Dumb idea?

Instead of regulation on industry ( drilling,mining etc) ,since it does not seem to work, how about every company posts a bond for all that cold go wrong. No problem , no pay . problem they lose the bond. They get their $ back when the project closes. Is that more effective self regulation? Something the right and the left can agree on?

That's essentially what the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 provides for - at least for the oil drilling companies.
They get charged 8 cents a barrel tax which goes into a trust to be used for cleanup of a spill. They also have to prove they have liquid assets in sufficient amount to pay for any spill and the ensuing fallout or they are in violation of the regulations.

Almost all multimillion dollar projects are required to pretty much do exactly that. I used to oversee big projects on behalf of Cities and State as a consulting engineer. We would write this requirement into the specifications for the jobs.

We required every contractor to maintain a bond for a percentage of the job.

This is common practice in the construction business.

Then why not extend this to all business and reduce "regs"?

It does cost the business money - and if your suggesting that even small businesses be subjected to this additional cost - I would not be supportive of it,

I think most contracts that are larger - in the milti-millions already do require this. I can bet that BP required it's subcontractors who installed the equipment that failed to post an insurance bond.

I was talking about business that dealt in risky environmental projects. Looking for a little balance

Do you think, since they get charged 8 cents a barrel, that the cost gets passed on to us ??????

Doesn't that logic apply to the cost of clean up and insurance? Of course all costs probably get passed on but maybe this would be the least expensive alternative.