The Nation: The High Cost of Cleaning Up

Though environmentalists are understandably loath to say so, the cost of satisfying their demands would be unrealistically high. The Pennsylvania coal mining town of Ramey learned that lesson not long ago, when it received a stern order from the commonwealth's department of environmental resources: Stop untreated waste from flowing into nearby Little Muddy Creek and begin building a new $1.3 million sewer system. Only 80 of Ramey's 500 residents have regular jobs; the rest get by on Social Security, welfare, unemployment insurance, and other forms of Government aid. Last year the assessed valuation of all 342 parcels of Ramey's real estate came to a modest $399,296. Though the Federal Government agreed to finance most of the construction costs, Ramey would still have to pay $434,000 — literally more than the town itself is worth.

"We can't afford anything, to be honest," protests the town's mayor, John McQuown. "I just couldn't pay," echoes one Ramey resident. Yet Pennsylvania court rulings in similar cases have held that financial hardship is not a valid excuse for polluting the waters of the commonwealth. Is the town doomed then? Not necessarily. "If Ramey can't get a bond issue underwritten, the state can do what it wants, but it is not going to get a sewer system in there," says Thomas M. Burke, a lawyer for the department of environmental resources. "We're just not going to be able to enforce our orders."