Burn On, Big River . . .

(Originally posted by my husband on NRO - The Corner)

Today is the 40th anniversary of an "unremarkable" fire in Cleveland that local firefighters said "wasn't a big deal." The fire lasted for about thirty minutes and was out before news cameras could get there. Today, it is known as the Cuyahoga River Fire and everyone swears they remember seeing the flames. The EPA is making a big deal out of the anniversary, for the simple reason that it is one of its founding myths. The fact is that the sorry story of the Cuyahoga is more an indictment of how government contributes to environmental degradation by destroying property rights than anything else. Our own Jonathan Adler compiled the definitive research on the subject in an article entitled "Fables of the Cuyahoga." There's also a chapter in my book on the subject.