If this question is being asked, it means that current legislation is not strong or effective enough. I would agree, for the following reasons:
- Too often environmental laws such as CWA, ESA, NEPA and MMPA are viewed as the antithesis of the everyday interests of Americans; they suppress economic development, stifle jobs, and restrict seemingly lawful activities.
- Environmental laws often are not strong enough in the face of strong economic incentives. For example, the EIS reports generated from NEPA are non-binding – unless plans will break a law.
- Essential environmental legislation such as the CWA, is often extremely underregulated. The executive branch is able to direct agencies about enforcement focuses, and so are often able to sway the desired outcome despite a contrary intention from the original law.
- Legislators are (often) not scientists. Unfortunately, in an area of law that is focused on mitigating chemical processes within the environment – our spokespeople cannot speak the language. Perhaps laws should be written in a way that they are more comfortable in.
SO… we need a law that enables growth, is enforceable, can stand for itself, and does not rely on non-scientists to set the science.
The Human Ecosystem Act (THEA)
THEA is a policy that establishes ecosystem services as a commodity item of value recognized by the United States federal government. As an item of value, work done by owned or earned ecosystem services that are shared with the general public, shall be compensated accordingly.
Ecosystem services are to be valued based on the full projected economic impact of loss of service by an independent advisory board – like the MMPA, the enforcement agency (Department of Commerce) must act upon advisory board recommendations. A marketplace shall be established, controlled by the Department of Commerce, and compensation shall take place in the form of tax breaks.
It is expected that any claimed owned/earned ecosystem service will be tracked scientifically with technologies such as (but not limited to): Satellite Imagery, IoT networks, verified expert inspection.
Ecosystem services include, but are not limited to: clean drinking water, carbon sequestration, keystone species conservation, pollinating plants.
