link to original reddit post by /u/the_og_dingdong
In libertarian land, if a company is clearly and measurably adding pollution that decreases the air quality on my land, could I legally sue to recover damages? Are there any legal precedents that demonstrate this in the common law?
If you could sue a polluter, it would obviously be too expensive and impractical for each landowner to individually try to sue all of the people contributing to the pollution of his land. However, an entrepreneur could create an organization that settles disputes between companies and landowners by asking for a fee in exchange for the polluter to continue to pollute within the vicinity of the members of the organization without being sued for a higher sum. Some percentage of the fees would be passed on to the landowners. The result would be a sort of market-based carbon tax and carbon dividend where the fee is based on market factors such as location, land use, and economic success. Areas that need the jobs that factories and other polluters would have lower fees, while areas that can develop greener alternatives would have higher fees. This would be a decentralized way to cut carbon emissions at an effective rate.