Dr. SONSTEGARD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Mikulski. My name is David A. Sonstegard, and I am an employee of 3M and their newly appointed staff vice president of environmental technology and services. My most recent 3M position was vice president and general manager of orthopedic products division and as research and development vice president for life sciences sector. To my new assignment I, therefore, am bringing a renewed sense of business and new product urgency to the task of applying even more of 3M's technical expertise to our environmental challenges and opportunities. I am here today to voice 3M's support for the National Academy of Public Administration report, "Setting Priorities, Getting Results: A New Direction for EPA.” We believe this report is an excellent blueprint to continuous improvement in environmental management. While prescriptive environmental regulations were a necessary tool for the 1970's and 1980's, command and control is no longer an effective or efficient to manage environmental regulation. Strong EPA support and oversight has helped companies, such as 3M, to accomplish a great deal over the last 25 years. During the process, many State and local agencies have been strengthened. They are now capable of handling local environmental issues. We, therefore, encourage appropriate empowerment of these agencies with EPA shifting its attention to environmental issues of a national and of a global scope. 3M also supports the recommendations of beyond compliance legislation. This proposed legislation would provide greater environmental benefits at a lower cost than occurs under current regulations. It is designed to reward companies that have gone beyond compliance by giving them greater regulatory flexibility, so they can better compete in the global marketplace. 3M is a St. Paul, MN-based Senator BOND. Doctor, pardon me for interrupting, but we will make your whole statement a part of the record. And if there are highlights that you would like to emphasize, we would appreciate those. But your full testimony will be in the record, and I would be most grateful if you would highlight your key points. Dr. SONSTEGARD. Fine. Two specific points: Working with states, counties and facilities where our facilities are located, we have developed innovative ways to improve environmentally. Our St. Paul plant has been very successful in reducing pollution. In 1993, the plant signed an agreement with the State of Minnesota and U.S. EPA to develop and implement a flexible permit. This permit allows the facility to change operations without going through the time-consuming effort of obtaining permit amend ments. We have also worked with Ventura County, CA, and the city of Chicago to exploit our ability to reduce emissions, to allow credits to be used in local beneficial ways. If we are to remain globally competitive, we need an environmental management system that includes a foundation in strong science, implementation at the State and local level, involvement of the local community, continuous improvement toward performancebased goals, economically based incentives, and support of innovative technology. The NAPA report includes these criteria and with this blueprint, we believe environmental improvements will continue to occur. And transnational firms, such as ours, will remain competitive. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to your questions. PREPARED STATEMENT Senator BOND. Thank you very much, Dr. Sonstegard. Your testimony was very helpful. We are most grateful to you for it. [The statement follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF David A. SONSTEGARD Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, my name is David A. Sonstegard. I am an employee of 3M and the newly appointed staff vice president of 3M Environmental Technology & Services. My most recent 3M positions were as vice president and general manager of the 3M Orthopedic Products Division and as research and development vice president for 3M's Life Sciences Sector. In my new assignment, I bring a sense of urgency to the task of applying even more of 3M's technical expertise to our environmental competency, so we can remain competitive in the global marketplace. I am here today to voice 3M's support for the National Academy of Public Administration report, "Setting Priorities, Getting Results: A New Direction for EPA." We believe this report is an excellent blueprint to continuous improvement in environmental management. While prescriptive environmental regulations were a necessary tool for the 1970s and 1980s, “command and control” is no longer an effective or efficient way to manage environmental regulation. Strong EPA support and oversight helped companies like 3M accomplish a great deal over the last 25 years. Many state and local agencies were strengthened during this time. They are now capable of handling local environmental issues. Therefore, we encourage appropriate empowerment of these agencies, with EPA shifting its attention to environmental issues of a national and global scope. 3M also supports the recommendation of Beyond Compliance Legislation. This proposed legislation would provide greater environmental benefits at a lower cost than occurs under current regulations. It is designed to reward companies like 3M that have gone beyond compliance by giving them greater regulatory flexibility, so they can better compete in the global marketplace. 3M is a St. Paul, Minnesota-based, 15 billion dollar company with more than 60,000 products. We operate in more than 60 countries and sell in more than 200. This year more than 50 percent of our sales will come from outside the United States. Our company's vision is to be the most innovative enterprise and the preferred supplier in each of the markets we serve. We recognize environmental competency to be a key to attaining our vision. We were one of the first major manufacturing companies to establish an environmental policy in 1975. Since then, we have focused on preventing pollution at the source. The innovative culture that creates our products, also has fostered innovative and professional ways to deal with 3M's environmental challenges. We spend an average of more than 150 million dollars each year on environmental research-about 15 percent of our R&D budget. This research focuses on developing competitive new products and processes that have a reduced impact on the environment. Working with the states, counties and cities where our facilities are located, we have developed other innovative ways to improve environmentally. For example our St. Paul plant had been very successful in reducing pollution. In 1993, the plant signed an agreement with the State of Minnesota and U.S. EPA to develop and implement a flexible permit. This permit allows the facility to change operations in response to market demands and new product flow-without going through the time-consuming effort of obtaining permit amendments. We also have worked with Ventura County, California, and the City of Chicago to find innovative uses for 3M emission credits. 3M has an internal policy against profiting from sale of these credits. In California, however, we sold these credits to Procter & Gamble, then used the $1.5 million proceeds to set up a clean air foundation. In Chicago, credits were given to the City of Chicago, so they could be used to spur economic development in the inner city. These are the types of innovative initiatives that are encouraged under both the NAPA Blueprint and the 25 Reinvention Initiatives that were announced on March 16 by President Clinton. 3M is already working on a number of proposals under Project XL * * * excellence and leadership. If 3M and other U.S. companies are to remain globally competitive, we need an environmental management system that includes the following: (1) A foundation in strong science; (2) Implementation at the state and local level; (3) Involvement of the local community; (4) Continuous improvement toward performance-based goals; (5) Economically based incentives; and (6) Support of innovative technology. By including these criteria, we believe environmental improvements will continue to occur, and transnational companies like ours will remain competitive. Thank you for Mr. Chairman. I'll be happy to answer your questions regarding my testimony. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REPORT The 3M Position: 3M favors the new direction for EPA, as discussed in the National Academy of Public Administration Summary Report, "Setting Priorities, Getting Results." We believe there is a better way to accomplish future environmental improvements than through the historical system of command and control. While prescriptive regulations were an excellent tool for the 1970s and 1980s and accomplished a great deal, a new system is needed as we approach the 21st Century. State and local agencies, which were embryonic in those earlier years, are now fully functioning systems capable of handling all environmental issues. Businesses and state and local governments possess the innovative thinking and the technical expertise to clean up pollution. Working with the private sector, local and state agencies can respond more quickly and successfully to problems within their regions. EPA must continue to be responsible for issues of national and global scope, but should move into an information and support mode, when local and state agencies can be more effective and efficient. A New Paradigm: We view the NAPA report as an innovative blueprint for a new paradigm. It encourages technical and regulatory innovation, which 3M believes are fundamental to successfully deal with future environmental challenges. Without this innovation, we believe that the rate of environmental progress will slacken significantly. The NAPA report has garnered our support because it contains the critically needed attributes. These include: 3M Background: 3M is testifying on this subject because we believe that the environmental challenges of today and tomorrow need to be faced with innovative new thinking. If there is one single quality that is most associated with 3M, it is innovation. Innovative thinking is the single most important reason for 3M's success. So, it seems appropriate to look at innovation at 3M. Our corporate mission is "to be the most innovative enterprise and the preferred supplier in the markets we serve." We find that meeting our environmental challenges helps us meet customer requirements. One of our four key corporate values is "respecting our social and physical environment." We strive to achieve this objective by applying the same innovative thinking that has led to thousands of new products over the years to the environmental challenges the company faces. We are a $15 billion manufacturing company with about 85,000 employees, located in 62 countries around the world. Corporate headquarters is in St. Paul, Minnesota, but our products are sold in more than 200 countries. Although the company's first products were abrasives (sandpaper), it's likely that you also know us for innovative products like Post-it notes, Scotch Magic tape or Scotch-Brite Never Rust soap pads, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Today our products range from stethoscopes to reflective material for license plates, from CD-ROM discs to automotive adhesives. We manufacture, market and sell more than 60,000 products to 12 different markets, including the industrial, commercial, consumer and health care markets. 3M Innovation: For 11 out of the past 12 years, 3M has won a spot on the Fortune Magazine "Most Admired List." In 1995, we were listed as the 8th most admired company, and one of our highest rankings came in the area of innovation. We trace our success back to our broad base of more than 30 core technologies and the innovative spirit of our more than 13,000 technical people around the world. |