Opinion ID: 1538681
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Early, Financing Pollution Control Facilities Through Industrial Development Bonds, 27 Tax Lawyer 85 (1973), states:

Text: The Environmental Revolution is upon us. Many elements of our society are avidly interested in ecology and serious in their concern over the relationship of a favorable environment to health and welfare. This has come through to our legislators and other public representatives. The result is a plethora of statutes, regulations, surveys, reports, speeches, articles and press releases which show every evidence of increasing at an accelerating rate....    Legislation directed to pollution control has been on the books throughout this century. However, the birth of the Environmental Revolution can be marked with the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The demise of the revolution is yet to be seen, even on a clear day. Id. at 85. The interest of vast portions of our populace in matters of environment is well illustrated by the statement in 61 Am.Jur.2d Pollution Control § 4 (1972): Concern for the environment is now sweeping the country, and Americans have become increasingly aware of the part the natural environment plays in determining the quality of their lives. Although formerly the meaning of the term `ecology' was known only to a few, it has now become a household word. Politicians and statesmen have espoused the cause of environmental quality; radio, television, magazines, and newspapers give prominence to the subject; it has been the subject of a number of symposiums; and companies allegedly responsible for pollution are spending large sums of money for advertisements designed to show that they are blameless or are improving the environment. Private citizens, civic organizations, and communities are now organizing and speaking out. This participation in environmental protection is being championed at the highest levels of government, and conservation literature contains publications setting forth the guidelines for activists. Citizen participation frequently takes place through local organizations, conservation commissions, conservation councils, and professional groups. Also, a number of organizations, with large memberships of citizens from all parts of the nation, exist to inform, guide, or represent their members in a wide variety of environmental and conservation matters, and occasionally national environmental organizations join other interested citizens to form a temporary, nationwide coalition to take a position or action on an important environmental issue. Environmental law societies, which are active in promoting the cause of environmental quality, have been formed in many of the law schools throughout the country. Id. at 813-14. The test to be applied by a court in reviewing the action of a public body to determine whether a public purpose is involved in a proposed expenditure of public funds was set forth for the Court by Judge Barnes in Williamsport v. Sanitary District, 247 Md. 326, 231 A.2d 40 (1967): [I]n the case at bar, we believe the purchase by the Town of immunity from a possible threat to the health and welfare of its residents is not an ultra vires or an unconstitutional act. We do not consider, in reaching this conclusion, if the threat posed by locating the treatment plant at the original site was, in fact, real and imminent or illusory and without substance. In reviewing the Town's action, it is only necessary that the legislative determination to spend a particular amount of public funds be reasonable and based on an honest judgment of those officials charged with care of the public purse that the expenditure is for the best interests of the city. Id. at 332. The increasing involvement of many of our states in promoting industrial development is well illustrated by J. Harwell, Lawyers and State Development Agencies, 60 A.B.A.J. 1098 (1974), and the accompanying list of development agencies in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and each of the 50 states. In the quest for jobs to maintain full employment some communities have come to recognize that it is important to keep healthy industry already located in their community, one of the legislative purposes set forth in § 266B (b) of the Act. It is interesting in this regard to note that Harwell states: Industrial expansion is a primary source of new jobs in all communities and states. In Texas the governor recognizes expanding industries in a special conference with awards once a year. Texas and many other states do this to let those existing industries know they were not forgotten when they settled but are still important cogs in the growth of all our communities. It is all too easy to go to ribbon-cutting ceremonies when a new plant opens its doors and then wander off seeking a new industry, forgetting that this plant and its contributions to any community are vital to all. There are no reasons to oppose new industry. Many fight it in the name of ecology and the elusive `no-growth' concept. First, no new industry is a polluter. States have laws ensuring the air and water will be clean and agencies to enforce these laws. All new plants must be built to meet these laws. Second, it's not `no-growth' we are worried about. It is keeping up with existing growth. Remember those two million nineteen-year-olds coming into the labor market in 1975? We must provide for them. Id. at 1099. It is true, as contended by Wilson, that some courts have held that pollution abatement alone is not a sufficient public purpose to justify the issuance of municipal revenue bonds for the use of private industry. We believe, however, that the public interest is served by the abatement of air and water pollution. This is in accord with what we conceive to be the better reasoned opinions. See, e.g., Industrial Develop. Auth. of Cty. of Pinal v. Nelson, 109 Ariz. 368, 509 P.2d 705, 711 (1973); Opinion of the Justices, 359 Mass. 769, 772, 268 N.E.2d 149 (1971); Fickes v. Missoula Co., 155 Mont. 258, 268, 470 P.2d 287 (1970); State ex rel. Brennan v. Bowman, Nev., 512 P.2d 1321, 1322 (1973); Kennecott Copper Corporation v. Town of Hurley, 84 N.M. 743, 507 P.2d 1074, 1076, 1077 (1973); Harper v. Schooler, 258 S.C. 486, 496, 189 S.E.2d 284 (1972); and State ex rel. Hammermill Paper Co. v. La Plante, 58 Wis.2d 32, 57, 205 N.W.2d 784 (1973). In this case there is a legislative mandate, § 266B (f), that the findings of the legislative body are to be conclusive. Legislative findings have been duly made. We conclude that the General Assembly and the County Commissioners of Allegany County did not err when they determined that a public purpose is indeed served when industry already located in a community is assisted, as in this case, to abate air and water pollution, thus making life more pleasant for the citizens and the taxpayers of the area while tying the industry more closely to its present location, thereby assuring its continued presence in the State and the County.