10 Ways the Free Market Protects the Environment
Pollution control is also well handled by private markets; for example, owners of fishing rights can and do form associations to take polluters to court. Once precedent has been established, this is seldom necessary, but the point is that property owners have both the incentive and means to abate or prevent pollution on their property. The owners of the Love Canal waste dump, Hooker Chemical Company, knew full well that they would be liable for damages from leaks, so they took serious precautions, and built strong and stable clay enclosures topped with a copper barrier to prevent leaks. Only after they were forced to sell the property (for $1) to the local government under threat of foreclosure was the containment compromised and the copper barrier punctured, causing the leaks. The fact that they were forced to sell is rarely mentioned, and the problem occurred only when the relevant market was thwarted.
