… can see the dangers of government growth. 

The EEP came into being in 2003 with an initial staff of six. The
intent was for a small staff to oversee a competitive bid process
involving green companies like ours (and others). The bidder would be
responsible for all components of the project: site identification,
land acquisition, technical evaluation, mitigation design,
construction, planting and five years of monitoring to insure success.


In addition, the EEP would also maintain a smaller internal mitigation
program to do these same tasks but with full government command and
control over all the components, including land acquisition.

Guess what happened?

The
EEP has grown to a staff of over 60 in five years and today occupies
part of a former industrial warehouse complex on Capital Boulevard. The
vastly expanded staff has steadily pursued a policy of trying to
perform its mitigation work internally, rather than putting it out for
competitive bid to mitigation companies.

This op-ed reminds me of a great passage from a Thomas Sowell column in his book Ever Wonder Why? It responds to those who believe government offers a better alternative than the private sector in meeting people’s needs. 

People who decry the fact that businesses are in business “just to make money” seldom understand the implications of what they are saying. You make money by doing what other people want, not what you want.

Skimming through Sowell’s book while thinking of the costs involved in wetlands preservation and restoration, I also came across this gem:

Good Things have costs, often costs out of all proportion to whatever good they might do. But notions like trade-offs and diminishing returns seldom deter zealots, whose own egos are served by their zealotry in imposing their vision, however costly or counterproductive it may be for others.