Ron Paul and the Environment

12-13-2011 • lewrockwell.com/Walter Block

We don’t hear too much about Ron Paul’s views on the environment. But, no surprise, he is very, very sound on this issue as he is on so many others, at least from a libertarian point of view. A strong advocate of private property rights, Dr. Paul correctly sees this as the cornerstone of a sound libertarian-based environmental policy.

The idea behind free market environmentalism (FME) is that pollution, whether of noise, smoke, dust particles, smells, whatever, is nothing more nor less than a trespass. It constitutes an uninvited border crossing of an owner’s property, and thus a violation of private property rights. In the libertarian society, people who engaged in this sort of thing would be stopped, forthwith; injunctions would be granted for clear and present dangers, and damages, when demonstrated, would be assessed against the perpetrators. These would be torts, not crimes (unless of course the perpetrator did not cease and desist from these acts pursuant to a court order)