The number of violations of environmental regulations recorded each year is directly proportional to the number of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials assigned to a particular industry: the more EPA officials there are to police it, the more a particular industry will be charged with violations. So, the allegedly environmentally insensitive chemical companies harm the environment no more than do other industries, but their violations provoke such strong public outcry and EPA reaction that they are charged with more violations than any other industry.

Which one of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument made by the author in the above passage?