Reason Magazine - Contributors

Cramped Style

info@reason.com (Michael De Alessi) — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST

Fat of the Land

info@reason.com (Michael De Alessi) — Sun, 01 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EDT

The growing national obsession with obesity has been a gold mine for everyone from fad diet hucksters to documentarians. Eager to join in, Congress has determined that the answer to obesity is...more federal spending in every congressional district.

Two congressmen from opposite ends of the political spectrum, Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and George Miller (D-Calif.), claim that spending more than $3 billion annually on environmental programs will help cure obesity. The bill they introduced in April, the Get Outdoors Act, permanently dedicates money from offshore oil and gas revenues to everything from local parks to federal wilderness areas. The theory is that these projects will finally give the heavyset crowd a chance to get a slimming workout.

The bill adds more federal land to an already bloated and mismanaged federal estate. A recent joint report from the Pacific Research Institute and the American Enterprise Institute found mostly positive trends in environmental quality, with the notable exception that "although dollars spent on public lands have gone up and land set aside for recreation or conservation has increased, the quality of the lands has, by most significant measures, deteriorated."

Fishy Business

info@reason.com (Michael De Alessi) — Sat, 01 May 2004 00:00:00 EDT

Fishing for Alaska Bering Sea crab is one of the most dangerous jobs in America. But a good haul can net each crewman $50,000 to $60,000, so wily fishermen are still eager to find ways around regulations that limit crab seasons to prevent overfishing. A more sensible approach is to divvy up the catch with tradable fishing rights, which promote conservation by tying it to the crabbers' self-interest.

In January Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) added such a measure to an appropriations bill. So far, so good. But his plan also compels the crabbers to sell nine-tenths of their catch to processors designated by the government. That's not just an egregious form of corporate welfare; it undermines the whole point of the reform. Forcing fishermen to sell at whatever price the processors set means little or no profit for the crabbers, and therefore little or no asset value in the fishery, and therefore no incentive for conservation.

Why would Stevens include such a measure? Here's one possible incentive: Ben Stevens -- Ted's son and an Alaska state senator -- was paid over $80,000 during the last two years as a consultant for the processors' trade association. Undeterred, Stevens Sr. tells The Washington Post: "This state's so small, there's hardly anything my son could do that wouldn't be affected by what I do....I didn't do this for Ben. I did this for the crab in-dustry."