Environmental Enforcement Actions in Texas: Are Violators Being Deterred?

• In Event: Green Criminology II: Attitudes, Enforcement and Governance

Abstract

Harms perpetrated against the environment have serious detrimental repercussions for humans and other organisms. Regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been created to police violations of environmental statutes by monitoring and enforcing the compliance of facilities. Enforcement actions, which often take the form of monetary fines, are intended to deter harmful levels of pollution and return facilities to a compliant status. This study uses several years of data from the EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online database to examine the role monetary fines imposed by state and federal regulators have on the subsequent compliance status of major facilities in the state of Texas. The impact of these penalties is important because Texas is a leading state in the areas of energy and natural gas production, though it is also among the largest producers of greenhouse gas in the world. Findings and policy implications are discussed.

Author

• Matthew Caines, Sam Houston State University