Gov't success story

A recent installment in The Day's ongoing series on the Thames River - "The River That Shapes Us" - noted the vast improvement over the past few decades in the quality of the river water as it flows to Long Island Sound. This improvement has come despite increased development and population growth in many of the communities that line the river.

This positive change is the result of America coming to recognize the importance of protecting the natural resources on which public health, quality of life and commerce are dependent. This recognition of a moral obligation and a practical necessity to preserve the environment is codified in environmental law.

It is no accident that the ability of wastewater treatment plants to process sewage has dramatically improved, now releasing effluent water that is "cleaner than the river water it's going into," in the words of Dennis J. Greci, supervising sanitary engineer for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Beginning with the Clean Water Act of 1972 and followed by the federal and state regulations that built upon it, citizens, through their governments, demanded that communities do a much better job of controlling pollution. Environmental laws likewise required businesses to clean up or eliminate their water discharges and the pollutants they release into the air.

Lawmakers and the public need to be reminded of this progress as Americans continue to debate the proper role and size of government. Ascendant libertarian elements within the fiscal conservative movement seem to suggest that all or most environmental regulations are too costly and anti-business. Resistance is particularly strong to acknowledging the threat caused by global warming and the necessity of curbing carbon emissions.

Some regulations may be excessive and certainly, at the state level, regulators need to improve the efficiency of the permitting process. But the goal must be to build on this environmental success story and not retrench from it.