How is EPA doing in the face of pressure to compromise environmental programs to make way for industry?
A I think we’ve been doing pretty well. To sum it up is very difficult because these tradeoffs are rarely black and white. A good example is the steel industry, where they simply don’t have enough capital to both modernize and complete the environmental job they’ve started, and there’s a statutory deadline, and it’s forcing them to make capital decisions right now. Modernization is one of the ways they can clean up, of course, but, if they are forced to have the pollution cleanup job completed at every single facility by 1982, in air, for example, then they would have to invest a substantial amount to retrofit old facilities. That money could be better spent on modernizing. It would update the steelmaking facilities and improve the environment, too. So, what it boils down to, in terms of maintaining the environmental standards, is that we’ve done very well in demonstrating flexibility on how those standards are met in the most cost effective way. And we haven’t been afraid to step up a
