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IamSauerKraut t1_j5yua56 wrote

Reply to comment by ImperialIIClass in Pa. drillers abandoned thousands of natural gas wells in 5 years, ignored state law, report says by lildobe

But the environmental regulator also failed to enforce the reporting law, the same as they failed to ensure the drillers and pipeline companies were paying required fees to the Commonwealth with the result being that PA taxpayers carried their share of the tax burden.

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Bruc3w4yn3 t1_j5zoarh wrote

It's hard to enforce anything when your budget is razor thin and you're limited in the action you can legally take.

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NotNowDamo t1_j603zyy wrote

It is even harder to enforce the law when you have made conscious decision not to, which is what actually happened.

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pedantic_comments t1_j5ywotx wrote

It’s not a cop’s fault if someone commits a crime, just like it’s not the fault of regulators that corporations disobey the laws of the commonwealth.

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reverendsteveii t1_j5yze2r wrote

It's not a cop's fault that someone commits a crime. It is absolutely a cop's fault when someone commits a crime in front of that cop and that cop knowingly chooses to ignore it.

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pedantic_comments t1_j5z37go wrote

That’s not what’s happening. The DEP issued a report highlighting the problem and asks for legislation and resources. They are doing their jobs and saying we need to come up with a better system to enforce compliance - otherwise PA gets stuck with the bill for all the damage violations cause. It’s a regulatory body identifying a big problem and offering legislative fixes, like increasing the bonds these companies pay to operate here.

[The article also insinuates that the money from drillers has corrupted our state legislature.]

Blaming regulators here instead of the corporate assholes messing with our environment and our political systems is stupid.

TLDR; In our analogy, there’s one unarmed cop outside of an armed robbery situation, and they are asking for backup and permission to do more than write a mean letter or issue a small fine.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5yxydf wrote

If a cop witnesses a murder but does not arrest the murderer, do you take a deep breath and say "ho hum"?

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