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Air Quality and the Environment
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11310 |
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SPECIAL SECTION
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| Issue
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9 / 1993 |
648 Words |
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Matthew Spalding
Matthew Spalding is a senior policy analyst at the Claremont
Institute. |
California is being strangled by the administrative state. The amount of income that the average Californian spends to support state government has doubled since 1975. To this must be added the cost of an expanding system of hidden taxes: regulations.
Southern California has some of the worst air quality in the nation and some of the most stringent regulations to control it. But at what cost? The two organizations responsible for air quality--the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)--estimate that the economic burden of their regulations amounts to $8.557 billion annually. This translates into over $2,000 annually for every family of four in the south coast air basin.
This cost is paid indirectly by consumers through the businesses and industries that bear the brunt of hundreds of fines, fees, and rules. Some businesses have already increased their prices across the board to cover this expense. The other option is to reduce operating costs. Here, the picture is more ominous. The SCAQMD estimates that its regulations will displace, on average, some 100,000 jobs every year for the next 20 years. That's two million jobs between now and the year 2010.
What are the benefits? Increased crop yields, visibility improvements, reductions in illness and mortality, and reduced expenditures on refurbishing building surfaces. This will bring an annual benefit, again according to the SCAQMD, of $6.201 billion. There will also be reduced traffic congestion for an additional savings of $1.251 billion. And to offset job losses, new, environmentally correct employment opportunities will be available.
Yet even if such benefits are quantifiable, there would be an annual net loss of over $1 billion. Besides, the benefits do not negate the fact that the real costs will be paid in terms of higher prices and lost jobs in the meantime. It's something like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
The problem is that most local regulations at some point stem from federal laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. The Clinton administration, for instance, is now threatening to cut off highway funds to California for failing to comply with the federal Clean Air Act and its directive for a centralized vehicle smog check program. Such unfounded mandates, along with the bureaucrats who administer them and the judges who interpret them, force cities, counties, and
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