Making sense of the front lines: environmental regulators in Ohio and Wisconsin

Abstract

Although about 90% of environmental policy is delegated to the states for implementation, the individuals responsible for implementing a majority of that policy are largely understudied. Existing acknowledgment of these regulators typically extends only to the regulatory enforcement strategy their agency employs. Missing in these conversations is a focused study on the regulators themselves and their perceptions of the regulated community that they interact with daily. Understanding these perceptions will provide insights into how regulators approach their interactions and how they ensure regulatory compliance. This paper uses an exploratory case study approach to focus on front-line regulators with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources via agencywide surveys. Findings from the surveys reveal generally positive perceptions of the regulated community in both states and experiences with them. The findings call attention to a neglected population and emphasize the importance of regulators' perceptions in their regulatory approach.

Evaluación de la actividad de inspección de recursos forestales en México

“…Inspectors are the ones who physically verify compliance, or not, with environmental regulations and, therefore, are the most important actors in protecting forests, as they are the guarantors of the implementation of the regulations (Pautz, 2009;Pautz & Rinfret, 2011). They are the most visible representatives of the State before society, so their performance must be under constant scrutiny as the high costs of poor inspection practices affect economic performance and the quality of governance.…”

“…Los inspectores son quienes verifican en físico para determinar el cumplimiento o no de las reglamentaciones ambientales y, por ello, son los actores más importantes en su protección, al ser garantes de la implementación de las regulaciones (Pautz, 2009;Pautz & Rinfret, 2011). Son los representantes más visibles del Estado ante la sociedad, por lo que, su desempeño debe ser objeto de un escrutinio constante a medida que los altos costos de las malas prácticas de inspección afectan el desempeño económico y la calidad de la gobernanza.…”

Attitudes and perspectives of frontline workers in environmental policy: a case study of Ohio's Environmental Protection Agency and Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources

“…Other external pressures could be included, such as the role of interest groups, in future studies. 5 Please note that a different iteration of these cases was explored with different survey data previously by the authors with another theoretical framework (see Pautz and Rinfret, 2011). 6 Here, we present the exploratory work that has provided the foundation for a project that explores survey data from more than a dozen states (see Pautz and Rinfret, 2013).…”

“… Please note that a different iteration of these cases was explored with different survey data previously by the authors with another theoretical framework (see Pautz and Rinfret, ).…”

“…But with few exceptions (cf. Pautz, , ; Pautz and Rinfret, ), the roles of frontline workers in US environmental policy remain understudied. Therefore, to begin to understand this population, we explore the role environmental regulators play in the implementation of policy in Ohio and Wisconsin.…”