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Environmental Law and Sustainability

Federal Statutes

EPA.gov
Government websites are a great place to search for statutes. The Environmental Protection Agency provides summaries of federal environmental statutes and executive orders, with links to full text.

Legislative Insight (available on campus or remotely with ASURITE)
Examining the original legislative purpose of a law is often a critically important way to analyze the effects of the decades-old federal environmental statutes. ProQuest has compiled resources tracking events leading to the passage of U.S. public laws to help determine legislative intent.

Cases

Bloomberg Law (Bloomberg Law password required)

  • Environmental Law Court Opinions
    This is a searchable database of environmental law cases. Use the filters on the left side of the screen to narrow your results by date, jurisdiction, topic, etc.

Lexis+ (Lexis+ password required)

Westlaw (Westlaw password required)

  • Energy & Environment Cases
    This is a searchable database of environmental law cases. Click on the "Advanced" link at the top right of the screen for filtering options. You might also want to search the Environmental Law Dockets database for cases filed in United States District Courts, United States Courts of Appeal, and United States Bankruptcy Courts.

Federal Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations
The CFR codifies agency rules and regulations published in the Federal Register. Regulations governing protection of the environment are primarily located in Title 40, with provisions governing water resources (including pollution control) in Title 33.The official version of the CFR is updated annually and can therefore quickly become outdated as new rules are promulgated. The e-CFR is the regularly updated, but unofficial version.

Federal Register
The EPA agency page of the Federal Register includes notices of proposed rulemaking as well as final rules. You can choose to receive notifications by clicking on the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page to be alerted when new rules are published or when notices or proposed rules are filed for public inspection.

Regulations.gov
This website provides access to publicly available regulatory materials. The website allows the public to submit and review comments on proposed rules in advance of publication. Use this site to review dockets, documents, and comments related to the EPA.