By almost any measure, private companies outperform governmental entities when it comes to cleaning up the environment, according to many policy experts. The environment has gotten cleaner over the past quarter century, with most of the gains made in the private sector.
Critics suggest that government now address the pollution problems it has created.
Lead emissions have dropped 98 percent. Considering these advancements, experts now believe future progress depends upon government getting its own environmental act together. For example, the EPA has found that the top polluting facility in California is the Department of Energy's own Naval Petroleum Reserve. However, it is not included in the list of top 10 California polluters because federal sites are not yet required to report emissions. The General Accounting Office has complained that the EPA has not even developed a priority list for cleaning up waste sites.