Regulatory factors shaping environmental performance at publicly-owned treatment plants

This paper analyzes the regulatory factors that shape the level of environmental performance at individual polluting facilities. In particular, it examines deterrence generated by actual government interventions, namely inspections and enforcement actions, performed at particular facilities. This paper also examines the deterrence generated by the threat of receiving an intervention. As important, it controls for differences in the issuance of pollution control permits that impose effluent limits on individual facilities. For this empirical analysis, it examines wastewater discharges by municipal wastewater treatment plants in the state of Kansas for the years 1990–1998.