Enforcement at the EPA: High Stakes and Hard Choices. By JOEL A. MINTZ

Abstract

The approach to enforcing federal environmental law adopted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been the source of significant controversy since the Agency was established in 1970. Since its inception, the EPA has at various junctures faced public criticism for failing to enforce environmental law effectively, while at other times has been lambasted for seemingly over-zealous wielding of its not insubstantial enforcement powers. In this updated edition (the first edition was published back in 1995), Mintz conveys the turbulent tale of how the EPA’s approach to a critical aspect of its work has evolved in response to pressure from a variety of sources: civil society, external political developments, industry resistance and shifting internal regulatory culture. In doing so, he considers a plethora of features of the enforcement experience that environmental regulators in any jurisdiction will be familiar with—coping with budgetary constraints, acquiring and retaining public confidence, developing effective sanctioning tools, maintaining a consistent enforcement policy, dealing with staff attrition, managing regulatory discretion, avoiding agency capture, establishing effective and efficient organisational structures, negotiating successful interagency and institutional relationships, and responding to official scrutiny of enforcement practice. These diverse issues are explored through an historical account of enforcement at the EPA during different eras of its operation, creating a narrative that not only gives a fascinating insight into the impact of wider political developments in the USA on day-to-day environmental regulation, but which also clearly conveys the challenges faced by enforcement staff who actually implement environmental law ‘on the ground’.