The “environmental police” are very much on the beat, requiring cleanup and meting out punishments for transgressions of U.S. law. In fiscal year 1999, the U.S. EPA concluded enforcement cases requiring a record $3.6 billion for environmental cleanup, pollution control equipment, pollution prevention, and improved monitoring. And, as in past years, guards escorted many corporate employees, and managers alike, to prison. But federal and state governments are aware that in certain cases regulatory violations can be traced to deficient management systems, and some within the enforcement community have begun to shift the focus from pure punishment and deterrence to the...
