and holding the world’s greatest polluter (the U.S. military) accountable.  Those who pollute should make things right again as much as possible.  Since restoration is costly, it would provide a much better deterrent than fines. 

Privatizing land and beast makes individual owners fierce protectors of the environment.  In Britain, where fishing rights to rivers are privately held, the owners hold uphill polluters accountable.  In the U.S., where fishing rights are rarely private, the government often looks the other way, especially if the polluters are businesses that contribute to political campaign chsests.

Dr. Mary Ruwart, Author of Healing Our World

The best way to protect the environment is through respecting private property rights.  A big government approach to the environment will only limit freedom and prosperity.  Oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear power, and various other alternative energy sources should not be prohibited, over regulated, or subsidized by the government.  Instead all forms of energy should be allowed to compete in the free-market.

Congressman Ron Paul, (R-TX)

There should be a free market in energy without government subsidies or excessive regulation.  If energy production causes demonstrable harm the producers should be subject to civil penalties. 

Dave Nalle, Republican Liberty Caucus

All the “alphabetical” agencies should be abolished tomorrow – no, today!  Not one of them does anything it is supposed to do as well as the free market system would otherwise do the job.  They are all bureaucratized, illegal governing bodies, unelected, irresponsible, and hugely costly. 

Nuclear power should be no more regulated than any other power source.  It is the safest, cheapest, and cleanest source of energy.  Cap-and-Trade is an outrageous and piratical multi-governmental grab for resources from productive industry.  It should be thrown out with any other waste. 

Richard Timberlake, University of Georgia