Enforcing the law
Subtitle: the case of the Clean Water Acts
By: Susan Hunter and Richard W. Waterman.
Contributors: Waterman, Richard W.
Series: Bureaucracies, public administration, and public policy
Publisher: M.E. Sharpe
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Armonk, N.Y
Language: eng
Number of pages: 249
Subjects: Offenses against the environment -- United States; Law enforcement -- United States; Water -- Pollution -- Law and legislation -- United States
Description: Hunter and Waterman's important work is the most comprehensive analysis available of the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement of the Clean Water Act and its amendments. The book uses extensive EPA data, including a survey of federaland state-level environmental officials, to examine enforcement from the perspective of government personnel. Emphasis is on what is done, how it is done, and why it is done.

By combining detailed documentation of regulatory implementation with surveys of the views of federal and state officials, industry representatives, and environmental activists, this study illuminates a process of pragmatic enforcement - that is, the way bureaucrats actually do their jobs.

The book examines the operation of pollution control policy over two decades and several presidential administrations; shows the pragmatic nature of regulatory enforcement, mixing adherence with due discretion; and considers the effectiveness of both punitive and incentive-based policies in different contexts.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-244) and index.