An Academic Environmental lawyer from Vermont advises on the Elk River Spill of 4 methyl cyclohexane methanol.
Natuarally he has some regulatory suggestions. That’s what Enviro Lawyers love.
I am a member of the enviro law section of the Texas Bar–they love regs.
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/opinions/x1781485108/Tom-Miller-Opinions-vary-on-fixes-needed-after-water-crisis
I know you would be shocked to know that the Texas Bar Enviro Section had a newsletter celebrating regulations and when I proposed an article showing that the EPA was putting out junk epidemiology with small associations that didn’t justify the claims of toxicity, they didn’t even bother to respond to a member of the bar and a dues paying member of their section.
They published every month articles by envior advocacy attorneys and even students promoting regulatory fixes or expanded authority for enviro agencies. Understand this, lawyers on both sides of enviro issues like the EPA, it is an annuity. That’s why they have no enthusiasm for bringing down EPA overreach or aggressive agency activities–its money in their pocket that NGO enviro groups sue and sue some more and collude with the EPA on phony lawsuits.
As Heinlein observed: “The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. ” Those who value controlling regulations above the rights of others are more apt to become lawyers.
As President Carter observed: “We have the heaviest concentration of lawyers on Earth… We have more litigation, but I am not sure that we have more justice. No resources of talent and training in our own society, even including the medical care, is more wastefully or unfairly distributed than legal skills. Ninety percent of our lawyers serve 10 percent of our people. We are over-lawyered and under-represented. “
I keep asking Greener to be a regular JunkScience.com contributor and he keeps ignoring me.
Damn it. How can I beat that story?
I’ve run environmental programs for 30 years and have had more than my fair share of environmental lawyers. If you want to see the good, bad, incompetent and just plain ugly, get involved in a Superfund site. I was involved in one that went on for about 29 years, cost untold millions in attorney fees and really didn’t resolve the issues, which were cleaned up by natural attenuation. We supported a bunch of attorneys. http://www.epa.gov/region5/superfund/npl/michigan/MID980506463.html
This fiasco started with a letter from the EPA telling the recipient that they were a potentially responsible party in the West KL Avenue Superfund site. The estimated cleanup was $3,000,000, please remit. The notices went to anyone who sent stuff to the landfill, including homeowners who had rented roll off’s for home remodeling.
Lawyers and consultants got very rich.