May 10, 2010
Paul Krugman rightly notes the enormous regulatory failure that allowed BP to drill in the Gulf without an emergency plan to deal with a spill. However, he misses part of the story when describing the problem as one of anti-government sentiment.
The government actually played a big role in this spill. Congress passed a law following the Exxon-Valdez spill in 1991 that restricted the liability of oil companies in these incidents to $75 million. There are estimates that the damage from this spill to the fishing and tourism industry in the region could exceed $100 billion. Would BP be as anxious to drill recklessly if it knew that it could be picking up this tab?
The problem is not just a failure of the government to regulate. The problem was a government policy that effectively expropriated property rights from the people in the region and gave BP and other would be polluters the right to do damage without providing compensation. We need government to do the right things, but as a first step, let’s not have it actively intervene on the wrong side.
Comments