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25 Eur. Energy & Envtl. L. Rev. 130 (2016)
Shale Gas and the Future of Energy: Law and Policy for Sustainability - Edited by John C. Dernbach and James R. May

handle is hein.kluwer/eelr0025 and id is 132 raw text is: 130 European Energy and Environmental Law Review August 2016 Book Review Shale Gas and the Future of Energy: Law and Policy for Sustainability Edited by John C. Dernbach and James R. May Reviewed by Miriam Aczel* Shale Gas and the Future of Energy.- Law and Policy for Sustainability, Edited by John C. Dernbach and James R. May. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Chelten- ham, UK, 2016. 308pp. £90.00 ISBN: 9781783476145. Sustainable development provides a way for humans to live in harmony with nature, rather than at nature's expense, as we have been doing for centuries (p. 26)- John C. Dernbach Shale Gas and the Future of Energy. Law and Policy for Sustainability edited by John C. Dernbach and James R. May is a comprehensive discussion of policy and law currently governing shale gas development. The 14 essays that make up the book address multiple aspects of the question: Can shale gas reserves be developed in a sustainable manner that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs?' While much of the analysis centers on the U.S (particularly Pennsyl- vania), due to its extensive experience with the extraction of shale gas, other regions discussed include the UK (Chapter 7), South Africa (Chapter 10) and New Zealand (Chapter 11). A chart in the book's introduction lists ten countries with technically reco- verable shale gas resources, so the inclusion of examples from other locales, with different approaches is helpful as governments consider how to devise their own regulatory responses. This collection of essays, written by a diverse array of experts including not only lawyers and policy makers, but also specialists in public health, social sciences, economics, and other disciplines, makes a significant contribution to the literature as it looks at shale gas development from multiple perspectives ranging from effects on public health to impacts on community housing - all within the overarching context of sustainability. Each author asks hard questions and then proposes recommendations. The text is clear and well organized, and because it is comprised of articles organized by topic (with a comprehensive index), it is a convenient reference work. A key strength of the book is its unbiased approach that highlights mutually beneficial solutions to problems affecting multiple stakeholders. This approach is useful for lawyers and policy makers, researchers, educators and students, as well as the general public. However, as each topic is restricted to one chapter, the scope is necessarily limited and certain topics assume either prior knowledge or further research. Following an introduction that defines the plan and scope of the work, the first chapter, Framing the sustainability questions, by co-editor Dernbach, pro- vides an overview of sustainable development and the role that shale gas can play in moving toward a sustainable future. He defines sustainability as growth that fosters the social well-being of members of a community by improving housing, education, health, and other aspects of inhabitants' lives -not just economic development. He concludes that shale gas development needs to be evaluated within a sustain- ability framework comprised of three components: 1. protection of environmental and public health through a strong regulatory system; 2. development within the context of national and international energy and climate change law; 3. a political and legal system committed to transitioning to sustainability. Authors of subsequent essays examine the sustainability of shale gas development within this framework pro- posed by Dernbach. The chapters are collated into five sections: 1. Public Health and the Environment; 2. Community; 3. Public Participation, Public Information, and Access to Justice; 4. Governance; 5. Energy and Climate Change. A sixth section, Looking Forward, provides the editors' sum- mary and conclusions. In the first essay (Chapter 2), entitled Sustainable drilling through health impact assessment. understand- ing and planning for public health impacts, Pamela Ko and Patricia Salkin discuss the potential role of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) as a tool to evaluate the effects of shale gas on populations. They argue that an HIA can be important in working toward sustainable shale gas development as it can raise health impact questions not included in a standard Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The chapter provides insights into HIAs including one specifically used in shale gas evaluation (Battlement Mesa), suggestions for how to incorporate HIAs into existing legislation and challenges with using HIAs (such as multiple causes and effects). Despite the challenges, the authors recommend using HIAs to evaluate shale gas devel- opment but caution that training and funding requirements must be addressed before widespread adoption of this evaluation system. The authors conclude that while there are many examples of HIAs used in energy development, work is needed to get HIA accepted as a methodology in an area tradi- tionally dominated by EIAs (p. 51). Further on this note, an evaluation of the use of the interdisciplinary * Post Graduate Researcher at Imperial College London - email miriam.aczel 14@imperial.ac.uk 1 Sustainability as defined by the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development, quoted in the introduc- tion, (p. 1).

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