In the US we have the EPA, which is tasked with protecting the environment. It is not tasked with optimizing the net social utility of humanity. So, the EPA does everything it can to help the environment, so as to fulfill its organizational directive, even if the human cost is vastly out of proportion with the environmental benefit.

My dream vision is that the government tries to bring about a practical approximation of the preconditions of the Coase theorem. This is very, very different from the piecemeal and economically unsound approach it is using right now.