Chapter 12: Shaping Next Generation Compliance at EPA: Lessons From the Agency's Past and Some Post-Workshop Thoughts

Abstract

This chapter describes some little used — or never tried — approaches to environmental enforcement and compliance assurance that appear worth implementing. The chapter considers some practical lessons from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) enforcement history that have pertinence to the EPA’s ongoing enforcement resource constraints. In particular, it focuses on three topics: some low budget techniques employed in the past by EPA enforcement and compliance personnel that merit renewed emphasis, an approach to avoiding interoffice rivalries that have plagued the Agency’s enforcement and compliance work in the past, and some resources outside of EPA that the Agency may fruitfully draw upon to maximize the impact of the work of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). The chapter also includes thoughts and suggestions with respect to other relatively inexpensive techniques that EPA may wish to use to enhance overall compliance with pollution control standards.

Keywords: environmental law, environmental policy, environmental history, administrative law

JEL Classification: K01, K23, K32