As long as we share Maine’s real estate and economy we will need regulations to protect them from those who would despoil the land or cheat their neighbor in business. Just to be clear: Nobody is questioning the need for laws and regulations.

That said, it’s important for all of us to be wary of adding new regulations to the ponderous body that already exists. Because people are imperfect every regulation will have unintended consequences and the more there are on the books, the more complex that becomes. For instance, one advertisement criticizes Governor LePage for vetoing a bill that, according to the ad, the Bangor Daily News says …could endanger Maine’s lakes. In fact, the BDN only reported that Democrats say it could (*)… but more importantly the bill was full of foreseeable unintended consequences. As written, LD 1744 conflicted with existing law because it duplicated prohibiting the use of fertilizer and pesticide along the shoreline but omitted the exception for chemical eradication of invasive plants and insects. In addition, LD 1744 provided no enforcement funding but required the DEP to staff vacant positions. It also created a ‘volunteer’ force from colleges, universities, and other organizations to create a photographic record of the shorelines of Maine’s lakes thus creating an appalling potential for irresponsible vigilante invasion of private property.

Other examples of unintended consequences created by poorly crafted regulations include:

— Following the Exxon- Valdez spill, Congress enacted

‘no limits on the liability’ for such a spill. That resulted in the virtual extinction of the U.S. flagged tanker fleet as oil companies contracted transportation to smaller foreign companies with less to lose.

— Sarbanes-Oxley, in attempting to make banking and investment safer, has driven investment overseas starving U.S. companies of needed capital.

— This summer we witnessed a business that steamed lobsters aboard a small boat and delivered them to customers on the water being ordered to install commercial kitchen triple sinks or shut down.

— Thanks to the ACA, we now have nine hospital codes for injuries caused by parrots and three for injuries due to flaming water skis. Doctors estimate every hour of patient contact requires another half hour of data entry and reporting.

— The Ethanol mandate has actually increased pollution while increasing food prices and destroying millions of small engines.

— The dirty secret of windmills is that they cannot operate without subsidies and there are doubts they will ever produce as much power as was consumed in their manufacture, transportation, erection, and operation.

Some regulations are little more than a solution looking for a problem, or the result of a noisy and persistent constituent seeking to impose their views on the rest of us. The DOT has been ordered by a New York court to bring forth a mandate for rear view cameras in all new cars. Among those campaigning for this legislation is one parent who backed over his own child. There is no question that backup cameras are useful. The question is whether one inattentive parent who killed his child should be allowed to force everyone else to buy a car with an expensive accessory. An inattentive or irresponsible driver will no more pay attention to the camera than look in the mirrors or check behind the car before moving it.

While some proposed regulations are intended to punish a competitor or impose views on the majority, surely most are well intentioned. Being suspicious of motives is not my point, but being clear-eyed when looking at whether a regulation sufficiently reduces the risk of a bad outcome or whether the problem being addressed is serious enough to warrant the enforcement and compliance costs is the duty of us all. Surely, if the same or at least a comparable result can be obtained by education and voluntary compliance, everyone is better served than by adding another regulation. We all need to look beyond the stated intention of new regulations.

The good news is that Maine is one of the four or five states where people would least like to leave. Despite being one of the worst five states for taxation, fiscal policy, and economic prospects, Mainers choose to stay. Whether here by choice or accident of birth surely they find the quality of life better than do those of at least 45 other states. Despite being ranked so low, Maine is among the states that has improved most in the last few years. Most notably, Maine has moved steadily from 33rd to 25th in its regulatory environment. To me, that is a good thing and I’d like Maine to move even further up the list of states that demand a truly compelling reason to intrude on their citizens’ private lives, private property, and businesses.

(*) http:// bangordai- lynews.com/2014/04/30/politics/ democrats-say-2-new-lepage vetoes-put-lakes-jobs-atserious risk

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Another View is provided by a group of concerned citizens that meet each week to discuss issues of public interest.