Question

Summarize “Property Rights and Environmental Regulation”

Answer 1

In Anglo-American constitutional thought the right to acquire, use, and alienate property has long been seen as a fundamental value. (1) Reverence for private property has traditionally been seen as the basis for individual rights and the enjoyment of liberty. (2) In the light of this link between freedom and property, both the federal and state constitutions contain private ownership guarantees. (3) Nevertheless, as with other individual rights, proprietors' rights have never been absolute. The common nuisance law imposes restrictions on landowner activity which adversely affects the enjoyment of a neighbor's land.

The advent of the modern environmental movement in the late twentieth century, accompanied by often dystopian rhetoric, led to the enactment of a series of laws which strictly regulate land use. Such legislation has made significant inroads on proprietors' traditional rights. Property rights advocates in both the judicial and legislative arena have increasingly challenged the environment agenda. Today, environmentalists and landowners appear trapped within a cycle of destructive mutual antagonism.

Environmentalists harbor deep suspicions of market forces and commonly argue that recognition of property owners' traditional dominion rights is antithetical to protection of the environment. They often claim that unfettered private land rights lead to widespread degradation, and that individual property rights are a hindrance to regulations that affect the public interest.

The innovative extension of property rights to environmentally friendly resources may help solve several environmental issues. In the case of natural resources in particular, property rights are a viable and tested means of enhancing sustainability, particularly when compared with the political alternatives available

Whatever the environmental conservation advantages of property rights, they are not a panacea. Where property rights are a particularly effective means of aligning resource conservation incentives, it is more difficult to apply property-rights approaches to pollution problems. A commitment to property rights should, in principle, involve a commitment to protecting people and their property from invasions which are unprivileged or unconsented. The placement of waste or pollution on the property of another should be regarded as a infringement of his rights. In practice, however, this can be difficult to do.