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Business and environmental compliance
Q: You said a moment ago that you thought that businesses and industries really wanted to comply with environmental regulation. That flies in the face of the big business, anti-environment stereotype. Why do you have the impression that most industry wants to comply?
MR. ALM: Several things are happening to encourage this. One is that large firms have a big stake in their corporate image. Secondly, environmental liabilities have some, and it is probably modest right now, impact on the stock price. But they may have a larger one in the future. They can certainly have an adverse impact on the bottom line. Another thing - some of the younger managers are environmentally inclined - in the companies. We have seen a tremendous turnaround in the attitudes of chemical and petroleum companies. Just look at their institutional advertising!
Being in business myself, my sense is that businesses would like to comply, but, obviously, they do not want to be at a competitive disadvantage. That is why it is very important, domestically, to have an enforcement threshold. That same problem is hitting us with the North American Free Trade Agreement. We have to develop the ability to make sure that environmental standards are similar throughout North America so that there are no competitive disadvantages.