DAVID MORELL: Let me begin by saying that, outside Washington, D.C.,  you will find that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a relatively minor player. The federal, state, and local regulatory systems are dominated not by the federal agency, but by many actors who engage in many activities. There are 50 sovereign entitites operating in different ways, and literally thousands of municipalities and communities that go either in no direction at all or in their own directions.

As an example, consider the impact of SARA Title 3, in the state of California. We were unconcerned by Title 3 because two years prior to its enactment, the California Legislature passed the La Follette bill requiring a risk management and prevention program for each firm using or than fairly small threshold quantities of any of the SARA Title 3 chemicals. Therefore, we had detailed regulations for all of those chemicals. The reporting standards required by Title 3 were a minor aspect.