"We're not environmentalists": Corporation for Environmental Management looks for solutions that make business sense.

• Author: Mengle, Rev

David W. Hogue and Pamela Harvey Hogue own Corporation for Environmental Management, but say they're not environmentalists.

Aren't they concerned about the environment? Absolutely. Doesn't their business work to identify environmental problems and find solutions? Positively.

But are they "environmentalists" in the radical sense? In a word, no.

"We'd be among the first to admit that the explosion of environmental regulations is not necessarily a good thing," David says. "We think environmental regulations should be in place if they can have an identifiable and clear impact on a real environmental concern. We have seen environmental regulations come down the pike just because some particular special-interest group has been hollering. We want to help our clients comply and stay out of trouble, but we want them to do that in as cost-efficient a manner as possible. Because if a company goes broke trying to comply with environmental regulations, what good does that do anyone?"

Since the Hogues founded CEM four years ago out of their Indianapolis home, David says they've learned to appreciate even more the challenges faced by other business owners - and that helps them develop environmental solutions that make business sense.

It's that mentality that led them to adopt the slogan, "We are not environmentalists." "We took a bit of a chance with that ad campaign, because admittedly we could have offended some people with it," David says. "But at the same time, we wanted to make the point very clearly that while individuals within this company certainly can support any environmental issue they want, this company is not here to support an environmental agenda."

Today the Hogues' company has eight full-time staff members and two support people, plus a regional network of specialists. CEM's services include industrial hygiene, indoor-air-quality investigations, environmental-regulatory compliance audits, environmental site assessments, subsurface investigations, asbestos and lead services, hazard-communication programs, environmental training and environmental data management.

And it all came about because of two T's familiar in the business world: a transfer and a takeover.

The Hogues were working for an Atlanta firm when they met in the late 1980s. Pamela was an industrial-hygiene graduate of Indiana University; David, a geologist, was a graduate of Cleveland State University. Yes, that's the same Cleveland State that knocked off IU in the NCAA...