ABSTRACT
Many organizations that ignored the environmental aspects of their activities in the 1970s are overwhelmed by the attention that must be paid to them. Top administrators and environmental managers in regulated organizations are aware of an environmental enforcement presence and have personal knowledge of instances in which companies and individuals were caught and punished for violating environmental regulations. The major portion of the costs associated with environmental management include those associated with proper disposal, permit fees, waste generator assessments, penalties, and remediation of waste sites. Along with the increase in knowledge came the establishment of standardized procedures and protocols for managing those environmental aspects of an organization’s activities covered by regulatory law. In the 1970s, industry’s principal environmental concerns were the costs of putting in environmental control technologies and inequitable treatment under environmental law and regulation. Companies increasingly are becoming involved in a global ‘playing field’ that contains some gross inequities.
