Money Is Green Too
The best bureaucrat is the one who wants to put himself/herself out of a job; that is, they realize that if they can get people to comply with the law, they won't be needed. Lisa Jackson, the EPA Administrator, may be just such a bureaucrat.
Ms. Jackson spoke at the National Press Club on March 8th and had a number of very interesting comments. Among them were:
• “Well-conceived, effectively implemented environmental protection is good for economic growth.”
• “[Environmental protection] creates a need—in other words, a market for clean technology—and drives innovation and invention—in other words, new products for the market. This is our convenient truth: smart environmental protection creates jobs….”
• “We need to reclaim leadership in the development of new products to protect our health and our environment. And we need to catalyze on the growing green market place here and around the world….”
Ms. Jackson’s point is that protecting the environment and being green can be profitable. Surprisingly, this is not a self-evident truth and, in fact, it is one that most businesses seem to refuse to acknowledge. It is almost universally the case that businesses bristle at that mention of EPA or environmental regulation and glow at the mention of capitalism or profit. It doesn’t have to be that way.
For example, disposal of hazardous waste streams can be a very expensive process. However, there are times when the waste of one business can be a raw material for another business. Though EPA does not make it easy, there are ways to get these businesses together so that an expensive liability becomes a modest asset. And that’s just on the disposal side.
On the regulatory side, I have said in the past that the electric car is going to save the world. It will, in short order, drastically reduce air pollution and be a big part of the solution to the green house gas problem. Will this happen because it is good for the environment? No, it will happen because that’s where the money is. The future of transportation both in the United States and around the world, will be in cars that are easy to park, can be fueled for pennies at home, are easy to maintain and can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.4 seconds.
It is still early, but Ms. Jackson seems to understand that what is best for the environment can also be best for profits and that if she finds herself out of a job because people are doing the right environmental thing for a capitalistic reason, that’s all right. Of course, we all know that EPA will continue to be around to act as the environmental sheriff because there will always be some people who view legitimate business as being too slow for their needs. Still, if more was made of the fact that there is money in those %#@& environmental regulations and less that we are killing our children and destroying the earth, a lot of people -- maybe even whole political parties -- might change their view. I'm pretty sure Ms. Jackson wouldn't mind.
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