NFIB's membership reflects the general business profile by having the same representation of retail, service, manufacturing and construction businesses that make up the nation's business community. In addition to being a small business owner, I also volunteer and serve as Chairman of Pennsylvania's Small Business Compliance Advisory Panel. This panel is mandated by Section 507 of the Clean Air Act Amendments to help small business as part of the Small Business Stationary Technical and Environmental Compliance Assistance Program. This program has been enormously successful despite underfunding and has become a model for small business programs in other environmental legislation. Our small business program conducts seminars, offers a toll-free confidential hotline, low interest loans and many other outreach efforts for small businesses.
Every state has such a program in varying degrees of effectiveness.
These programs are valuable tools to improve our air quality and are overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency. In my position as Chairman, I am keenly aware of the progress we are making in cleaning our air. What appears to be ignored is that air quality has improved significantly since passage of the Clean Air Act, and the 1990 amendments have not even been fully implemented. It is therefore imperative that only requirements that are essential be mandated. What I suggest is that we move towards more complete compliance with existing standards before revising them.