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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.

ProQuest 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 federal environmental statutes. ProQuest has compiled resources tracking events leading to the passage of U.S. public laws to help determine legislative intent. Researchers can browse through a variety of topics related to the environment, including Clean Air: Transportation and Oil Spills.

Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official website of the federal legislature. It contains bills and resolutions, committee reports, the Congressional Record, Presidential nominations, treaties, and other related information including summaries and status of legislative acts. You can browse the website by subject. Subjects include Environmental regulatory procedures, Energy efficiency and conservation, and much more.

Cases

Environmental Appeals Board
The Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) is an impartial appellate tribunal established to hear administrative appeals under the major environmental statutes that the Environment Protection Agency administers. The Board’s caseload consists primarily of appeals from federal permitting decisions and administrative civil penalty decisions as well as petitions for reimbursement of costs incurred in complying with cleanup orders issued under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. Find Board decisions and orders, an EAB Guide, and more on this website.

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 Practice Area: This is a searchable database of environmental law cases, statutes and regulations with many filtering options. Researchers 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 Federal Register is the official journal of the federal government. It is published every weekday, except for federal holidays, and contains notices, proposed agency rules, final agency rules, and executive orders. Use it to find documents issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Federal Register also has a page dedicated to the Environment. 

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.

State Laws

Many states have statutes and regulations governing environmental and sustainability issues. To learn about Arizona's environmental laws and agencies, review the Arizona Environmental Law tab on this research guide. To learn more about other states' laws, use this EPA list of Health and Environmental Agencies of the U.S. and Territories to find the relevant environmental agencies in each state. Many of those agencies' websites will direct the researcher to the relevant environmental laws of the state. Researchers can also review the commercially produced 50-state surveys listed below.  

LexisNexis 50-State Surveys, Statutes & Regulations (Lexis+ password required)
This Lexis+ database provides instant comparison of states’ treatment of topical issues, linked to governing provisions on Lexis+ and prefaced by an examination of federal context and state themes. Use this database to find state laws on a variety of topics related to Energy & Utilities Law and Environmental Law.

Westlaw 50-State Statutory Surveys (Westlaw password required)
Westlaw's 50-State Statutory Surveys provides access to state and federal statutes on a wide range of topics.

  • Environmental Laws: This collection identifies state statutes about environmental topics such as Pollution, Mine Operation and Safety, and Biotechnology.    
  • Utilities/Telecommunications: This collection identifies state statutes related to Utility management, including ones regulating easements, clearing vegetation for services, and more.

Westlaw 50-State Regulatory Surveys (Westlaw password required)
Westlaw's 50-State Regulatory Surveys provide access to state and federal regulations on a wide range of topics.

  • Environmental Laws: This collection identifies state regulations on environment topics such as Pollution, Mine Operation and Safety, Heath and Safety, Refuse and Recycling, and Preservation.
  • Utilities/Telecommunications: This collection identifies state regulations related to Utility management, including ones regulating administrative hearings, ratemaking, and revocation of permits or licenses.