[Analemma_]

Correct, we do not. We tried giving local communities the ability to "make decisions about how to protect themselves" and it has been an unmitigated disaster, with spiraling housing costs that are now an existential threat to the country re: cratering birth rates because nobody can buy a house to have a family in. "Local communities" had a privilege and couldn't use it responsibly, so it's being taken away.

[JohnFen]

We have differing opinions on so much! Fair enough. We simply disagree.

I don't think that the spiraling housing costs across the country can be attributed to local environmental laws.

I don't think that the decreased birth rate can be largely attributed to the housing issue.

I don't think that the decreased birth rate is anything like an existential crisis for the US.

I think that when it comes to laws that address harms your neighbors might inflict on you, the more local those laws are decided, the better (generally speaking).