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Comment by King-Aaron | Hacker News Reader

I find it interesting that there's a disproportionately large amount of these kinds of stories that come out of the US (compared to other western countries). As you said, there should be enough educated/financially able/motivated people in these areas that would mobilize and do something about it.

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> ...there should be enough educated/financially able/motivated people in these areas that would mobilize and do something about it.

I beg to differ with this point. If you're an educated person not looking to work in a blue collar job your economic prospects in areas like this are limited. The technically inclined and the otherwise ambitious move away to seek better opportunities elsewhere. I lived in a small industrial city for a while many years ago and saw this phenomena for myself. Those who were able left in their teens to major economic centers for tertiary education and considered going back home worse than a death sentence. What was left in the wake of this phenomena was a creeping ghetto, an economic wasteland that only begat more poverty.

I think you're being a little too extreme. A lot of people leave for the money and would return if they could but they can't because there's no money.

Which... is pretty much what he’s saying? If all those who can command a higher wage leave (and don’t return), the local economy becomes hollow and a creeping ghetto sets in.

I read it as more of a "they actually like it better in the rich cities" which many people do not. Specifically the sentence "the people who could left in their teens to major economic centers for tertiary education and considered going back home worse than a death sentence." If a nuke were dropped on SF tomorrow there's a large number of people who would be like "welp, I'm out of a job but this is a perfect opportunity to move back to BFE". The same goes for every major city. There's a reason all (for smaller than average values of "all) the wall street types move either upstate or to Florida once they've become rich enough that they can either let their career coast or retire.

It’s worse than that... whole states are experiencing brain drain. As agriculture continues its consolidation, significant parts of the country are losing anyone who can leave.

Not many countries are anywhere near as big as the US, and those that are mostly have similar issues.

I think a part of the problem is that, for someone in a little town like the one in the article, regulatory authorities and the federal legislature are peopled largely with individuals who reside a thousand miles away.

That just can't happen in basically any European country.

This seems like a bit of a cop-out. States and municipalities have regulatory power and are much closer to citizens. Many states are roughly the size of European countries.

Perhaps the state of LA has the power to stop this pollution, but the residents lobbying for help from regulators， as depicted in the article, seem to be focusing their attention on the federal EPA. Unless I accidentally skipped a paragraph that talked about lobbying at a regional level.

If the state doesn't lack the teeth to fix this, why would they choose to compete for federal attention with an order of magnitude more people?

==If the state doesn't lack the teeth to fix this, why would they choose to compete for federal attention with an order of magnitude more people?==

I'm not sure, Louisiana does have a Department of Environmental Quality [1]. In Illinois we had a similar issue play out this year. The Governor is the one who ended up banning the plant's use of ethylene oxide [2]. It looks an obscure state law allowed for that action:

"Invoking rarely used authority in state law, Illinois EPA Director John Kim prohibited Sterigenics from pumping ethylene oxide gas into massive chambers used to sterilize medical equipment, pharmaceutical drugs, spices and food."

[1] https://deq.louisiana.gov/

[2] https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-pr...

Oh, no, the regulatory authorities are there. They're just paid off by the entities they're supposed to be regulating or don't give a shit.

See: the entire state of West Virginia.

> I find it interesting that there's a disproportionately large amount of these kinds of stories that come out of the US (compared to other western countries).

From what I gathered this is rooted in the difference between the regulatory principles of the US and most other Western countries. In Europe you usually have to proof first that whatever you do will be reasonably safe, then you can do it. In the US you can do many things without someone checking first, but if it's later shown that you harmed someone you have to pay damages and/or people will be send to prison.

My theory is they probably work full-time, and do not have the time or monies to lobby at the state and local level.

Tells a lot about regulations and their enforcement in the US I think.

The US is big enough for the wealthier people to move away to nicer areas.

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