The Nation - News from June 12, 1985

A Democratic proposal to place national limits on toxic gas pollution from factories is an example of “massive overkill” that could require $1 billion and 11,000 bureaucrats to enforce, Environmental Protection Agency head Lee M. Thomas told a House Commerce subcommittee. But subcommittee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), chief sponsor of the legislation, told Thomas that “15 years of . . . disgraceful inaction” by the EPA made the proposal necessary. “The reason we’re doing this (legislation) is because this is what it’s going to take to get EPA to do the job,” Waxman said.