Bergrecht und Ressourcenethik

Like no other discipline, environmental ethics can be a guiding star for environmental law and a discussion partner for the best possible environmental law. For the first time, the present study makes use of this critical potential of environmental ethics and takes a look at the Federal Mining Act (BBergG), the legal subject of raw material extraction.

The main question is whether the individual regulations of mining law meet the requirements of resource ethics (as a relevant branch of environmental ethics). Specifically, resource ethics demands that the BBergG should be distributive and procedurally just and sustainable. The paper analyzes the extent to which the Mining Act meets these requirements and, based on this, formulates its own proposals for interpretation and reform.