I came to Washington near the time of the second anniversary of the president's inauguration. The first lawsuit I was presented was the suit brought by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), very soon thereafter joined by the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) as a co-plaintiff, to compel the establishment of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the performance of certain functions. The American Petroleum Institute has just recently petitioned to intervene, but the judge has yet to pass on its petition.

I reviewed the complaint and took a look at who the plaintiffs were. I was told that it is not often that we find EDF and CMA on the same side and making the same arguments. I read the statute and §104(i). There is virtually no legislative history for that section, but there is a fairly clear statutory mandate. The section basically states: there is hereby created an Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and it shall perform various functions. I was faced with what seemed to be a difficult position to argue.