HAGERSTOWN – When it comes to protecting the environment, Libertarian candidate for Governor Rex Bell thinks private ownership, not government oversight, is the answer.
“Private owners take better care of the land than the government does, because they have a stake in it,” Bell said during a recent interview.
The problem, as Bell sees it, is that if the government pollutes, there is no recourse.
“The government isn’t going to sue itself; the only people who are going to pay are taxpayers.”
Instead, if a person or company owns a piece of property, they will work to keep it clean because it directly affects them, Bell noted. Government, Bell said, should only step in when an outside party is harmed, instead of preemptively regulating business.
He applies that approach to coal-burning power plants, farm and agriculture pollution, sewer runoff and clean energy.
Instead of using regulations or tax breaks for industries to influence production of cleaner energy production, such as solar and wind, Bell said the industry itself should decide what’s best.
“We will obviously allow new energy to come along and allow people to work on that. We have a way of working things out; we always have,” Bell said. “But it’s a big nation and a big process, so as far as putting a lot of new restrictions on coal, no, I am not for that.”