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Impact of Government-Sponsored Pollution Prevention Practices on Environmental Compliance and Enforcement: Evidence from a Sample of US Manufacturing Facilities

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  • Sam, Abdoul G.

Abstract

A two-way fixed effects Poisson model is used to investigate the impact of 43 EPA-sponsored pollution prevention (P2) practices on compliance and enforcement for a sample of facilities in the US manufacturing sector. I find that P2 adoption reduces environmental violations in three industries while increasing violations in two others. P2 adoption also spurs fewer enforcement actions in three industries. I further partition the P2 practices into three categories based on their approach to improve environmental performance. In doing so, I find that practices that involve changes in operating procedures--about a third of adopted P2 practices--such as instituting a self-inspection and monitoring program to discover spills or leak sources, improving maintenance scheduling and/or labeling procedures, are effective in reducing violations while practices that involve equipment or material changes are not. I also find that adopters of practices that require changes in either procedures or manufacturing equipment--about half of adopted practices--are rewarded with a more cooperative treatment of environmental infractions with fewer enforcement actions.

Suggested Citation

  • Sam, Abdoul G., 2009. "Impact of Government-Sponsored Pollution Prevention Practices on Environmental Compliance and Enforcement: Evidence from a Sample of US Manufacturing Facilities," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49306, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea09:49306
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.49306
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    1. Xiang Bi & Madhu Khanna, 2017. "Inducing pollution prevention adoption: effectiveness of the 33/50 voluntary environmental program," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(12), pages 2234-2254, December.

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