header-logo header-logo

Environment law update

03 July 2008 / Stephen Hockman
Issue: 7328 / Categories: Features , Environment
printer mail-detail

NEW COMPLIANCE REGIME

SPECIAL HABITATS PROTECTION

DISILLUSIONMENT
In their latest “Environmental Law bulletin” (March 2008), the editors of the Encyclopaedia of Environmental Law reveal a certain sense of disillusionment. Modern environmental politics they say is:

“...characterised by astonishing levels of double-mindedness, whereby so much self-righteous effort can be put into the minutiae, yet the effects of (say) expansion of Heathrow may be swallowed so easily.”

Yet there have been a range of recent developments both in legislation and in case law which are much too significant to be described as minutiae and at the same time are much more beneficial to the environment than airport expansion.

EMISSION REDUCTIONS
At the European level the EU is considering proposed amendments to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Directive (the subject of a new consultation exercise by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), a draft decision allocating among member states the responsibility for achieving emissions reductions outside the EU ETS sectors and a new Directive and communication relating to carbon capture and storage.

At a national level,

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
back-to-top-scroll