How much protection do we have?
How much protection do we have?
Recently, I have been watching the debates by the Republican candidates and there are a few things that just do not seem to be true to me. So, I went and did a little research on the topics dealing with the environment and the existing regulations.
Time and time again I have heard that environmental regulations are killing jobs, but my research has shown a different picture. I guess we all know that some of the current regulations are out-of-date with the advancing technology and should be either amended or removed.
On the other hand, there are many sections of the law that need to be corrected to account for today’s industrial development. The area that I mainly searched dealt with the Marcellus gas drilling and mining since both of these are found in our area. Herein, are some of the points that should be brought to light so as to help one make an educated decision on where one stands as to the relationship between industry and the environment.
One of the first things that I discovered in my quest was actually how many jobs are lost due to environmental regulation. The results were not what I expected. From the information I could gather, less than 0.2 percent of jobs are lost due to environmental regulations.
This loss is more than compensated by employment in the environmental regulation field. On the other hand, I discovered that approximately 29 percent of job loss was due to out-sourcing to foreign countries. Manufacturing took the biggest losses. That started me thinking about when the last time was that I heard about a new steel mill being built in our area. One might say that the reason there are no new mills is stronger environmental regulations, or, that maybe it is cheaper to buy Chinese steel than to manufacture our own. In fact, the steel being used in the gas pipelines is coming from China. This bothers me, since we need the work here.
People have told me that it would cost too much to make the steel here, but we all know that manufacturing costs are passed on to the consumer. By now, most of us are aware that a lot of the natural gas being withdrawn from our area is going to foreign countries. Why not let them pay for the cost associated with cleaning our air and water? After all, they are developing their economy with our energy sources. It is hard for me to watch our water and air pay the price for developing a foreign country’s economy.
Another thing that I feel is misleading is the idea that we must drill more and more wells on public lands to meet our demand for oil. The fact is we are currently producing more oil than we have in decades. Then why is the price of gasoline going so high? Maybe the answer is that we are using more? My research shows that in the U.S. we have actually decreased our consumption of gasoline by about 10 percent last year. In fact, the U.S. is actually exporting gasoline to other countries. while our prices rise. Wall Street speculators seem to be the reason for this situation, but regulation of Wall Street is being used as a hindrance to job growth. Maybe, we would not be in this economic mess if someone was watching and regulating Wall Street for the past 10 years.
Lately, there has been much discussed about the pipeline being built from Canada to New Orleans right through the center of the U.S. This pipeline is to carry oil from the north woods to the Gulf of Mexico. Then where will it go? Do you want to bet it will go to foreign markets? Let us come closer to home. There has been a lot of discussion about private companies being given the right of eminent domain of private lands to build pipelines to carry natural gas. What this means, is that if a private company wants to come anywhere on your land and put in a pipeline, they have the right to do so. It makes no difference if the land has been in a family for years, or if you have always paid your taxes, or how hard you have worked to save to buy the land. You will have no say! This I find appalling. What I have determined is that it is not environmental regulations that are the enemy of job creation. Instead it is pure greed that motivates desperate actions.
Remember, that both drilling and mining can be done safely and environmentally sound if we all set workable regulations that protect our air and water. We have the technology to do so, but safe regulations must be in place and enforced to protect our greatest natural resource — WATER. The answer to our economic problems is not getting rid of the EPA, instead it just may be increasing the EPA and creating more jobs in that area.
I admit I do not have all the answers, but I do not like to be misled with untruths and false accusations. Check for yourself, become educated by the truth, and then make your choice when you vote. Do not believe everything you hear from either side. Find out for yourself.
We live in a wonderful country and are blessed with many gifts. Let us protect these treasures and not let greed destroy them.