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The Promise And Limits Of Voluntary Management - Based Regulatory Reform: An Analysis Of Epa's Strategic Goals Program, Jason S. Johnston

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This paper presents a case study of a voluntary environmental program initiated by the U.S. EPA in the late 1990's, the Strategic Goals Program (SGP). This program was intended to create incentives for job shop metal finishers, an industry of small and medium sized enterprises, to improve and even go beyond compliance with existing federal regulations by investing in pollution prevention. The SGP's incentives included direct technical assistance and limited financial assistance, but the primary carrot it offered participants was more flexible regulatory treatment by state and local regulators. Although SGP clearly helped some firms discover ways to both cut …