Abstract
The various biases that might inhibit our reasoned business-related environmental discourse are reviewed. In addition, since our reasoned social discourse with respect to environmental policies can and is often interrupted by the obfuscations of business, two examples of attempted obfuscation are reviewed here: the coal industry’s rhetoric of “clean coal, and agriculture’s rhetoric concerning “concentrated animal feeding operations. The example of the North Atlantic Fishery depletion is reviewed. The classic Storm King legal precedent is also reviewed to provide an example of non-servile citizen involvement in environmental restoration.
Much of this chapter stems from Robinson (2019) for which the author owns the copyright.
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Notes
- 1.
This bias against atomistic competition and against cooperative action is a bias against giving up control associated with the latter, and in favor of the individual entrepreneurial independence of the former.
- 2.
For a history of this phenomenon involving the Grand Banks see Murawski (2017).
- 3.
The Clark (1976) exploration of the fisheries problem demonstrates an application of rational economic analysis to finding an optimal fish stock, and this example is worth keeping in mind as demonstrating “rationality” for further analyses below. In this solution, the optimal stock exceeds that necessary for “maximum sustainable yields” in that higher stocks lower the costs of harvesting, and perhaps other external costs as well. See also Bjorndal and Munro (2012) for reviews of the management of fisheries around the world.
- 4.
Note that “broadly defined” requires incorporating the costs of those disrupted due to being forced to change, plus any externality costs.
- 5.
- 6.
See www.ipswichriver.org.
- 7.
See www.combat-fishing.com/massstipersmerrimackrvr.html for a review of striped bass restoration in the Merrimack, and www.concordmonitor.com/fish-stocking-2127105 for a review of restoration of herring in the river.
- 8.
See www.ipswichfishmarket.com/clams.aspx for an example of business involvement in restoration of this resource, and www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Ipswich-Clams for a review of this delicacy.
- 9.
See Thoreau (1873), for observations of early-industrial-revolution river pollution on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Also, see https://chattahoochee.org/water-quality/ for a review of the textile industry’s pollution of the Chattahoochee River.
- 10.
For a review of the Love Canal environmental tragedy, see https://archive.epa.gov/epa/aboutepa/love-canal-tragedy.html.
- 11.
US Department of Energy, October 13, 2010, “Where Greenhouse Gases Come From – Energy Explained.” Murray Energy is now bankrupt as of early 2021.
- 12.
See “The True Cost of Coal,” Greenpeace, 12-23-2008 and “Time to Bury the Clean Coal Myth,” Fred Pearce, The Guardian, London, UK, 10-30-2008.
- 13.
“Coal CEO admits that “clean coal” is a myth.” July 6, 2017. Think Progress, at www.thinkprogress/clean-coal-isnt-real-edqu3e2841060/. Note that Robert Murray died in 2020, and Murray Energy is now in bankruptcy.
- 14.
- 15.
“CO2 Sequestration Isn’t practical,” Casper Star-Tribune, February 20, 2010.
- 16.
See David Sassoon , Inside Climate News, February 10, 2010.www.insideclimatenews.org/news/20100210/Obama-making-clean-coal-president.
- 17.
See “EPA roles back Obama-era plan limiting coal-fired power plant emissions,” by Ellie Kaufman, CNN, June 19, 2019. www.cnn.com/06/2019/politics/.
- 18.
See “What Trump has said about “clean coal” and what it is.” By Meaghan Keneally of ABC News, August 23, 2017.
- 19.
This provision requires EPA and the states to address interstate downwind pollution that produced effects in violation of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
- 20.
The source is US EPA National Acidic Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP), 2013.
- 21.
See Henry Graber, Shutterstock, “50 Years After Its Discovery: Acid Rain has Lessons for Climate Change,” September 10, 2013.
- 22.
Note that industry supported dissenters such as cfact.org argued that the “swift moth” is the isolated cause of this deforestation. This ignores the linkage between the weakened forest and the subsequent moth onslaught. See www.cfact.org/2018/05/24/the-moth-of-dangerous-acid-rain/, May 24,2018.
- 23.
As of May, 2021, the replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy sources is more rapid than previously anticipated. See Blunt, WSJ, May 17, 2021, p. 1.
- 24.
For a review, see The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday July 3, 2019, p. A6.
- 25.
Ibid.
- 26.
The Water Keepers Alliance began in 1999 as a coalition of the many local Riverkeepers and similar NGOs (over 200 organizations in 2019). The original Riverkeepers was organized in 1983 for the purpose of restoring the Hudson River.
- 27.
See “NPDES CAFO Permitting State Reports” at www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-04/documents/tracksum_endyear2016_v2.pdf.
- 28.
“Point-source” water pollution originates from an identifiable spot such as a discharge pipe. “Non-point” pollution refers to runoffs such as from streets or agricultural fields.
- 29.
See “NPDES CAFO Permitting State Reports” at www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-04/documents/tracksum_endyear2016_v2.pdf.
- 30.
See “A Run on the Banks,” The Environmental Magazine, July 20, 2004. https://emagazine.coma/a-run-on-the-banks/.
- 31.
Scenic Hudson Preservation vs. Federal Power Commission.
- 32.
Cronin was involved with Pete Seeger’s Clearwater Sloop program for raising awareness of pollution problems along the Hudson.
References
Bjorndal, Trond, and Gordon Munro. 2012. The Economics and Management of World Fisheries. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Clark, Colin. 1976. Mathematical Bioeconomics: The Optimal Management of Renewable Resources. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons.
Murawski, Steven A. 2017. History of New England Groundfish Fishery, www.nefse.noaa.gov/history/stories/groundfish/grndfsh1.html.
Oregon Wild 2017a. What is an Old-Growth Forest? www.oregonwild.org/oregon_forest/old_growth_protection/what-is-an-0ld-growth-forest.
——— 2017b. Northwest Forest Plan. www.oregonwild.org/forests/forest-protection-and-restoration/nwfp.
Robinson, Richard. 2018. Friendships of Virtue, Pursuit of the Moral Community, and the Ends of Business. Journal of Business Ethics 151: 85–100.
———. 2021. Our Environmental Organizations and Reasoned Discourse. New York, NY: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Thoreau, Henry David 1873. A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers., https://archive.org/details/aweekonconcorda00thorgoog/.
Additional Advanced Readings
Robinson (2021) presents a comprehensive review of some of business’ environmental problems, and also of the contributions of our environmental advocacy organizations to our reasoned discourse.
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Robinson, R.M. (2022). Chapter 15: Some Current Environmental Problems for Business. In: Business Ethics: Kant, Virtue, and the Nexus of Duty. Springer Texts in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85997-8_15
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