Quote Originally Posted by TitoFan View Post
The thing is Lyle, new technologies for pollution control may be something the free market "will address"...... but only if they're incentivized to do it.

Case in point. Many years ago I worked at a steel mill. At the time, it was considered pretty state-of-the-art with all the pollution control mechanisms and equipment it was using. But it wasn't using all these technologies out of the goodness of their hearts, or because they were so aware of the environment. They were using it because of the government and environmentalists' pressure to reduce harmful emissions at that time. The technology was costly, and added cost to the final product. But they couldn't operate without it.

So leaving the free market to its own free will regarding pollution control is a bit like leaving the fox watching the hen coop.

Companies nowadays are trying to come up with newer and better ideas at how to curb and/or re-mediate pollution. They just need to receive the boost and the importance that is warranted in order to force all of industry to use these technologies. That...... is where I believe we're lagging behind. We have the technologies. But until we can get people united behind the urgency of the need, they (the technologies) may as well not exist.
Thought experiment...what if I invented something which halves the pollution emitted from your factory allowing you to increase production without drawing the ire of the government....what happens to me and my technology?


Answer: I become a trillionaire and my technology is utilized by anyone with half a brain.


Ergo "the free market will handle it" ...I never even brought up the EPA or any government agency, the immediate jump to "AH HA!!! But what about the EPA and government agencies!!!!"....I never mentioned it because the EPA doesn't invent new things, the government bureaucracy isn't in that business, they're in the "did you color inside the lines" business which is irksome but needed and that is why I didn't mention them.