Almost one year later, the legendary town of Tombstone, Arizona is no
closer to beginning the repair of waterlines destroyed as a result of
widespread forest fires and mudslides. Unearthing pipelines from as much
as twelve feet of mud and boulders, and repairing aqueducts destroyed
in the Monument Fire
of 2011, ought to be daunting enough for a town of 1,500. But, throw in
the bureaucratic nightmare of the US Forest Service and it becomes an
all but impossible task.
As if to further prove Jeffrey Tucker’s argument that “the [modern] state works to reverse progress in every possible way,” the feds have declared that any work to repair the pipelines will have to be done using equipment straight out of the 19th Century. According to The Goldwater Institute, which has sued the US Forest Service on behalf of Tombstone, the city was told it would have to use “horses and hand tools to remove boulders the size of Volkswagens.”
The town currently relies on ground wells to survive, but there is an insufficient supply to protect the town in the event of more disasters. City manager George Barnes said their present situation “doesn’t allow for a building fire, a well-pump failure; it doesn’t allow for much of anything.”
At issue for the feds is the spotted owl, and other endangered species, whose habitat is in the mountains near Tombstone. Of course the fires and floods destroyed their habitat, but rules are rules, right?
While such legal challenges can be successful at times, they are hardly the only remedy available. Indeed, it can be argued that asking a federal judge, in a federal courtroom, to curtail a federal agency is one of the least effective and logically unsound ways to go about solving problems caused the federal government. But before we get into the details of how states and local organizations can free themselves from the grasp of federal bureaucrats, let’s examine first the problems in dealing with the feds on their own terms.
Read more: http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2012/04/27/tombstone-water-and-the-bureaucrat-standing-in-between/#more-12495
As if to further prove Jeffrey Tucker’s argument that “the [modern] state works to reverse progress in every possible way,” the feds have declared that any work to repair the pipelines will have to be done using equipment straight out of the 19th Century. According to The Goldwater Institute, which has sued the US Forest Service on behalf of Tombstone, the city was told it would have to use “horses and hand tools to remove boulders the size of Volkswagens.”
The town currently relies on ground wells to survive, but there is an insufficient supply to protect the town in the event of more disasters. City manager George Barnes said their present situation “doesn’t allow for a building fire, a well-pump failure; it doesn’t allow for much of anything.”
At issue for the feds is the spotted owl, and other endangered species, whose habitat is in the mountains near Tombstone. Of course the fires and floods destroyed their habitat, but rules are rules, right?
While such legal challenges can be successful at times, they are hardly the only remedy available. Indeed, it can be argued that asking a federal judge, in a federal courtroom, to curtail a federal agency is one of the least effective and logically unsound ways to go about solving problems caused the federal government. But before we get into the details of how states and local organizations can free themselves from the grasp of federal bureaucrats, let’s examine first the problems in dealing with the feds on their own terms.
Read more: http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2012/04/27/tombstone-water-and-the-bureaucrat-standing-in-between/#more-12495
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