Ron Paul On the Environment

Ron Paul explains his environmental views in this interview:

Paul On the Record

I thought this part was especially insightful:

Q: "But often the cheapest energy sources, which the market would naturally select for, are also the most environmentally harmful. How would you address this?

A: Your question is based on a false premise and a false definition of "market" that is quite understandable under the current legal framework. A true market system would internalize the costs of pollution on the producer. In other words, the "cheapest energy sources," as you call them, are only cheap because currently the costs of the environmental harm you identify are not being included or internalized, as economists would say, into the cheap energy sources.

To the extent property rights are strictly enforced against those who would pollute the land or air of another, the costs of any environmental harm associated with an energy source would be imposed upon the producer of that energy source, and, in so doing, the cheap sources that pollute are not so cheap anymore."

Again, the free-market goes misunderstood and the good doctor clears it all up.