As for the market effectively limiting us to clean fuels, that's not going to happen, but rather than having the same silly argument over and over, if it helps you, you can think of the relevant regulation as protecting our collective property rights by limiting the externality (in this case, environmental damages of various sorts).

I would still maintain that this is a realm for the courts (property law) to set standards and create punishments for damaging public or private property through pollution.

 

but, obviously we're going in circles about this.

I would still maintain that this is a realm for the courts (property law) to set standards and create punishments for damaging public or private property through pollution.

 

but, obviously we're going in circles about this.

 

The problem is that cleanup of environmental damage frequently (I would say more often than not) costs more than the individual or corporation causing it could possibly pay.