Make Penalty Fit Pollution Crimes

* On June 21 you reported on the upcoming arraignment of John Thomas for allegedly contaminating the Bolsa Chica wetlands and his lawyer’s comments that he disagrees that any crime has been committed.

I hope that if Thomas is convicted of a crime, they throw the book at him, not just to “make an example of him,� as his lawyer claims, but to set a new standard of responsibility for environmental crimes.

I am sick of reading about companies committing immoral and illegal acts of dumping hazardous waste into the environment, with an occasional halfhearted slap on the wrist as punishment.

Shame on our judicial system for not having the guts to impose remotely appropriate consequences.

It makes no sense that our society believes crimes against property, such as theft, embezzlement and such, should be punished with jail sentences, while crimes against the environment are considered paid in full with a token fine. Which is the more serious crime?

What warped kind of logic says that theft is worse than causing our water to be undrinkable and our beaches to be unsafe for swimming?

Companies that routinely release toxic chemicals into the air are directly responsible for countless cases of respiratory illnesses, yet how often do we see anyone go to jail for such actions?

We must insist that our legislators do their jobs as guardians of the public trust and hold business owners accountable for their crimes against the environment.

We must learn to ignore the corporate propaganda that portrays environmentalists as misguided tree huggers. We must train ourselves to recognize environmental harm for what it really is: a direct threat to mankind.

SUSAN BAILEY

Huntington Beach