Todd Miller wrote: "I've encountered activist regulators who deliberately sandbag on issuing permits for completely legal projects simply because they're anti-development." While I don't doubt the validity of the statement above, there are a few facts were missing from the post: 1) For every regulator that goes too far in favor of environmental protection, there are dozens that go too far to appease corporate interests. Regulators are mindful of the political interests (campaign donors) of their bosses, they are extremely deferential to corporate claims of economic burden, and most often their lack of expertise forces them to blindly accept the technical information provided by the corporations they are regulating. 2) What is technically "legal" is most often the result of special interest lobbying and often does not reflect what is good for a particular environment and the people who live there. 3) Regulators can only exercise the discretion they are granted under law. Sean *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Mar 28 2004 - 09:15:48 PST
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