Melissa L Jarrell
Biographic Data
| ID | 3731049 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melissa L Jarrell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melissa L |
| FAMILY NAME | Jarrell |
| SIGNATURE | JARRELL M L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Deepwater Horizon, Environmental Justice, and the Prosecution of Federal Environmental Crimes in the U.S. Gulf Coast
The Deepwater Horizon disaster inflicted untold damage on humans and the natural environment in the U.S. Gulf Coast. Less discussed is that British Petroleum (BP) was prosecuted and found guilty of environmental crimes that contributed to this catastrophe and received the largest criminal penalty to date in a federal environmental prosecution. While this prosecution gives the impression that the federal government rigorously prosecutes environmen…
Seizing the Political Moment: How the Environmental Protection Agency Can Reimagine Itself and Its Commitment to Environmental Justice
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) turns 50, we reflect on the progress of three important challenges issued by Environmental Justice (EJ) researchers and communities to the agency over the past four decades: demands for greater stakeholder inclusion, significant harm reduction from toxic exposures, and compensation for harm resulting from toxic exposures. We argue that the government has succeeded mostly on the first front and rem…
Predicting the U.S. environmental protection agency’s criminal enforcement outcomes, 1983–2019
Studies of environmental enforcement in the United States focus on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) civil enforcement actions. We develop a fuller understanding of why the agency enforces through analysis of how and why they use criminal enforcement. We build a comprehensive dataset on the history of the EPA’s criminal enforcement investigations and related prosecutions, 1983–2019. Through content analysis of the agency’s case sum…
Persistence or Partisanship: Exploring the Relationship between Presidential Administrations and Criminal Enforcement by the US Environmental Protection Agency, 1983–2019
Conventional analysis suggests that enforcement actions meted out by the US Environmental Protection Agency vary greatly across Democratic and Republican presidential administrations. Yet research fails to look beyond civil actions to explore how the agency engages in the criminal enforcement of environmental crimes over time or whether and how those outcomes change across partisan administrations. We explore these questions by using content anal…
Righting and “Writing” Wrongs: A Postmortem on a Decade of Environmental Justice Activism in Corpus Christi, Texas
For over a decade, both as academics and activists, we have observed and participated as various attempts have been made to protect the Environmental Justice communities surrounded by heavy industry in Corpus Christi, Texas. We have been fortunate to participate in a wide range of actions that have been undertaken in an effort to protect the health and welfare of the people residing in these communities. We place these efforts into the broad cate…
Executive Actors and Environmental Enforcement: Examining the “Rick Scott Effect” in the U.S. State of Florida
Executive actors wield power within a principal–agent structure, where they compete with multiple political actors and administrative agencies to influence environmental enforcement outcomes. While the U.S. states make for an excellent laboratory to explore this phenomenon, a lack of quality enforcement data and the multifaceted dynamics of control makes it difficult to study these relationships. Using data on the number of environmental cases op…
Administrative Persistence in the Face of a Hostile Regime: How the Environmental Protection Agency Can Survive the Trump Administration
With Donald Trump's nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are serious concerns for fence-line communities seeking the help of a robust environmental regulator. Of all the actions an inimical presidential administration and its appointees might take that impact environmental justice (EJ) communities, it is inaction specifically the deprioritization of environmental oversight and enforcement that m…
Implementing a Partial Buyout of an Environmental Justice Community
Rare is it the case that a property buyout is negotiated for environmental justice (EJ) communities. However, in 2014, in Corpus Christi, Texas, a nonprofit organization, the Environmental Justice Housing Fund, was created with an endowment to do just that: oversee a partial buyout of as many homes as possible that are located in close proximity to the industrial shipping channel and refinery row. This case study provides guideposts for those see…
Why Do Regulatory Agencies Punish? The Impact of Political Principals, Agency Culture, and Transaction Costs in Predicting Environmental Criminal Prosecution Outcomes in the United States
Studies of administrative behavior are keen to examine the internal dynamics of agency decision making, as well the impact of external political actors on agency actions. Yet few studies apply these findings to the question of why agencies use their most punitive enforcement powers. Contrasting principal-agent, transaction costs, and organizational culture models of agency behavior, this study examines why regulatory agencies punish. Through cont…
Corporate Environmental Crime and Environmental Victimization: Exploring New Legal Precedents for Securing Recognition and Restitution for Environmental Justice Communities
In 2014, seven years after the initial conviction, CITGO Petroleum and Refining was sentenced for criminal violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA). Prior to sentencing, close to 1,000 fenceline community members petitioned the court to be declared victims of CITGO's crimes under the federal Crime Victim's Rights Act (CVRA). The district court granted the petitioners' victim status after a long court battle involving an appeal to the Fifth Circuit y…
Wielding the green stick: Criminal enforcement at the EPA under the Bush and Obama administrations
The criminal prosecution of environmental offenders by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of the agency's most politicised yet poorly understood responsibilities. Through content analysis of the Agency's criminal prosecutions in 2001–2011, we undertook analysis of nearly 1000 cases to understand better whether and how the outcomes of the criminal enforcement division change under presidential administrations. Using a principal-ag…
Risk Assessment or Risk Acceptance: An Activist's Perspective on Why the EPA's Attempts to Achieve Environmental Justice Have Failed and What They Can Do About It
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged with safeguarding the well-being of environmental justice (EJ) communities. Sadly, EJ communities are often burdened with gathering their own evidence of harm to prompt regulators to action. This article provides a case study of how one grassroots organization, Citizens for Environmental Justice, uncovered evidence of public health problems that are linked to living near heavy industry in Corpu…
Upset events, regulatory drift, and the regulation of air emissions at industrial facilities in the United States
Upset events, emissions released to air due to accidental or unavoidable circumstances at industrial facilities, are often exempt from fines and enforcement actions by state regulators, even if state rules conflict with the Clean Air Act. State rules may allow upset events to become a substantial, yet little-studied source of emissions at large industrial complexes. Drawing from Jacob Hacker's theory of policy drift, upset events are framed theor…
Upset over Air Pollution: Analyzing Upset Event Emissions at Petroleum Refineries
The Clean Air Act (CAA) controls routine emissions at petroleum refineries, by creating limits and penalties for excess emissions. The CAA offers provisions for upset events, air emissions released because of unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances, if companies report the emissions and take corrective action. States enforce upset event rules and many states provide exemptions for a variety of circumstances, which may allow upset emissions to bec…
Excessive Air Pollution and the Oil Industry: Fighting for Our Right to Breathe Clean Air
Chronic and acute exposure to toxic air pollution can cause and/or contribute to numerous health problems. The Federal Clean Air Act sets air pollution limits to ensure that our air is safe to breathe and requires that state agencies regulate the amount of chemicals that can be released into the air on a daily and yearly basis. Industry has found ways to circumvent emissions limits by reporting some emissions as “upset” events or unavoidable “acc…
Upset over Air Pollution: Analyzing Upset Event Emissions at Petroleum Refineries
The Clean Air Act (CAA) controls routine emissions at petroleum refineries, by creating limits and penalties for excess emissions. The CAA offers provisions for upset events, air emissions released because of unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances, if companies report the emissions and take corrective action. States enforce upset event rules and many states provide exemptions for a variety of circumstances, which may allow upset emissions to bec…
Wielding the green stick: Criminal enforcement at the EPA under the Bush and Obama administrations
The criminal prosecution of environmental offenders by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of the agency's most politicised yet poorly understood responsibilities. Through content analysis of the Agency's criminal prosecutions in 2001–2011, we undertook analysis of nearly 1000 cases to understand better whether and how the outcomes of the criminal enforcement division change under presidential administrations. Using a principal-ag…
Why Do Regulatory Agencies Punish? The Impact of Political Principals, Agency Culture, and Transaction Costs in Predicting Environmental Criminal Prosecution Outcomes in the United States
Studies of administrative behavior are keen to examine the internal dynamics of agency decision making, as well the impact of external political actors on agency actions. Yet few studies apply these findings to the question of why agencies use their most punitive enforcement powers. Contrasting principal-agent, transaction costs, and organizational culture models of agency behavior, this study examines why regulatory agencies punish. Through cont…
Predicting the U.S. environmental protection agency’s criminal enforcement outcomes, 1983–2019
Studies of environmental enforcement in the United States focus on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) civil enforcement actions. We develop a fuller understanding of why the agency enforces through analysis of how and why they use criminal enforcement. We build a comprehensive dataset on the history of the EPA’s criminal enforcement investigations and related prosecutions, 1983–2019. Through content analysis of the agency’s case sum…
Excessive Air Pollution and the Oil Industry: Fighting for Our Right to Breathe Clean Air
Chronic and acute exposure to toxic air pollution can cause and/or contribute to numerous health problems. The Federal Clean Air Act sets air pollution limits to ensure that our air is safe to breathe and requires that state agencies regulate the amount of chemicals that can be released into the air on a daily and yearly basis. Industry has found ways to circumvent emissions limits by reporting some emissions as “upset” events or unavoidable “acc…
Upset over Air Pollution: Analyzing Upset Event Emissions at Petroleum Refineries
The Clean Air Act (CAA) controls routine emissions at petroleum refineries, by creating limits and penalties for excess emissions. The CAA offers provisions for upset events, air emissions released because of unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances, if companies report the emissions and take corrective action. States enforce upset event rules and many states provide exemptions for a variety of circumstances, which may allow upset emissions to bec…
Risk Assessment or Risk Acceptance: An Activist's Perspective on Why the EPA's Attempts to Achieve Environmental Justice Have Failed and What They Can Do About It
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged with safeguarding the well-being of environmental justice (EJ) communities. Sadly, EJ communities are often burdened with gathering their own evidence of harm to prompt regulators to action. This article provides a case study of how one grassroots organization, Citizens for Environmental Justice, uncovered evidence of public health problems that are linked to living near heavy industry in Corpu…
Upset events, regulatory drift, and the regulation of air emissions at industrial facilities in the United States
Upset events, emissions released to air due to accidental or unavoidable circumstances at industrial facilities, are often exempt from fines and enforcement actions by state regulators, even if state rules conflict with the Clean Air Act. State rules may allow upset events to become a substantial, yet little-studied source of emissions at large industrial complexes. Drawing from Jacob Hacker's theory of policy drift, upset events are framed theor…
Corporate Environmental Crime and Environmental Victimization: Exploring New Legal Precedents for Securing Recognition and Restitution for Environmental Justice Communities
In 2014, seven years after the initial conviction, CITGO Petroleum and Refining was sentenced for criminal violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA). Prior to sentencing, close to 1,000 fenceline community members petitioned the court to be declared victims of CITGO's crimes under the federal Crime Victim's Rights Act (CVRA). The district court granted the petitioners' victim status after a long court battle involving an appeal to the Fifth Circuit y…
Wielding the green stick: Criminal enforcement at the EPA under the Bush and Obama administrations
The criminal prosecution of environmental offenders by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of the agency's most politicised yet poorly understood responsibilities. Through content analysis of the Agency's criminal prosecutions in 2001–2011, we undertook analysis of nearly 1000 cases to understand better whether and how the outcomes of the criminal enforcement division change under presidential administrations. Using a principal-ag…
Why Do Regulatory Agencies Punish? The Impact of Political Principals, Agency Culture, and Transaction Costs in Predicting Environmental Criminal Prosecution Outcomes in the United States
Studies of administrative behavior are keen to examine the internal dynamics of agency decision making, as well the impact of external political actors on agency actions. Yet few studies apply these findings to the question of why agencies use their most punitive enforcement powers. Contrasting principal-agent, transaction costs, and organizational culture models of agency behavior, this study examines why regulatory agencies punish. Through cont…
Administrative Persistence in the Face of a Hostile Regime: How the Environmental Protection Agency Can Survive the Trump Administration
With Donald Trump's nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are serious concerns for fence-line communities seeking the help of a robust environmental regulator. Of all the actions an inimical presidential administration and its appointees might take that impact environmental justice (EJ) communities, it is inaction specifically the deprioritization of environmental oversight and enforcement that m…
Implementing a Partial Buyout of an Environmental Justice Community
Rare is it the case that a property buyout is negotiated for environmental justice (EJ) communities. However, in 2014, in Corpus Christi, Texas, a nonprofit organization, the Environmental Justice Housing Fund, was created with an endowment to do just that: oversee a partial buyout of as many homes as possible that are located in close proximity to the industrial shipping channel and refinery row. This case study provides guideposts for those see…
Righting and “Writing” Wrongs: A Postmortem on a Decade of Environmental Justice Activism in Corpus Christi, Texas
For over a decade, both as academics and activists, we have observed and participated as various attempts have been made to protect the Environmental Justice communities surrounded by heavy industry in Corpus Christi, Texas. We have been fortunate to participate in a wide range of actions that have been undertaken in an effort to protect the health and welfare of the people residing in these communities. We place these efforts into the broad cate…
Executive Actors and Environmental Enforcement: Examining the “Rick Scott Effect” in the U.S. State of Florida
Executive actors wield power within a principal–agent structure, where they compete with multiple political actors and administrative agencies to influence environmental enforcement outcomes. While the U.S. states make for an excellent laboratory to explore this phenomenon, a lack of quality enforcement data and the multifaceted dynamics of control makes it difficult to study these relationships. Using data on the number of environmental cases op…
Persistence or Partisanship: Exploring the Relationship between Presidential Administrations and Criminal Enforcement by the US Environmental Protection Agency, 1983–2019
Conventional analysis suggests that enforcement actions meted out by the US Environmental Protection Agency vary greatly across Democratic and Republican presidential administrations. Yet research fails to look beyond civil actions to explore how the agency engages in the criminal enforcement of environmental crimes over time or whether and how those outcomes change across partisan administrations. We explore these questions by using content anal…
Deepwater Horizon, Environmental Justice, and the Prosecution of Federal Environmental Crimes in the U.S. Gulf Coast
The Deepwater Horizon disaster inflicted untold damage on humans and the natural environment in the U.S. Gulf Coast. Less discussed is that British Petroleum (BP) was prosecuted and found guilty of environmental crimes that contributed to this catastrophe and received the largest criminal penalty to date in a federal environmental prosecution. While this prosecution gives the impression that the federal government rigorously prosecutes environmen…
Seizing the Political Moment: How the Environmental Protection Agency Can Reimagine Itself and Its Commitment to Environmental Justice
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) turns 50, we reflect on the progress of three important challenges issued by Environmental Justice (EJ) researchers and communities to the agency over the past four decades: demands for greater stakeholder inclusion, significant harm reduction from toxic exposures, and compensation for harm resulting from toxic exposures. We argue that the government has succeeded mostly on the first front and rem…
Predicting the U.S. environmental protection agency’s criminal enforcement outcomes, 1983–2019
Studies of environmental enforcement in the United States focus on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) civil enforcement actions. We develop a fuller understanding of why the agency enforces through analysis of how and why they use criminal enforcement. We build a comprehensive dataset on the history of the EPA’s criminal enforcement investigations and related prosecutions, 1983–2019. Through content analysis of the agency’s case sum…
Political science (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Business (10 works) · Regulation and Compliance Studies (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Enforcement (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses (8 works) · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities (7 works) · Environmental justice (6 works)