Pieces Of Environmental Legislation Research Articles

Habitat Protection, Ideology and the British Nature State: The Politics of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

Abstract The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 was the most important piece of environmental legislation passed by a British government since the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. It sought to enhance the protection of listed flora and fauna, prevent further damage to existing habitat and resolve issues that had arisen with respect to rights of public access to the countryside. Although the bill was long and complex, many of its provisions sought to rationalise existing statutes or extend existing provision rather than create new powers. Provisions seeking to protect habitat proved highly contentious. The proprietary interest resented what it saw as an unjustified interference in private property rights; statutory bodies were alarmed that the centralising aspects of the Act would empower ministers at the expense of their ‘scientific’ independence; and the emergent environmental lobby, increasingly frustrated by the cautious approach of the statutory bodies, was determined that the bill’s habitat protection provisions be strengthened. This article examines the lengthy and disputatious consultation and parliamentary process in terms of longer-term frustration with the apparent weakness of statutory protections and how it brought the environmental effect of agricultural intensification into mainstream political debate. This article contextualises the growing insistence that there was a public interest in the health of the natural environment and situates the argument with respect to what environmental historians have started to analyse as the history of the ‘nature state’, a distinct realm of state activity comparable to the welfare state, warfare state or security state.

Economic challenges for the EU Water Framework Directive reform and implementation

ABSTRACTThe European Water Framework Directive (WFD) is a unique and historic piece of environmental legislation, combining ecological and economic dimensions. The aim of the WFD is to ensure sustainable socio-economic management of the resource, protecting the quantity and quality of water. The complexity of this political, ecological and economic framework has led to misinterpretation and implementation problems among Member States, and thus to unsatisfactory outcomes. This paper analyses the economic science challenges for the upcoming WFD reform and its subsequent implementation, and gives some recommendations about how to handle these challenges. Consensus is required on the definitions of the existing economic concepts and tools currently included in European Union (EU) water policy (through the original WFD) and the methods for operationalizing them. Additionally, this will help fill key gaps, such as the lack of suitably skilled practitioners and the need for homogeneous economic knowledge among Member States. Furthermore, it seems necessary to integrate additional emerging concepts into the water policy debate and its praxis in the EU context.

Can Environmental Laws Fulfill Their Promise? Stories from Canada

Canadian environmental law has changed dramatically over the last 50 years, responding to some of the flaws and weaknesses identified by commentators seeking to explain the continuing trend in environmental degradation. The aim of this article is to tell the story of three pieces of Canadian environmental legislation, the Alberta Land Stewardship Act, the federal Species at Risk Act, and Alberta’s Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, with a view to exploring whether the environmental ambition underlying these pieces of legislation is being realized. Our overall conclusion is that there is a significant gap between the ambition of these three pieces of environmental legislation and their actual implementation but this gap arises from design choices made by the legislature and the executive, rather than something inherent in the law itself.

Quiet as an Environmental Value: A Contrast between Two Legislative Approaches

This paper examines the concept of “quiet” as an “environmental value” in terms of amenity and wellbeing from a legislative context. Critical review of two pieces of environmental legislation from Australia and New Zealand forms the basis of the paper. The Australian legislation is Queensland’s Environmental Protection Act, and the New Zealand legislation is that nation’s Resource Management Act. Quiet is part of the psychoacoustic continuum between a tranquil and an intrusively noisy sound environment. As such, quiet possesses intrinsic value in terms of overall sound within the environment (soundscape) and to individuals and communities. In both pieces of legislation, guidance, either directly or indirectly, is given to “maximum” sound levels to describe the acoustic environment. Only in Queensland is wellbeing and amenity described as environmental values, while in the New Zealand approach, amenity is identified as the core value to defend, but guidance is not well established. Wellbeing can be related to degrees of quietness and the absence of intrusive noise, the character of sound within an environment (“soundscape”), as well as the overall level of sound. The quality of life experienced by individuals is related to that person’s physical and mental health, sense of amenity and wellbeing. These characteristics can be described in terms of subjective and objective measures, though legislation does not always acknowledge the subjective.

Review: In the Thick of It: My Life in the Sierra Club by Michael McCloskey

Review: In the Thick of It: My Life in the Sierra Club By Michael McCloskey Reviewed by Adam M. Sowards University of Idaho, USA Michael McCloskey. In the Thick of It: My Life in the Sierra Club. Washington: Island Press, 2005. 399 pp. ISBN: 1-55963-979-2 (Cloth). US$29.95. Any Who's Who list for the modern environmental movement would include near the top Michael McCloskey, the longtime executive director of the Sierra Club. With In the Thick of It, McCloskey provides an unprecedented inside look at the workings of the Sierra Club and the maturation of environmentalism since 1960. Few authors could give us more insight, and readers of In the Thick of It will be amply rewarded. In this book, McCloskey traces his professional life. A University of Oregon Law School graduate, McCloskey long enjoyed the outdoors and began working on conservation causes while still a student. Although he once aspired to be a politician, he began his environmental career in 1961 as a field organizer for the Sierra Club and the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs. McCloskey stayed at this position for almost four years, traveling the Northwest, networking among conservationists, and promoting nature protection for places like the North Cascades National Park. By 1965, he moved to San Francisco and soon became the Sierra Club's conservation director, a position from which he directed important club campaigns to establish Redwood National Park and to prevent dams from encroaching Grand Canyon National Park, among other issues. McCloskey also was instrumental in developing litigation as an increasingly important tool in the Sierra Club's strategizing. The book describes these efforts throughout the 1960s well, which is an important achievement since McCloskey was truly in the thick of it during this formative period of activism. As Congress passed a number of sweeping pieces of environmental legislation during the two decades after 1964, McCloskey rose steadily through the Sierra Club ranks and became one of the most powerful

Europe: a challenging new framework for water quality

By 2015 all EU member states will need to have achieved the unprecedented condition of ‘good ecological status’ throughout their national watercourses. This means managing not only point sources of pollution, like sewage outfalls, but also diffuse sources such as runoff from farmland. The new quality requirements are set out in the 2000 European Water Framework Directive, the most significant piece of environmental legislation so far produced by the EU. This paper describes the new legislation, its timeline for implementation and the many technical challenges now facing regulators, engineers, social scientists and environmental professionals throughout Europe as a result.

The application of subsidiarity in the making of European environmental law

As the process of European integration gathered pace, subsidiarity was introduced as a concept that could curb the centralist tendencies of the European Union. For new legislation the EU needed to satisfy two criteria. What justification was there for European action in the first place (subsidiarity) and was the intensity of the action appropriate (proportionality)? Many references were thus made to the fact that new European legislation complied with these two principles albeit in a general and imprecise manner. This paper attempts to understand what the two concepts mean in relation to two pieces of environmental legislation. The paper begins by discussing, in general terms, the origins of the principles and their meaning in European Community law. It then examines the actual arguments made in support of or to counteract Commission proposals in the field of environmental policy. Three considerations must be satisfied. What legal competence does the Commission have to propose legislation, and does it comply with the subsidiarity and proportionality principles? We conclude by suggesting that a series of decision rules can be developed to evaluate the legitimacy of Community action. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment

Exterior wood stains and lasures for the future

In recent years numerous pieces of environmental legislation have been introduced or will be introduced both in the UK and throughout Europe. The greatest environmental issue at the moment is the limitation of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. Water‐based coatings have been available for many years; their main application initially was for broad wall paints. More recently, water‐based coatings have come on the market for trim coatings. Although their performance for interior use is sufficient, but inferior to their solvent‐based alternatives, how do water‐based coatings for exterior wood perform? An alternative to water‐based technology is high solids. In a recent life cycle analysis (Ministry of the Environment in France) high solids alkyds have been shown to have low environmental impacts. In the study used for setting the criteria and thresholds for the European eco‐label for decorative paints and varnishes, a high solids alkyd developed by Cray Valley Ltd was put into the category having the lowest environmental impact together with water‐based paints. For the future of exterior coatings for wood, is the route to environmentally friendly coatings water‐based or solvent‐based technology?

Legal Aspects of Thermal Discharges

For the first time a major piece of environmental legislation, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, specifically addresses thermal discharges. This law imposes constraints on existing discharge sources by utilizing effluent limitations and water quality standards while proposed or new sources are governed by federal performance standards. The Amendments envision a joint federal-state effort, in which the states are given primary responsibility for the abatement of pollution in their respective waters, while the federal government lends direction and assistance, and oversees the state effort. However, a difference of opinion exists concerning the proper statutory approach to be followed in the regulation of thermal discharges, with the EPA supporting strict numerical criteria and states such as New York favoring flexible criteria modifiable to fit particular conditions on a case-by-case basis.