Environmental Inspectors and the Transition to Next Generation Policies: Implications for the Front-Lines.

With renewed emphasis on environmental protection and growing scholarly consensus of the need to move beyond the traditional command and control approach to environmental regulation, the “window” may be opening for significant changes in U.S. environmental policy. Much of the dialogue focuses on “next generation” environmental policies that are cooperative not confrontational, comprehensive rather than fragmented, and flexible instead of rigid. As such change is considered, it is important to examine the potential ramifications at all levels of the policy arena. In particular, front-line workers must be considered â€" namely environmental inspectors. Significant changes to the environmental regulatory system are likely to have profound impacts on inspectors and their jobs. Accordingly, this paper explores the discussion of next generation environmental policies and what their adoption may mean for environmental inspectors. The paper concludes that a transition to next generation policies would have significant impacts on existing inspectors and their duties; accordingly, without considerable retraining, current inspectors may not be the sorts of front-line workers that next generation policies demand. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]