Tax the waste so that it becomes something more than a rounding error.
So what exactly, an arbitrary 1,000% tax just to make it expensive, because of a subjective emotional reaction that says this particular 3% ineffeciency is pure evil, where 3% ineffeciencies elsewhere are natural and understandable engineering compromises?
The incentives are absolutely correct in my view. The "waste" here is apparently less expensive than the alternative (low-value gas pipelines). Maybe some peoples' guts say gas flares are an "evil" type of waste, whereas the human labor spent installing thousands of miles of unproductive pipelines is a "good" waste. I hope those peoples' guts aren't put in decision-making positions.
So what exactly, an arbitrary 1,000% tax just to make it expensive, because of a subjective emotional reaction that says this particular 3% ineffeciency is pure evil, where 3% ineffeciencies elsewhere are natural and understandable engineering compromises?
The incentives are absolutely correct in my view. The "waste" here is apparently less expensive than the alternative (low-value gas pipelines). Maybe some peoples' guts say gas flares are an "evil" type of waste, whereas the human labor spent installing thousands of miles of unproductive pipelines is a "good" waste. I hope those peoples' guts aren't put in decision-making positions.