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California, which often serves as a regulatory and legislative bellwether for the rest of the country, is seeking to blaze a new trail in environmental enforcement. “Ground truthing,” as it has come to be known, consists of recruiting community volunteers to recognize and report potential environmental hazards.

State regulators have scheduled a discussion next month about formally enacting the idea as a way to create more green jobs and to inexpensively enforce the state’s environmental laws.

Environmental activism has a storied history and citizen action has an important role to play in the regulatory process. But the implications of this approach could be disastrous for businesses in the state – and potentially across the country. Should the plan come to fruition, not just thoughtful citizens, but anyone with an axe to grind could open a company to expensive investigations and costly reputational damage.

Simply put, by shirking a major enforcement responsibility and empowering a posse of novice and potentially vengeful townsfolk to do its work, the state would invite a host of accusations and false leads, wasting the very tax dollars the state is looking to save.

Business leaders and lawmakers would be wise to begin articulating their arguments against the plan now if they want to see it stopped before it gains momentum. But whether or not ground truthing takes hold, companies must also focus on the larger issue at play.

The fact that such a questionable plan is even up for consideration points to ever-intensifying environmental scrutiny in our Age of Transparency. Refusing to go green is no longer an option. The companies that best position themselves as leaders in the green movement won’t only earn a strategic branding advantage; they’ll also remove a bull’s-eye from their backs in an atmosphere where anyone who is unprepared could be the next target.

Gene Grabowski is Senior Vice President of Crisis and Litigation at Levick Strategic Communications, the nation’s top crisis communications firm, and a contributing author to Bulletproof Blog. Connect with him @crisisguru.