, but the efft paid off, and more than 0 sewage trement plants around the bay adopted bnr technolo.uchf these early gains were not only e result of technology, but of aretty tough regulatory sti from the epa and the ate governments?- >> you know, that was tried- and-true formula. i me, with sewage treatment-- where we made the biggest ins eay on, and continue to make the biggest gas-- you have very clear laws. you have penales, you have deadnes, you have enforcement, you have inspeion. mean, we know what works. ♪ >> smith: but the 80s brought a new era, a the political climate on the environment changed. the winds of deregulion were blowing through waington, pecially during the reagan years. >> it is time to cck and reverse the owth of government which shows signsf having grown beyd the consent of the governed. it is my intention tcurb the ze and influence of the federal establishmen >> there's no queson that the reagan ainistration, in fact, brought to washiton a.dq deregulatory agend i remember back in the rgan days of seeing mos that would comeut from the white house to the chamb