While I normally wouldn’t want regulations imposed on private enterprises from any level of government, I would much prefer a local decision be made than one on a national scale even if it is less of a regulatory burden. Today the Supreme Court sided with national standards against a local board who imposed harsher air quality measures.

When there is an apparatus for national standards in place, rather than many sets of local standards, the ability for more strict regulations to be imposed on everyone becomes that much easier across the board. I also firmly believe that in terms of environmental protection levels, a one-size-fits-all policy is never the best way to go. Individuals and businesses should be able to locate themselves in a place where they find the best mix of freedoms and regulations for their own purposes.

Justice Scalia seems to think differently: “If one state or political subdivision may enact such rules, then so may any other; and the end result would undo Congress’s carefully calibrated regulatory scheme.” It’s not everyday that Justice Scalia sounds just like a good ol’ central planner.

I don’t pretend to know anything about the details of this particular issue, I’m mainly just speaking out on the principle of how I would have things work. Everyone wants clean air, maybe the people of Los Angeles want it more, leave it for them to decide, either at the ballot box or as they say, “with their feet”.