Environmental Liability - Law, Policy and Practice - Volume 24 - Issue 6

Articles
Managing Waste: the gap between the EU Directives and corporate law in Member States – a mess of case law needing 
a clean-up
IRENE LYNCH FANNON
Professor, School of Law, University College, Cork

In modern legal practice, it is increasingly the case that specialists practise their disciplines within false boundaries, limiting the focus of their inquiry without due regard to significant developments in neighbouring areas of law. In some cases, this means that principles which seem fundamental and almost immovable in one area are glibly set aside in others until some day one set of principles dramatically collides with the other and it becomes clear that if these two areas of law are to continue to develop within a framework that is coherent from both perspectives, some specific changes must be made. This article examines this phenomenon with reference to the interaction between EU Directives on waste management, the implementation of these Directives at national level and corporate law in England and Ireland

Natura 2000 and protective measures in environmental assessments: further headaches for the Member States and good news for habitats and species
AGUSTÍN GARCÍA-URETA
Professor of Law, University of the Basque 
Country, Bilbao

Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (Habitats Directive) is one of the cornerstones of EU wildlife law. Even though it does not protect biodiversity as a whole, it does set out robust tools for the protection of habitats and species of European importance. Among those instruments, Article 6(3) requires the carrying out of environmental assessments in the case of plans and projects significantly affecting Natura 200 sites. This article recognises the role of Natura 2000 in the CJEU ruling of Commission v Germany (Case C–142/16) and examines how the ruling has reinforced previous case law as well as considering its potential impact on future cases involving different environments and not only those integrating linear structures.

Go your own way: how states regulate hydraulic fracturing
JIM WEDEKING Counsel, Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC
Time is showing that hydraulic fracturing has been well regulated by states, allowing them to build on existing oil and gas regulations while addressing novel challenges with greater innovation, and at a faster pace, than federal regulators. As states accrue experience with hydraulic fracturing and learn from each other, their regulations have condensed around certain core requirements, while still providing the flexibility to accommodate differing geologies, needs and values


Case Commentary

Barlow: A reversal of roles?
Paul Barlow and Others v Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, The Registrar General of Fishing Boats, Ireland, and the Attorney General 2016
DERMOT CONWAY, Conway Solicitors, Ireland.

Book Review
Property and Environmental Protection in Europe
BONNIE HOLLIGAN Lecturer in Property Law, University of Sussex.

Current Survey
European Union
MARTIN HEDEMANN-ROBINSON University of Kent, Canterbury

Key Policy Developments March–April 2017

Nature Protection.
Access to Environmental Justice.
Law Enforcement Issues March–April 2017.
Air Quality.
Waste.
Renewable Energy.
Environmental Liability.
Nature Protection.
EU Environmental Legislation Update.