Should the Federal Environmental Laws on Air, Water, Hazardous Waste, Noise and Anti-Smoking Be Strengthened or Should Laws Be Relaxed, Essay Example

It appears that many aspects of the environmental problem have now been analyzed the prospective of law and economics. However, the economics environmental research has been focusing predominantly on tradable permits, and taxes, thus neglecting the necessity for liability rules and insurance, and regulation.  Current environmental situation and environmental laws definitely require regulatory intervention, thus there is a strong case for controlling environmental harm through regulation. I would suggest paying more attention to the enforcement aspect of environmental regulation. Comparing to tort law, the major weakness of regulation is that the damage from it can be sufficiently large and the injuries can be identified. The magnitude of criminal sanctions should be base on harm, which is opposing to our current sentencing guidelines that base the fine on the illegal gain. Apart from criminal sanctions government must also strengthen civil sanctions and private settlements. For example, in North America “the quality of the environment has improved substantially as a result of regulatory efforts, not so much in response to legal action in tort.”(Smickt, 2008) Therefore, the regulatory intervention has proven to be effective. However, the most effective move would be the combination of liability and regulation, for these two systems are interdependent.

References

Smickt, R. (2008). Environmental Law and Economics in Europe and in the United States. GRIN Verlag.