Enforcement of Air Quality Regulation of Industry in Rhode Island

Ground-level ozone is the most pervasive air pollution problem in the United States today, and has become the focus of air quality regulation in ozone nonattainment areas like Rhode Island. Thus far, regulation has focused on reducing emissions from industry. This paper examines how one part of the regulatory process, enforcement, works in Rhode Island. Specifically, I addressed the question: how has stringency of enforcement of air quality regulation in the state changed over time, and does this reflect effective enforcement?

As a quantitative measure of enforcement, I chose the number of notices of violation issued per year. Using this measure as a surrogate for enforcement activity, I determined that stringency of enforcement has increased significantly over the last twenty years, since the average number of notices of violation issued per year has increased threefold during this period. The level of enforcement in a given year is expected to be a function of the state's enforcement staff and the number of changes (new regulations issued plus amendments to existing regulations) made to regulation in that year and the previous year. Regression analysis showed a positive relationship between changes in regulation and number of notices of violation issued.

To assess the effectiveness of enforcement, I conducted interviews with members of the federal and state regulatory agencies (EPA and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management) and industry (environmental affairs managers). Rhode Island relies on self-reporting by major stationary sources to verify compliance, and the state agency's "carrot-and-stick" enforcement policy emphasizes cooperation and flexibility. Despite appearing lax compared to other states in the Northeast, Rhode Island's enforcement is relatively effective, and results in more economically efficient outcomes. Industry appears to have a positive attitude towards air quality regulators in the state because of a cooperative relationship, and is actively involved in the regulatory process, which is in part due to the small size of the state.