Roda Verheyen, Marie Bohlmann

Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 21 (2023), Issue 2, Page 117 - 129

The article deals with the LNG Acceleration Act (LNGG) and its compatibility with Constitutional, European and International Law. Firstly, the authors discuss the LNGG’s legal demand assessment with a special focus on the climate impact of LNG terminals. Secondly, the article deals with the compatibility of the exemption from the obligation to conduct an environmental impact assessment with European Law. Then the article focuses on the international legal boundaries to the shortening of interpretation and objection periods. Lastly, the authors examine the LNGG’s regulations on early commencement, the legal presumption in water law and the question of „h2 readiness“.

Jochen Kerkmann

Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 17 (2019), Issue 2, Page 206 - 220

The Federal Building Code (Baugesetzbuch) allows, under certain conditions, that development plans are adopted by recourse to an accelerated procedure. This procedure involves far reaching advantages, not only in relation to time and cost. It implies that the administration may refrain from early public participation and from conducting an environmental audit. Furthermore, development plans adopted on the basis of the accelerated procedure may deviate from the guidelines included in the preparatory land-use plan. Finally, in the accelerated procedure, interventions in nature and landscape that are to be expected due to the preparation of the development plan are considered to have taken place or to have been permitted prior to the planning decision. However, the choice of the accelerated procedure is subject to strict legal requirements. In particular, § 13a para. 1 sentence 4 of the Baugesetzbuch stipulates for reasons of European and environmental law that a development plan is inadmissible under the accelerated procedure if it establishes the admissibility of a project that is subject to an obligation to carry out an environmental impact assessment. The question therefore arises as to whether there is any room in practice for the application of the accelerated procedure. This article is dedicated to this issue.

Martin Kment

Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 17 (2019), Issue 1, Page 84 - 90

European environmental law strongly influences the domestic legal systems of the 28 member states which constitute the EU at present. Part of this EU law is the IPPC Directive on “Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control” and the EIA Directive on “Environmental Impact Assessment”. Both Directives are applicable to farming and intensive animal husbandry. This article examines how German environmental law has adapted to the requirements established by these Directives, explains its peculiarities, especially concerning farming and intensive animal husbandry, and also takes a closer look at some shortcomings.