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DEAR EDITOR:
This letter was prompted by the editor's July 9 column on the subject of conflict minerals.
I always have been proud of the fact that I worked for a company that actually made something. For over 40 years, I worked for a company that manufactured industrial equipment, shipped all over the world, with subsidiaries in a dozen countries, and headquarters in Warren, Ohio. I'm retired now, but several years ago when we started concerning ourselves with conflict minerals, that fell into my department.
For background, in August 2012 the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the final rule regarding sourcing of conflict minerals under section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act. Publicly traded companies must report to the SEC the source of conflict minerals in the products they manufacture, and our products did require these metals -- tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold -- sometimes referred to as 3TG.
Many manhours were devoted to this. We hired another person just to handle it. We took this very seriously, but in the end nothing changed. We did not change suppliers, find alternate materials nor do anything differently. To my knowledge, our suppliers also did nothing differently. American businesses were forced to incur additional costs for no benefit. By that I don't just mean no benefit to the company; I mean no benefit to anyone, anywhere, period. The untold hours spent on this in no way improved conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All that was accomplished was business compiling lists, filling out forms, making their suppliers do the same. "Consultants" appeared out of the woodwork to show you how to keep the necessary records to comply. In addition to the new employee, we gave a contract to one outside firm.
I'm not saying absolutely nothing changed in the whole country, but very darn little, if anything, did -- certainly nothing commensurate with the cost to industry. The whole thing is a good example of the onerous government regulations we need to get rid of if America is going to be competitive.
The goal is admirable; this just isn't the way to go about it. These days there are mutual funds for ethical investing, concerned citizens making their voices heard in corporate board rooms, and so forth. This is a good thing. But the government inserting this one little thing into the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act, however well intentioned, hurt American industry for no benefit.
ROBERT LOWE
Girard