What this means is that, if common law developed over centuries of practice were still in effect, a farmer or other property owner downstream from a strip mine or any other operation dumping pollution into the stream could sue in court to recover all damages and get a permanent injunction against the offenders. Several downstream property owners could band together in a class action suit and effectively end the pollution, permanently.

However, “administrative law” trumps older common law, the courts have ruled in most cases, so if the EPA or another government agency licenses you to pollute, you’re protected as long as you stay within regulations. EPA style regulation was sold to the public as a way to protect us from health hazards posed to everyone by indiscriminate dumping of pollutants into air and water.

The reality is administrative laws and the regulations based on them are convoluted and this is where legions of lawyers and lobbyists, hired by offending companies, come into the picture, along with, of course, the ideological predisposition of a given administration. Bottom line is that there is no effective protection against pollution, strip mining or other degradation of the environment except political ones, which, as we have seen for several decades, can change with the seasons.

A more effective way to stop this kind of environmental degradation would be to bring back at least some of the old common law property rights so that directly affected parties could bring class action suits and courts could issue rulings that have real penalties and real teeth.

Meantime, the environment will be at the mercy of politicians and bureaucrats none of whom, last time I checked, have been nominated for sainthood.