Death by Environmentalism

[via Dissecting Leftism.] This article from the Mises Institute presents the case that the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters were the result of design changes made in accordance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regulations. It's written by William L. Anderson, who contends that:

. . . the roots of both disasters were planted in the government's environmental policies. Environmentalism not only killed 14 U.S. astronauts, but it killed them in a most horrible and public way.

With respect to the shuttle Challenger, the cause of the catastrophe has been attributed to the failure of a set of O-rings on a booster rocket allowing fuel to leak and ignite. This is well known. What is not well known is that,

. . . the material used to make the O-rings was a substitute to replace a product that the Environmental Protection Agency had banned because it contained asbestos.

The original O-rings used between the rocket joints came from an over-the-counter putty that had been used safely and effectively for a long time. However, in its war against the use of asbestos anywhere, anytime, the EPA forbade NASA from using that product at all after the space agency had sought an exemption. The EPA, not surprisingly, refused that request . . . .

In the case of the breakup of the Shuttle Columbia, the most recent understanding is that the cause:

. . . was almost certainly due to a chunk of insulating foam coming loose and hitting some heat-protecting tiles, scattering them and leaving the spacecraft vulnerable to the intense heat it would experience upon re-entry into the earth's atmosphere.

That's the story being told by NASA and the media, but what hasn't been told is that:

. . . the particular foam that was in use at the time was an environmental substitute replacing a material that had worked well. However, the previous foam used to insulate the Columbia's external fuel tanks contained Freon, which is a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) that the EPA banned because of the ozone depletion scare.

Mr. Anderson points out that these two disasters are examples of the high costs and low benefits of environmental laws and regulations which have been ignored by the mainstream media. He also states:

Environmentalism has become a sacrosanct religion of which no questions can even be asked.

It's worth your while to read the whole article.