Next-Generation Environmental Policy and the Implications for Environmental Inspectors: Are Fears of Regulatory Capture Warranted?

摘要

With renewed emphasis on environmental protection and growing scholarly consensus on the need to move beyond the traditional command-and-control approach to environmental regulation, the "window" may be opening for significant changes in environmental policy in the United States. Much of the dialogue focuses on next-generation environmental policies that are cooperative instead of confrontational, comprehensive rather than fragmented, and flexible instead of rigid. This pending transition invariably raises questions about regulatory enforcement and, most notably, fears of regulatory capture. Accordingly, this article explores the discussion of next-generation environmental policies and their implications for environmental inspectors in the context of regulatory enforcement. The transition to next-generation policies is likely to have significant impacts on inspectors; however, I argue that concerns of regulatory capture are overstated, based on a survey of existing research on regulatory enforcement.