B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake and Energy, Mines and Natural Gas Minister Rich Coleman refused to issue an Environmental Assessment Certificate (“EAC”) to Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. for its proposed Morrison Copper/Gold Mine project near Smithers, at the headwaters of the Skeena River ...
BackgroundIndustrial activities are of great importance to Europe’s financial wealth. Industrial emissions, however, cause environmental pollution and industrial emissions constitute a major part of Europe’s total emissions to air, water and soil. Consequently, there is a need for regulation of industrial operations at an EU level.In view hereof the so-called IPPC Directive (Integrated Pollution Prevention Control) was adopted in 1996 ...
Even a cursory review of relevant news stories today reveals that hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is one of the most hotly debated subjects in the energy sector. Both environmentalists and regulators are keeping concerns about fracking at the forefront of their agendas. Since late May of this year, there have been a number of key legal developments related to the issue that merit the attention of the oil and gas industry ...
A Bill to amend the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) (the Act) has been introduced into the Victorian Parliament. When the Bill becomes law, it will remove the requirement to notify the Small Business Commissioner of new leases under section 25 of the Act ...
As of January 1, 2013, Quebec and California will emerge as the first two Western Climate Initiative (WCI) Partners to create a carbon market that imposes binding targets on businesses identified as major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters ...
A Ruling setting forth the Guidelines to Analyze and Verify Consumer Information and Advertising Material was published in the Federal Official Gazette on July 24, 2012 to become effective on August 23, 2012 ...
There have been two important developments in British Columbia’s wind energy sector in June. The first was the release of BC Hydro’s Draft Integrated Resource Plan (Draft IRP) for public consultation. The Draft IRP recommends building new clean generation resources to ensure sufficient future capacity within the system ...
Pursuant to statutory changes enacted in its 2011 Sunset Review, the TCEQ has created a website that allows companies and persons subject to its regulations to review the agency’s proposed compliance history rating, for a 30-day period prior to that rating being made available to the public ...
The usual restrictions on Sunday trading hours have been suspended during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games ...
During the ITMA Asia + CITMA 2012 in Shanghai (12th - 16th June 2012), an exhibition of worldwide fame for textile machinery manufacturers, the Belgian company Picanol NV has at a Shanghai court successfully applied for and enforced interim injunctions to stop design patent infringements against three Chinese manufacturers, Guangdong Fengkai Machinery Co., Ltd., Shandong Liaocheng Youjia Textile Machinery Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Wanli Textile and Machinery Co ...
In what has been described as a “sweeping victory” for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a decision on June 26, 2012 in lawsuits that challenged various aspects of the Agency’s regulatory scheme for greenhouse gases (GHGs). EPA’s challenged actions stem from a decision by the U. S. Supreme Court in 2007 in the case of Massachusetts v ...
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the petitions of numerous states and industry groups that challenged several rules EPA issued to control greenhouse gas emissions from stationary and mobile sources.1 Following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v ...
As a consequence of a number of copyright rulings from the CJEU, the Swedish threshold of originality requirement is being superseded by an EU originality criterion. In this article, Henrik Bengtsson, IP expert at Delphi in Stockholm, reports on the development and the possible impact on the harmonisation of Swedish copyright law ...
The Supreme Court makes clear that a party that has started to clean up contamination caused by another party is also deemed to be a business operator. This gives rise to joint and several liability for the original contamination. The fact that remedial work was intended to reduce the environmental impact is of no importance. Background A company which was later incorporated into JM Värmdöstrand (“JM”) operated a casting works from the 1940s to the 1980s on a site in Oxelösund ...
If you are in the oil and gas industry and you’ve experienced the recent onslaught of enforcement actions, particularly in the Appalachian basin, by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) you may take comfort in the aphorism: “You’re not paranoid if they really are out to get you!” A simple Google search of “EPA III Enforcement” and a click on the “Natural Gas Extraction/Marcellus Shale” link at the EPA Region III website should cause any company concern ...
On 23 February 2012, Government Regulation No. 27 of 2012 on Environmental Licenses (“GR 27/2012”) was issued to regulate AMDAL, UPL & UKL, and the contamination and destruction of the environment. GR 27/2012 is the implementing regulation for Articles 33, 41, and 56 of Law No. 32 of 2009 on Environmental Protection and Management which replaced Government Regulation No. 27 of 1999 on Environmental Impact Analysis ...
For the past two years so-called 'monster rain' has hit Copenhagen in summer. The rain has flooded large areas in Copenhagen and neighbouring towns, and caused substantial damage to properties in the flooded areas, as well as closing major radial routes into Copenhagen. This update examines the ways in which the authorities intend to prevent damage caused by monster rain in future ...
LAVERY follows the evolution of consumer law closely, its specialized expertise in the fields of retailing and class actions has been confirmed many times by stakeholders in the milieu ...
Energy security is ability of the State to choose how and under what conditions local consumers are to be provided with energy and energy resources. This ability is mainly determined by alternatives for usage of local energy sources, diversified imports, integrity of energy systems, and market-based formation of energy prices ...
On April 17, 2012 the federal government announced its Plan For Responsible Resource Development, setting out further details on steps to implement proposals for streamlining the federal environmental assessment (“EA”) process. This Plan follows on the heels of the federal budget and the Statutory Review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act,[1] which both suggested that these streamlining reforms would be forthcoming ...
In order to comply with a court-ordered schedule, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on April 17, signed final rules that subject additional oil and gas operations, including hydraulic fracturing, to air quality regulation under the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) programs, and impose new and amended requirements under both programs ...
Laverly follows the evolution of consumer law closely. Its specialized expertise in the fields of retailing and class actions has been confirmed many times by stakeholders in the milieu. Laverly makes it its duty to keep the business community informed about these matters by regularly publishing bulletins that deal with judicial and legislative developments that are likely to leave their mark and influence or even transform practices in the milieu ...
In response to a court order, EPA has announced proposed rules that would establish new source performance standards (“NSPS”) applicable to greenhouse gas emissions from new, fossil fuel-fired power plants (“power plants”). The proposal is a highly controversial one, which will effectively prohibit the construction of coal-fired power plants that do not capture carbon ...
On March 26, 2012, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (“the Court”) vacated and remanded EPA’s disapproval of Texas’s request for approval of the minor source standard permit for pollution control projects (“PCP”) as part of its air quality state implementation plan (“SIP”). The Court’s reasoning may also affect other pending disputes between EPA and Texas regarding air quality permitting and other issues ...
