September

THEFREE IDEASON LIBERTY 332 Environmentalism: The Triumph of Politics Doug Bandow It is a mistake to think that the goal of the environmental movement is protection of the environment. 340 Linking Liberty, Economy, and Ecology John A. Baden and Robert Ethier Liberty and private property are the best defense for the environment. 343 Science and the Environment Bruce N. Ames Correcting some of the errors of the environmentalists. 345 Overpopulation: The Perennial Myth David Osterfeld Food, natural resources, and living space are becoming more abundant. 348 Stewardship versus Bureaucracy Rick Perry The control of water is too important to be left to government. 350 The Market and Nature Fred L. Smith, Jr. Economic development guided by the market is sustainable. 357 Eco-Justice Jane M. Orient, M.D. How politics has perverted justice. 358 Pulling the Plug on the REA Albert R. Bellerue The Rural Electrification Administration serves no public interest.

360 In Praise of Billboards Lawrence Person Information is an economic good, especially for travelers. 362 I Oil Drilling in Alaska Sarah Anderson Protecting the environment on the North Slope. 366 Book Reviews Jim Russell reviews Earth in the Balance by Al Gore; Environmental Politics: Public Costs, Private Rewards edited by Michael S. Greve and Fred L. Smith, Jr., reviewed by Brian Doherty; The Heated Debate: Greenhouse Predictions vs. Climate Reality by Robert C. Balling, reviewed by John Semmens. CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 1993 VOL. 43 NO.9 THEFREEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY Published by The Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 President: Hans F. Sennholz, Ph.D. Editor: John W. Robbins, Ph.D. Senior Editor: Beth A. Hoffman Associate Editors: John Chamberlain Bettina Bien Greaves Edmund A. Opitz Paul L. Poirot, Ph.D. Contributing Editors: Doug Bandow Clarence B. Carson, Ph.D.

Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Ph.D. Roger W. Garrison, Ph.D. Robert Higgs, Ph.D. John Hospers, Ph.D. Ronald Nash, Ph.D. William H. Peterson, Ph.D. Richard H. Timberlake, Ph.D. Lawrence H. White, Ph.D. The Freeman is the monthly publication of The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533. FEE, established in 1946 by Leonard E. Read, is a non-political, educational champion of pri vate property, the free market, and limited government. FEE is classified as a 26 USC 50l(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Copyright © 1993 by The Foundation for Economic Education. Permission is granted to reprint any article in this issue, provided appropriate credit is given and two copies of the reprinted material are sent to The Foun dation. The costs of Foundation projects and ser vices are met through donations, which are invited in any amount. Donors of $25.00 or more receive a subscription to The Free man. Additional copies of single issues of The Freeman are $2.00. For foreign deliv ery, a donation of $40.00 a year is suggested to cover mailing costs.

Bound volumes of The Freeman are avail able from The Foundation for calendar years 1972 to date. The Freeman is available on microfilm and CD-ROM from University Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Ar bor, MI 48106. A computer diskette contain ing the articles from this month's issue is available from FEE for $10.00; specify ei ther 3V2" or 5Vi' format. Phone (914) 591-7230 FAX (914) 591-8910 PERSPECTIVE Private Property It is not the right of property which is protected, but the right to property. Prop erty, per se, has no rights; but the individ ual, the man, has three great rights, equally sacred from arbitrary interference: the right to his life, the right to his liberty, the right to his property. . . . The three rights are so bound together as to be essentially one right. To give a man his life but deny him his liberty is to take from him all that makes his life worth living. To give him liberty but to take from him the property which is the fruit and badge of his liberty, is to still leave him a slave.

-JUSTICE GEORGE SUTHERLAND Government Against Wildlife Perversely, the government sometimes penalizes landowners for improving habitat. Dayton Hyde, who put 25 percent of his ranch into marshes for wildlife, initiated research on the sandhill crane and built a lake with three and a half miles of shoreline for wildlife. But he paid a price: "My lands have been zoned. I am being regulated for wetlands that weren't there before I created them. Like most of my neighbors I can save myself from financial disaster only by some creative land management, but the state legislature has cut out most of my options. " As founder of Operation Stronghold, an international organization of private land owners practicing conservation on their land, Hyde is serious about wildlife conser vation. But his efforts rest on the coopera tion of thousands of private landowners, who could go a lot further if government would refrain from imposing costly zoning restrictions. Hyde has found that some ranchers are reluctant to join. As one land owner put it: "Look, you don't understand.

We would like to do our share for wildlife but we are afraid if we create something worthwhile the public will want what we have. It's just plain easier and a lot safer to sterilize the land." Because the willingness of the private sector to improve habitat or 330 create recreational opportunity depends on the incentives landowners face, we cannot expect a positive response from the private sector if landowners are penalized for im proving habitat. -TERRY L. ANDERSON and DONALD R. LEAL Free Market Environmentalism Spotted Owl with Tarragon Pesto? I have one question about that April 2 environmental teachin in Portland with President Clinton: Why are those spotted owl couples entitled to 300 acres each? Candidate Clinton pledged to help' 'the ones who do the work and play by the rules," and I know a lot of humans like that and none of them has even one acre. "The ones who do the work and play by the rules" are getting an average of $4,500 added to each new house in higher lumber prices. The price of 2x 4s is up 90 percent since November, in no small part because of the logging restrictions imposed by environ mentalists.

John Hampton, president of Willamina Lumber Company, figures that the proposed millions of acres in set-asides for owl habitat will have each pair of spotted Owls sitting on $95 million in timber. On the top of these rising lumber prices, there's unemployment. The people in Ore gon, Washington, and California stand to lose anywhere from 10,000to 50,000logging jobs, plus the secondary unemployment that will ripple out. The bottom line, as I understand it, is that someone has to move, either the loggers or the owls. Neither can live with the other; both have their family ros;>ts deeply planted in the same "old growth" forests, and some one is going to end up losing his home. Just looking at that aspect, from an economist's focus on costs and benefits, it's clearly the owl couples who should hit the road since their homes are next to worthless. And in terms of the actual costs of movPERSPECTIVE ing, loggers must hire expensive vans and help, whereas all the owls have to do is wake up when they hear the saws and fly over to some other trees. Isn't that why birds have wings, so they can fly? Many birds fly thousands of miles each year-some even do a roundtrip from Canada to Argentina every year without whining about it. But environmentalists whine because owls might have to move to "new growth" trees.

So there they sit, even though they are costing millions of dollars in unnecessary housing costs, tens of thousands of lost jobs , and the closing of entire human towns. It's time to tell the spotted owls to start playing survival of the fittest and move on and take their chances adapting to a new environment, just like most of the rest of us did. The Irish survived the potato famine by moving to New York City and the Cubans survived Castro's power grab by moving to Miami. Why should someone with wings be expected to do less? -RALPH R. REILAND Robert Morris College Acid Rain In 1980 the Environmental Protection Agency asserted that the average lake in the northeastern United States had been acidi fieda hundredfold in the last 40 years by acid rain. And the National Academy of Sciences claimed that acid rain would double the damage again by 1990. But the 10-year National Acid Precipita tion Assessment Program (NAPAP), con ducted under the auspices of the EPA, has completely discredited these claims and shown them to be baseless. The $500million study found that: • The average lake in the Adirondacks is no more acidic now than it was before the Industrial Revolution.

• There was no measurable change in the acidity of lakes over the preceding 10 years. • Only 35,000 of the 200 million acres of u.S. lakes are too acidic to support sports fisheries-and most of this acidity is natural. -Executive Alert 331 THEFREEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY ENVIRONMENTALISM: THE TRIUMPH OF POLITICS by Doug Bandow T here's no doubt that the environment makes for good politics. Eight of ten Americans call themselves environmental ists. Overwhelming majorities say that gas oline should be less polluting, cars should be more efficient, trash should be recycled, and lifestyles should be changed. This increasing sensitivity is reflected in business' growing emphasis on environmen tal products. Such catalogues as Real Goods, Seventh Generation, and Earth Care Paper offer recycled paper, vegetable based dishwashing liquid, battery chargers, and fluorescent light bulbs. Even many mainstream firms are labeling their products CFC-free, biodegradable, and environmen tally friendly. While the environmental ben efits of these activities are unclear, they apparently help sell products.