Opinion: Time to Sue California for the Unwanted Smoke

How come we’re not suing California over the creosote we’ve inhaled?  A member of my city council and I were joking about it today.  He said we couldn’t prove it was exclusively California floating in the air above Idaho.  It could be Oregon, Nevada or Owyhee County remains.  A jury might see things differently!  Especially if we file in a court locally. 

Hear me out.  During the 1990s New York and New England claimed western neighbors were responsible for acid rain.  From the now shuttered smokestacks of the Great Lakes Region.  It was a contentious period as job providing industries were made to bleed for the pleasure of environmentalists.  Could they prove the sulfur in the rain was from Gary, Indiana, Chicago, Illinois or Detroit, Michigan?  It wasn’t precise but it made the politicians in the Northeast look tough as they attempted in court to bully the neighbors.

Some liberal columnists argue the state can’t control fire policy on federal lands.  Much of the same policy championed on campuses across the Golden State and among many of the state’s political class.  Which has long argued guppies in the San Francisco Bay are at serious risk if any changes are made.  Especially if someone, somewhere profits because of the new rules.  Because it certainly won’t be the eggheads at UC Davis.

Our odds of winning a lawsuit outright are small but we would get some much-needed attention.  And maybe in a few years we’ll be able to safely venture outdoors in August.