Publication Date:
2015-11-04
Description:
This article discusses how local governments, in three different countries, challenge higher levels of government’s decision making that enables hydraulic fracturing, and it explores how these higher levels of government should respond. The article finds that in those countries where at the local level, authorities have regulatory powers in the field of planning and the environment, such as the USA, the UK and the Netherlands, these powers indeed can and are used to limit or completely ban high-volume hydraulic fracturing. In these countries, however, higher levels of government are or have been putting legislation in place taking away or overruling local regulatory powers for reasons of national energy security. The article concludes that (1) setting and applying effective environmental protection standards, (2) involvement of local government and (3) meaningful participation of local communities are keys to responsible decision-making on hydraulic fracturing.
Print ISSN:
0952-8873
Electronic ISSN:
1464-374X
Topics:
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
,
Law
