Environmental protection, unlike increasing profits, is not a natural goal of American business. Certainly the history of this nation through the 1960s, when virtually all environmental protection was voluntary, confirms that those making the profits had little concern for the environmental impact of profit-making activities.

Congress realized this serious conflict between profits and environmental protection when, in the 1970s, it enacted the major environmental statutes that create federal regulation of business activities for environmental protection.¹ Since these statutes were enacted, substantial attention has been given to establishing acceptable pollution abatement standards for regulated companies. Development of national standards and specific permit levels has been a major emphasis of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the last decade and a half.