EPA also ascertained that few companies in the chlorine manufacturing business tested the chlorine for carbon tetrachloride contamination. The entire industry joined in rectifying the situation, agreeing to meet a standard which will help avert such a risk anywhere. The EPA report says that many industries undertook major pollution control efforts and a mutual search for new and better solutions to old problems. Notable examples occurred in the food processing industries, where organic waste has been converted from a liability into a financial asset. The citrus, potato processing, and sugar mill industries are singled out in the new EPA report.
Power plants have the potential for an enormous pollution impact of the air.
Throughout its existence, EPA has sought to grapple with the problem of how to clean up areas with dirty air without stifling industrial development. The report cites examples of an innovative Federal policy that allows a company to build a new plant in an area with poor air quality when it can get existing air pollution sources to control their emissions more tightly. The decrease in emissions of hydrocarbons was great enough to offset emissions from a new Volkswagon plant in New Stanton. As a result of disasters like Love Canal, communities are increasingly aware of the hazardous waste problem generated by our industrial society. The National Accomplishments report details many incidents in which quick actions by Federal, State, and local governments, by industry, or by private citizens have prevented potential catastrophes.