Sources of Bureaucratic Delay: A Case Study of FERC Dam Relicensing

Abstract

This paper investigates the sources for regulatory delay in bureaucratic decision making, testing regulatory capture, congressional dominance, and bureaucratic discretion theories of agency behavior. The empirical context concerns relicenses issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for hydroelectric dams, which have taken anywhere from just ten months to over sixteen years to be issued. The reasons for this heterogeneity in regulatory processing times can be expected to be varied and numerous and indeed we find evidence that outside interest groups, the legislature, and bureaucratic discretion are all significant in affecting regulatory processing times. Our most intriguing results concern the effects of environmental interest groups, which, despite their apparent benefit/cost motivation to hasten the relicensing process (independent of relicensing outcomes), overall end up slowing it down.

The Complications of Controlling Agency Time Discretion: FDA Review Deadlines and Postmarket Drug Safety

“…Other health regulators worldwide including the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) have adopted similar regulatory review deadlines. 8 Moreover, a wide variety of administrative decisions are characterized by timing phenomena, including licensing (Kosnik 2006) and rulemaking (Kerwin 2003).…”

A Framework for Building Efficient Environmental Permitting Processes

“…One likely explanation is that more highly populated areas have more economic activity with potential environmental consequences, and liberal areas will have a greater number of environmental stakeholders that need to be consulted. In general, conscientious consultation with diverse interests both increases transaction costs and requires more time to negotiate with various concerned parties [6,7].…”

“…However, in other settings where interviewees had worked (e.g., in poorer counties), they found little or no organized public input. The stakeholder mix may also differentially affect overall duration of the process, as different types of interest groups may affect the process differently: environmental groups and business groups dependent on a healthy environment lengthen the overall permitting process, while other industry groups can speed it up [6,7].…”

“…can drive up the staffing, resource, and transaction costs for both the applicant and the permitting agency [8] and postpone the realization of the project's social, economic, or environmental benefits [7,9]. Delays can also create opportunities for opposing political interests to alter or obstruct permitting outcomes [9] and can prevent project developers from making opportune use of construction windows [8].…”

“…Inefficiency entails unnecessary costs incurred because of delay or duplication of effort: extra process costs to achieve the same outcome. Inefficiencies have negative consequences for the permitting agency, the project developer, and the public [7][8][9]. Permitting efficiency is intricately intertwined with effectiveness, i.e., the extent to which issued permits adequately meet agency mandates and protect the resource under its jurisdiction.…”