One function of government is to provide “collective goods.” These are goods that individuals or individual corporations cannot provide by themselves, either because they require a long-term investment with little possibility of payoff (the space program), or the risk is too great (the Tennessee Valley Authority), or the initial investment is too massive (the Interstate Highway System).
Another kind of collective good is when the government decides to enforce a standard or rule which individuals or individual companies might support, but they need the government’s help to see that everybody else follows the same standard. The minimum wage is an example. Let’s say one company’s board of directors wishes to pay its employees a minimum of $10 an hour, but its competitor is paying $5.00 an hour. Obviously the “good” company can’t compete.
Today the Pocono Record, in an article entitled “Drillers Change Their Tune,” explained how a leading natural gas industry group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, is now pushing for regulations to stop using riverside treatment plants to treat fracking residue.
John Hager, DEP head under Gov. Rendell, said he had been approached by two drillers, Range Resources of Texas and Atlas Energy, which stated that Pennsylvania’s lax rules on fracking put the state’s rivers and streams at risk. Note the problem--two drilling companies will not be competitive if they are being environmentally responsible and other companies are not.
Last week the Corbett administration called on the drillers to stop using riverside treatment plants, and the drillers said they would comply by May 19. Range Resources spokesman Matt Pitzarella said “More than being a public health issue, it is a public trust issue.” This is great P.R. for the drillers, but it may also benefit the environment, although one alternative to riverside treatment is to inject the toxic waste into deep wells in Ohio.
There are at least two lessons to draw from this. Individual companies can’t do this alone. They need a collective decision to enforce the regulations on all the companies. Secondly, when suggestions to help the environment are coming from natural gas drilling companies, what does that say about the Corbett administration?
She’s bad, she’s nationwide: Tonight the lead story on MSNBC’s “Hardball” featured Linda’s critique of Congressman Barletta and his vote to destroy Medicare. She made the point that Barletta did not campaign on that issue. Chris Matthews praised how good she was. He’s right.
There are some good companies that try to do the right thing. Since there are limited controls in place the bad ones take advantage of the situation and that puts the good at a disadvantage.
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