The Risks and the Advantages of Agency Discretion: Evidence from EPA’s Project XL

Criticism of the administrative state seems to have increased exponentially over the past two decades, particularly with regard to environmental regulation. Many commentators assert that the "command and control" approach to enforcement is now anachronistic. Further, it has been characterized as "ossified", likely to discourage innovation, a disincentive to continuous environmental improvement, economically inefficient, a violation of free market principles, and undemocratic.