One thing that often surprises me is the sheer lack of respect for government policy that many polluters display. We often speak about government intervention as a last resort end-all solution to environmental issues. For example, when discussing the pollution of Rio de Janeiro there was an inherent regard for the power of government. In our discussion we mentioned how with the Olympics and the World Cup approaching, there could be major progress. The government chooses to bring these events to the country and will thus clean up for them. However, we may have overestimated federal power. These global events also push people to stop polluting and the debris in the Rio de Janeiro was mostly from local sewage and trash. In other words, there were no giant corporation cutting corners and dumping large amounts of pollutants into the environment.
The point is, when it comes to government versus capitalism, the government has much less power than we may think. The action taken against Mobil for the pollution of Arthur Kill and the dragged out lawsuit perfectly exhibit the impotence of federal action. Mobil dumped oil and other wastes into open air ponds, directly against EPA regulation. I found it ridiculous that the government caught them three separate times and all Mobil did was to continue to pollute. Even more ludicrous is that, when told not to dump into open-air ponds, Mobil began to pollute Arthur Kill directly. This smart aleck reaction shows just how little regard a giant corporation like Mobil holds for the government. Mobil even faked test results to maintain its barge cleaning business and avoid a multimillion-dollar clean up. The root of this immunity lies in a hallmark of capitalism itself, incentives.
Though reprehensible, Mobil’s actions are totally understandable and logical. As a corporation Mobil functions on basic incentives. The barge cleaning business is so profitable that no amount of reasonable fines can approach profits. Invoking the wrath of the EPA means nothing if a ten million dollar fine is the worst possible outcome. In fact it is only worth it for Mobil to fight the lawsuit on the off chance that all they end up paying are lawyers fees. In the context of how the government currently deals with giant polluting corporations, capitalism will always win out over federal goodwill.
In order to really stop pollution, the government must work on the level of capitalism and harness the power of incentives. A great place to start would be to equalize fines to the price of avoiding them in the first place. If a corporation can pay x amount of dollars to prevent themselves from pollution and risk paying a fine of the same amount if they are caught polluting, there is no reason for them not to invest in an environmentally sound method of waste disposal.
Alternatively, the government can try to implement incentives on a more personal level. Instead of operating solely in fines and forced cleanups, perhaps jail time for offenders with knowledge that they are breaking the law would dissuade most companies through their CEOs. This presents many logistical problems however. Between wonky test results, neither faked nor accurate, and lobbying by rich companies, there are many obstacles to moralizing the issue of pollution.
All the obstacles to effective government intervention put more pressure on society. It is difficult to boycott products based on the environmental decisions of their makers. However, as long as companies know that this is not remotely a step that people would take they can continue to pollute without fear of major repercussions.
Unrelatedly, I just want to discuss how awesome the sediment core experiment from the central park lakes is. The scientists stuck a tube in the ground and pulled out a timeline. I can imagine the slightly varying colors of the many layers. I like when these metaphysical ideas such as time can be captured in very tangible, earthly fragments.
