Making Environmental Laws Work: Law and Policy in the UK and USA

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This text explores ways in which ideas from America could be used to improve the effectiveness of environmental laws in Britain and throughout Europe. Making environmental laws effective demands more than passage through the legislature and executive approval. Successful implementation of these laws requires wide public support and consistent enforcement. Environmental policies must adapt to the ways that technologies and industries are continually progressing. Britain has traditionally used criminal law sanctions to enforce its environmental laws. America uses the criminal process more selectively but makes much more effective use of civil and administrative enforcement. America is developing highly operative approaches to pollution prevention. The book also considers the political context in which environmental laws emerge and the implications for long-term public support of them. It examines ways in which the law-making processes in Britain and Europe effectively exclude public participation and offers suggestions for ways to change these processes. Furthermore, it considers the tension between science - the foundation for environmental policy - and public opinion.

Reviews

...a timely and ideal opportunity for observers and pragmatists to discover what laws help shape a more cost-effective yet cleaner regime of environmental protection. Making Environmental Laws Work is a compact, engaging, and candid introduction to the global laboratory that houses a myriad of legislative experiments. -- Robert L. Elam * Stanford Journal of International Law *
an enthusiastic, spirited and highly individualistic trek through public environmental law institutions in the United Kingdom, United States and (of all places!) RussiaIt breathes life into environmental law without losing sight of the importance of legal frameworks and institutions. For both novices and experts alike it provides a fresh and highly relevant point of view. -- Malvina Snape * European Environmental Law Review *

Author Bio

William Wilson is an expert environmental and energy lawyer, with 25 years experience, in government, consultancy and private practice, of preparing, negotiating and drafting primary, secondary, regional and international legislation, working across government with multiple stakeholders.