Clearly, it would be better for the health of the community to reduce more benzene. Amoco's argument was that the interests of the community lie in lower levels of benzene. However, the interests of the regulators were to have the company comply with the mandated regulations. Regulators too often follow the book rather than look at the interests of the community. The costs of regulation are not spread evenly over the population.
Many businesses suffer excessively from federal regulations.
Many regulatory laws include small business relief by exempting businesses with relatively few employees. Although these exemptions are critical to allow many small businesses to continue to operate, they are a significant impediment to growth for these businesses. Many small business owners are reluctant to hire additional employees and incur additional regulatory headaches. Rather, they limit their expansion or contract their services to outside firms. The purpose of federal regulation is to change economic behavior in ways Washington bureaucrats think are appropriate.