Enforcement leverage when penalties are restricted

In the United States, empirical studies of the enforcement of continuous compliance with environmental regulations, especially air and water pollution regulations, have repeatedly demonstrated the following: (i) For most sources the frequency of surveillance is quite low. (ii) Even when violations are discovered, fines or other penalties are rarely assessed in most states. (iii) Sources are, nonetheless, thought to be in compliance a large part of the time.’ The evidence for the apparently low level of enforcement activity is found in a number of case studies of state and local enforcement of air and water quality regulations conducted jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Council on Environmental Quality (CEG), together with periodic surveys of implementation of air and water quality legislation conducted by the General Accounting Office (GAO).* These surveys show