I would add to Angus' observations about enforcement that enforcement takes place at multiple levels and through various actors. I think that too often enforcement is defined too narrowly as what government(s) do to regulate particular activities. These often are limited by the mechanisms through which agencies work: periodic and oft' times pre-announced site visits and testing for compliance. I think a better measure is the extent to which governments support nongovernment organizations and individuals as quasi-regulatory actors. This includes whether and to what extent employees are encouraged and/or supported by laws and governments in reporting violations, because they have intimate knowledge about actual practices that may otherwise be hidden from regulators. I think the BP fiasco offers some insight into how important employees can be in acting, or not, to protect themselves and the environment.
Darrell Whitman Original Message: ----------------- From: Wright, Angus [email protected] Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:54:18 -0700 To: [email protected], [email protected] Subject: RE: [gep-ed] data question In my experience in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and reading regarding other countries, the key is more often enforcement effort rather than the letter of the law. An aggressive government and/or prosecutors can do a great deal with relatively loose laws, and, on the other hand, can use very tough looking legislation as nothing more than a smoke screen that enables poor performance. Of course, it goes without saying that it is best to have an aggressive government enforcement effort and stringent law, although some of my friends and ex-students in California state government complain mightily that sometimes stringent laws, by too great caution and specificity, can actually stand in the way of effective enforcement, and, especially, of remediation. These observations may be platitudinous to all of you, but such points often seem to get lost in the legal and political science literature, as well as in journalistic treatments. Angus Angus Wright Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies California State University, Sacramento ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of Raul Pacheco-Vega [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 9:06 PM To: [email protected] >> "[email protected]" Subject: Re: [gep-ed] data question Dear Asseem, Kevin and colleagues, I have previously criticized measurements of stringency of environmental laws, and to this day, I do not think we have one that is rigorous enough. How would we define stringency of environmental law? Number of inspections of industrial plants per year? Re-incidence of inspection? Amount of money paid per infraction (fine)? When I wrote my doctoral dissertation I used a combined measure of number of plant inspections and fines to assess Mexican environmental regulatory pressure, but I acknowledged it was a very rough measure. I agree with Kevin that EPI could be used, but I think we still are far away from a solid measurement of regulatory stringency. Yours, Raul Kevin Gallagher wrote: > A. Prakash > > I think the best you can do with that and a grain of salt is Esty's > "Environmental Performance Index" at Yale: > > http://epi.yale.edu/ > > Best > > Kevin Gallagher > > wrote: >> >> Hello, >> >> I am looking for cross-national data on stringency of environmental >> laws and levels of carbon taxation. Any suggestions where I might >> find such data? >> >> Many thanks, >> >> ******************************************** >> Aseem Prakash >> Professor >> Department of Political Science >> 39 Gowen Hall, Box 353530 >> University of Washington >> Seattle, WA 98195-3530 >> >> 206-543-2399 >> 206-685-2146 (fax) >> [email protected] >> http://faculty.washington.edu/aseem/ > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://link.mail2web.com/mail2web
