Conventional wisdom

We have editorialized more than once in the last 12 months or so about the growing disdain for regulation of any kind in this country, especially in the lead up to this year’s elections.

That we are over regulated has become accepted as fact, and the notion that over regulation kills jobs has become, for many, an article of faith.

We asked a number of established and neophyte local business leaders about this for a series of articles in the upcoming Piedmont Business Journal, which wrapped up early this week for delivery in this newspaper later this month.

Their take, by and large, is that regulation — a lot of it — really is necessary and is, by and large, pretty unrelated to their ability to create new jobs.

As much as we’d like to think otherwise, the whole notion that folks across the board would do right without someone looking over their shoulders is wildly optimistic — and demonstrably untrue.

The business leaders to whom we talked all posited that they are doing things right, as is everyone they know and do business with. But they did recognize the existence of bad actors — and the need to rein them in with regulation.

Given our jaundiced view, we were heartened by a report from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation that was released last week. Environmental regulation, the CBF discovered, doesn’t kill jobs. In fact, quite the opposite.

“For years, opponents of environmental regulation have argued that the rules cost jobs and hurt businesses. That is not borne out by the facts,” said CBF President William C. Baker. “Whether the target is EPA or the Bay pollution limits, it is essential that the public understand that environmental regulations will create jobs to reduce pollution, and sustain jobs that depend on clean water.”

How many jobs? A total of 240,000, CBF estimates.

The environmental-protection industry is now worth $312 billion a year nationally and employs almost 1.7 million people, according to recent studies. Approximately 75 percent of job growth in this field is driven by government regulation.

“If history is any guide, regulations that reduce pollution will create jobs, strengthen local economies, and restore the health of our national treasure,” Baker went on to say. “A clean environment and a vibrant economy are two sides of the same coin. One supports the other. Clean water regulations will create jobs, strengthen the economy, and save the Bay. We will have more fish, crabs, and oysters, and fewer health impacts from dirty water.”

In other good-news press releases we got this week, Elaine Lidholm, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, sent word that Wine Enthusiast magazine has named the commonwealth as one of the 10 best wine travel destinations for 2012.

The magazine highlights Virginia as one of only three domestic destinations to make the list of wine regions that are ideal for wine lovers to visit this year, along with two in California.

“We are well on our way to being recognized as the premiere wine destination of the East Coast, which is one of my administration’s top agricultural and tourism priorities,” Gov. Bob McDonnell said in celebrating the honor. There are more than 200 farm wineries in the state, with about 10 percent of them in Fauquier County.