How the free market screwed Utah
The Energy Department is giving Utah $108 million to help us clean up 32,000,000,000 pounds of radioactive sludge left over from mining.
The mining company, Atlas Mineral Corporation, mined area area near Moab, but didn't clean up after itself. It left it to the American people to foot the bill.
This is common mining practice.
Companies need to start taking their waste into account. Many companies would not be as profitable as they seem if they took the cost of waste disposal into account.
The free market does not always have a way to regulate negative externalities. This is a case where the government can step in to improve things.
The government could have stepped in before they gave the Atlas Mineral Co. rights to mine, and put them under contract to foot the bill.
But that still probably wouldn't have worked, since other mining companies under similar contracts simply go bankrupt. The CEOs take off with the leftover millions, and leave the miners and their community bankrupt.
The mining company, Atlas Mineral Corporation, mined area area near Moab, but didn't clean up after itself. It left it to the American people to foot the bill.
This is common mining practice.
Companies need to start taking their waste into account. Many companies would not be as profitable as they seem if they took the cost of waste disposal into account.
The free market does not always have a way to regulate negative externalities. This is a case where the government can step in to improve things.
The government could have stepped in before they gave the Atlas Mineral Co. rights to mine, and put them under contract to foot the bill.
But that still probably wouldn't have worked, since other mining companies under similar contracts simply go bankrupt. The CEOs take off with the leftover millions, and leave the miners and their community bankrupt.
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