George Mackee thought of himself as bright, energetic, and having lots of potential. So why was this happening to me, he thought. George, married, two children, with his wife, Mary, had moved to Hondo, Texas, from El Paso four years ago and was now the manager of Ardnak Plastic Inc., a small plant that manufactured plastic parts for small equipment. The plant employed several hundred workers, which was a substantial portion of the population of Hondo. Ardnak Plastics Inc. had several small plants the size of Hondo’s, and George had a good relationship with Bill, his boss, in Austin, Texas. One of the problems George’s plant had was that the smokestack emissions were consistently above the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) guidelines. Several months ago, George got a call from Bill, stating that the EPA had contacted him about the problem and fines would be levied. George admitted the situation was a continual problem, but because headquarters would not invest in new smokestack scrubbers, he didn’t know what to do. Bill replied by saying that margins were at their limits and there was no money for new scrubbers (modifications to the smokestacks that would reduce the emissions). Besides Bill commented, other plants were in worse shape than his and they were passing EPA standards. George ended the conversation by assuring Bill that he would look into the matter. He immediately started calling his contemporaries at other Ardnak plants. He found they were scheduling their heavy emissions work at night so that during the day when the EPA took their sporadic readings they were within standards. George contemplated this option even though it would result in increasing air contamination levels. A month went by, and George still had not found a solution. The phone rang; it was Bill. Bill expressed his displeasure with the new fines for the month and reminded George that there were very few jobs out in the industry. That’s when Bill dropped the whole thing into George's lap. Bill had been speaking to the Mexican gover