April 26, 2016 10:37AM # Efficiency and Environment Hand in Hand By [Chris Edwards](https://www.cato.org/people/chris-edwards) --- SHARE [*Bloomberg* reports](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-25/on-this-waterfront-robot-longshoremen-are-the-new-contenders) that the Port of Los Angeles is increasing automation with the installation of self-driving cranes and other equipment. The automation is being partly driven by the need to minimize the use of high cost and [troublesome unionized labor](http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/24/is-privatization-the-key-to-minimizing-future-port-disputes/). The West Coast longshoremen and their unions have long caused [disruptions and slowdowns](https://www.cato.org/blog/union-reforms-improve-seaports) at the seaports. This is one reason why U.S. seaports have fallen behind the efficiency levels of the best facilities in the world, such as the Port of Rotterdam. A new incentive for seaport managers to automate is the need to minimize the environmental impact of shipping. The new machines are faster and cleaner than the old human-operated equipment, and so they cut air pollution. For this reason, California’s government [is behind](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-25/on-this-waterfront-robot-longshoremen-are-the-new-contenders) the push to automate. Jon Slangerup, head of the Port of Long Beach, [concluded](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-25/on-this-waterfront-robot-longshoremen-are-the-new-contenders): “Efficiency and the environment go hand in hand … They’re two sides of the same coin.’’ In an upcoming Cato study on privatization, I describe how this theme applies to business activities of the federal government. In government-owned businesses, inefficiencies imposed by Congress and the bureaucracies harm the environment. To cut waste and pollution, we should privatize: - A [privatized Amtrak](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/transportation/privatizing-amtrak) would save energy as it ended low-volume and inefficient routes. - A [privatized U.S. Postal Service](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/usps) would save energy by closing thousands of little-used locations and cutting its fleet of more than 200,000 trucks. - A [privatized air traffic control system](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/transportation/atc) would adopt technologies to reduce flight times and cut fuel use. - A privatized Tennessee Valley Authority would likely be a better environmental steward than this mismanaged government utility [has been](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/22/coal-ash-spill/4143995/). While liberals often assume that the environment and profit-hungry businesses are enemies, the opposite is true. Profit-seeking is a friend to the environment because it generates incentives to minimize waste, to recycle, and to discover better ways of producing products with fewer resource inputs. While private profit-driven recycling [is efficient](https://www.cato.org/blog/free-market-recycling), government recycling [tends to be wasteful](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/opinion/sunday/the-reign-of-recycling.html?_r=0). And some federal agencies, such as the Department of Energy, have had terrible environmental records. The problem is that [governments have incentives](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/bureaucratic-failure) to maximize costs, not minimize them. Politicians talk a good game about saving the environment, but it is markets and private businesses that actually deliver. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Department of Energy](https://www.cato.org/department-energy), [Downsizing Government](https://www.cato.org/downsizing-government) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).