Jaffe, Peterson, and Portney (1995)

Jaffe, Adam B., Steven R. Peterson, and Paul R. Portney. "Environmental Regulation and the Competitiveness of U.S. Manufacturing: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?" Journal of Economic Literature, March 1995.

Extensive review of the enviromental literature concludes that "there is relatively little evidence to support the hypothesis that environmental regulations have had a large adverse effect on competitiveness, however that term is defined."

The authors suggest this finding might be explained by the following factors:

1) Limited environmental data makes comparisons difficult.
2) The cost of compliance in most industries is "a relatively small fraction of the total cost of production."
3) U.S. regulations are not notably more stringent than in other developed countries,
4) U.S. firms in developing countries tend to build plants that far exceed the requirements of local regulators.
5) Local firms in developing countries also often build to new plants to higher standards than local regulation would require.

Link:  https://www.jstor.org/stable/2728912?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents