|
|
 |
|
The
views expressed
on this page are soley those of the author and do not
necessarily
represent the views of County News Online
|
 |
The Dark Night
of the Animas
By Kate Burch
Around 1988, my husband and I took a road trip to the West. In
Colorado, we had the delightful experience of riding on the
narrow-gauge railway from Durango to Silverton, an old mining
town. The train tracks for quite a while hugged a vertiginous
cliff overlooking the Animas River, and we could, scarily, look down
and watch kayakers on the rapidly moving waters. It struck me at
the time that the name, Animas, Spanish for “soul,” was fitting for
this river that, if not treated with respect, could assist with the
journey of one’s soul to its final reward.
The Animas River has, of course, been in the news lately because of the
EPA’s disastrous negligence, allowing a “blowout” of toxic mine waste
that has caused major economic disruption and loss to millions of
people over a wide area.
And what are the consequences for the malfeasance of the EPA?
Nada. Gina McCarthy, head of the EPA, has issued a statement that
she is “absolutely, deeply sorry this ever happened.” Thanks for
that, Gina, but there is something here that just isn’t right.
The EPA is shielded by federal law against prosecution of the agency
and the employees at fault. The same EPA is entitled to
criminally prosecute individuals and companies that it finds are in
violation of EPA regulations, even when the violation occurs
accidentally. Enormous fines and long prison sentences can and
have been imposed on people who have had no intent to violate laws or
regulations, even on people who have made stringent attempts to remain
in compliance with the laws. One case that was publicized
involved a supervisor of a quarrying project who was criminally
prosecuted and imprisoned because a backhoe operator accidentally
struck and ruptured an oil pipeline, allowing 1,500 gallons of oil to
flow into a river. The “felon” was neither on duty nor operating
the backhoe, but since his contract said he was responsible for safety
at the site, the EPA succeeded in making an example of him.
And, it’s not only the EPA. Government agencies at both federal
and state levels increasingly criminalize activities that should be
handled through civil law or administrative action—or ignored. An
ordinary person who is doing his best to be respectable and
law-abiding, may commit, I have read, three felonies a day all
unwittingly.
Our law is based upon English Common Law and, farther back, on the Ten
Commandments. It used to be understood that an action had to be
“malum in se,” or naturally and obviously evil; and that an individual
had to have “mens rea,” or evil intent, in order to be held criminally
culpable. The huge explosion of regulatory law, and especially
the criminalization of regulatory violations, has brought us to the
place where we truly are no longer a nation of laws, but more a nation
of men, in which certain groups and individuals are favored over
others, and one’s life and livelihood may be ruined through government
caprice.
|
|
|
|
