Abstract
Environmental regulations can greatly affect the operation of new and existing infrastructure projects. In fact, the economic performance of infrastructure projects is closely related to environmental regulations whose landscape is extremely dynamic. To assist infrastructure project sectors in better coping with environmental regulatory changes, this study proposes guidelines for the robust adaptation to environmental regulations through information collected from an exploratory research process. As part of these guidelines, a process map model was developed that details the different stages in the environmental regulation development process, including prerulemaking, proposed rule development and publication, commenting period, final rule development and publication, and post-promulgation. Five adaptation subprocesses (i.e., regulatory horizon scanning, stakeholder engagement, risk and opportunity assessment, response strategy development, and compliance implementation) are examined to help regulated entities better adapt to regulatory changes across different regulatory stages. This information has the potential to provide companies with a structured stage-by-stage approach for dealing with uncertainties arising from environmental regulation changes.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all of the data (e.g., interview records) generated or used during this study are proprietary or confidential in nature and may only be provided with restrictions (e.g., anonymized data).
Acknowledgments
This study is a part of a research effort that has been supported by the Construction Industry Institute (CII) Power, Utility, Infrastructure Sector Research Team (RT-PUI01) and focused on identifying and evaluating the impact of regulations throughout the project life cycle. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Randall J. Kulhanek, Carzell T. Walton, and David Turner for their review and evaluation of the process map model during the development process. The opinions expressed in this paper represent those of the authors and not necessarily those of the CII.
References
Annandale, D., R. Taplin, and T. Wallington. 2004. “The determinants of company response to environmental regulation.” J. Environ. Policy Plann. 6 (2): 107–130. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908042000320704.
Bushnell, J. B., S. P. Holland, J. E. Hughes, and C. R. Knittel. 2017. “Strategic policy choice in state-level regulation: The EPA’s clean power plan.” Am. Econ. J.: Econ. Policy 9 (2): 57–90. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20150237.
CII (Construction Industry Institute). 2019. “A guide to regulatory future-proofing for the construction industry.” Accessed December 13, 2019. ’https://www.construction-institute.org/resources/knowledgebase/what’s-new/result/topics/rt-pui-01/pubs/fr-pui-01.
CPWR (Center for Construction Research and Training). 2020. “Regulations & requirements.” Accessed January 1, 2020. https://www.silica-safe.org/regulations-and-requirements/status-of-regulatory-efforts/timeline.
EPA. 2016. “Signing of asbestos hazard emergency response act.” Accessed December 5, 2019. https://archive.epa.gov/epa/aboutepa/signing-asbestos-hazard-emergency-response-act.html.
EPA. 2017. “The basics of the regulatory process.” Accessed December 6, 2019. https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/basics-regulatory-process.
EPA. 2018a. “Emission guidelines for greenhouse gas emissions from existing electric utility generating units; revisions to emission guideline implementing regulations; revisions to new source review program.” Accessed December 6, 2019. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/08/31/2018-18755/emission-guidelines-for-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-existing-electric-utility-generating-units.
EPA. 2018b. “EPA releases proposal to revise MATS supplemental cost finding and risk and technology review.” Accessed December 6, 2019. https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-releases-proposal-revise-mats-supplemental-cost-finding-and-risk-and-technology.
EPA. 2019. “Cleaner power plants.” Accessed December 7, 2019. https://www.epa.gov/mats/cleaner-power-plants.
Fereday, J., and E. Muire-Cochrane. 2006. “Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development.” Int. J. Qual. Methods 5 (1): 80–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690600500107.
Fowlie, M., et al. 2014. “An economic perspective on the EPA’s clean power plan.” Science 346 (6211): 815–816. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261349.
Gray, W. 2015. “Environmental regulations and business decisions.” IZA World Labor 187 (Sep): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.187.
Greenstone, M., J. List, and C. Syverson. 2012. “The effects of environmental regulations on the competitiveness.” Accessed December 6, 2019. https://www.nber.org/papers/w18392.pdf.
Hallingberg, B., R. Turley, J. Segrott, D. Wight, P. Craig, L. Moore, S. Murphy, M. Robling, S. A. Simpson, and G. Moore. 2018. “Exploratory studies to decide whether and how to proceed with full-scale evaluations of public health interventions: A systematic review of guidance.” Pilot Feasibility Stud. 4 (1): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-018-0290-8.
Hummer, J. E., I. Arocho, and W. Rasdorf. 2017. “Approach to assessing tradeoffs between construction equipment fleet emissions and cost.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 143 (5): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001255.
Jaselskis, E., W. Rasdorf, M. Liu, A. Alsharef, F. Bowen, M. Al-Ghandour, and L. Goode. 2017. “Factors affecting bid let dates on transportation mega projects.” In Proc., Joint Conf. on Computing in Construction. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina DOT. https://doi.org/10.24928/jc3-2017/0081.
Junquera, B., and J. Á. Del Brío. 2016. “Preventive command and control regulation: A case analysis.” Sustainability 8 (1): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8010099.
Kux, L. 2018. “Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’—Recodification of preexisting rule.” Accessed December 6, 2019. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/07/12/2018-14679/definition-of-waters-of-the-united-states-recodification-of-preexisting-rule.
Li, Q., L. Brannen, K. Rasoulkhani, A. Mostafavi, R. Stoa, S. Chowdhury, A. Alsharef, S. Banerjee, J. Zhu, and E. Jaselskis. 2020. “Regulatory adaptation in the construction industry: A case study of the OSHA update to the respirable crystalline silica standard.” J. Leg. Aff. Dispute Resolut. Eng. Constr. 12 (4): 06520003. https://doi.org/10.1061/%28ASCE%29LA.1943-4170.0000424.
Liu, W., J. Tong, and X. Yue. 2016. “How does environmental regulation affect industrial transformation? A study based on the methodology of policy simulation.” Math. Prob. Eng. 2016: 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/2405624.
Lyhne, I., M. Cashmore, H. Runhaar, and F. van Laerhoven. 2016. “Quality control for environmental policy appraisal tools: An empirical investigation of relations between quality, quality control and effectiveness.” J. Environ. Policy Plann. 18 (1): 121–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2015.1053438.
Nilsson, M., and Å. Persson. 2003. “Framework for analysing environmental policy integration.” J. Environ. Policy Plann. 5 (4): 333–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908032000171648.
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). 2017. “OSHA’s respirable crystalline silica standard for construction.” Accessed December 8, 2019. https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3681.pdf.
Rasoulkhani, K., A. Alsharef, S. Banerjee, S. Chowdhury, Q. Li, A. Mostafavi, J. Zhu, E. Jaselskis, and R. Stoa. 2020. “A process model for regulatory adaptation in the construction industry.” In Proc., Construction Research Congress. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Rasoulkhani, K., L. Brannen, J. Zhu, A. Mostafavi, E. Jaselskis, R. Stoa, Q. Li, A. Alsharef, S. Banerjee, and S. Chowdhury. 2020. “Establishing a future-proofing framework for infrastructure projects to proactively adapt to complex regulatory landscapes.” J. Manage. Eng. 36 (4): 04020032. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000794.
Rossi, R., M. Gastaldi, G. Gecchele, and S. Kikuchi. 2012. “Estimation of annual average daily truck traffic volume. Uncertainty treatment and data collection requirements.” Procedia Social Behav. Sci. 54 (Oct): 845–856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.800.
Rousselin, M. 2016. “The power of legitimation: The role of expert networks in global environmental governance.” J. Environ. Policy Plann. 18 (2): 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2015.1065719.
Singhal, P. 2018. “Environmental regulations: Lessons from the command-and- control approach.” Accessed December 6, 2019. https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.597525.de/diw_roundup_124_en.pdf.
Stavropoulos, S., R. Wall, and Y. Xu. 2018. “Environmental regulations and industrial competitiveness: Evidence from China.” Appl. Econ. 50 (12): 1378–1394. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2017.1363858.
Tran, D. Q., and K. R. Molenaar. 2015. “Risk-based project delivery selection model for highway design and construction.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 141 (12): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001024.
Walker, W. R. 2011. “Environmental regulation and labor reallocation: Evidence from the clean air act.” Am. Econ. Rev. 101 (3): 442–447. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.101.3.442.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 146 • Issue 10 • October 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 9, 2020
Accepted: May 12, 2020
Published online: Jul 25, 2020
Published in print: Oct 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Dec 25, 2020
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Data collection
- Economic factors
- Engineering fundamentals
- Geomatics
- Information management
- Infrastructure
- Landscaping
- Laws and regulations
- Legal affairs
- Mapping
- Methodology (by type)
- Practice and Profession
- Project management
- Publications
- Research methods (by type)
- Surveying methods
- Urban and regional development
- Urban areas
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.