ABSTRACT
Pollution, risk, health effects and energy generation all connect through uncertain science and institutional failure. Pollution is a function of inappropriate property rights, a regulatory regime that is always subservient to capitalism, whether of the state or private kind, and sincere difficulty in proving effect from cause. Despite the lack of some kind of citizens’ environmental right, the best arrangement so far is legislation such as the Michigan Environmental Protection Act of 1972 and the South African National Environmental Management Act of 1998. Both statutes permit citizens’ groups to take action against a polluter or a regulatory agency in the cause of protecting their health and peace of mind. In the event, such legislation encourages the regulators to be tough and aggressive, rather than spawn a host of citizens’ lawsuits.
