ENVIRONMENTAL LAW -U.S.:

       RESEARCH GUIDE

INTRODUCTION:

 Environmental law research has become increasingly more complex and diverse since the Environmental Decade of the 1970's. The interaction between statutes and regulations at the federal and state levels require many research skills.  The area is constantly changing as new programs evolve to deal with the growing problems of air and water pollution, managing hazardous wastes, conservation of wetlands, wildlife etc. Case law has increased as well as disputes over administrative and regulatory matters surface. Enforcement of environmental crimes as a result of these programs has also become an important factor for research.
 The global community is becoming much more concerned with environmental issues, bringing the study of international aspects to the forefront of this area of law. The treaties, international agreements and the processes of dispute resolution are becoming very important in adding to one’s knowledge and skill in this area of law.
 The purpose of this guide is to provide an overview of the various areas of both print and online resources that can be used as starting points for research. The interdisciplinary nature of Environmental Law research will become apparent as well as the complexity of accessing the most applicable sources. Therefore, it is important to gain background information on the area of Environmental Law itself, and all of its diverse aspects, to understand the subject area.
 Skills in the areas of federal and state legislative research, as well as access to regulatory materials and case law must be used. The wide variety of materials must be looked at in order to become familiar with them and achieve a satisfactory level in this area of research.

RESEARCH GUIDES:  Detailed research guides in the areas of legislative and administrative law may be accessed at my web page: www.loyno.edu/~beisen/

 FEDERAL LAW: LEGISLATIVE/ADMINISTRATIVE SOURCES

 STATE LAW: LEGISLATIVE/ADMINISTRATIVE SOURCES

A.  FEDERAL STATUTES:
 CLEAN AIR ACT, 69 Stat. 322 (1955); 42 USC 7401 et seq.
 CLEAN WATER ACT (Federal Water Pollution Control Act), 70 Stat. 498 (1957)
  33 USC 1151 et seq. and 1251 et seq.
 COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE, COMPENSATION, AND
  LIABILITY ACT (CERCLA; Superfund Act),  94 Stat. 2767 (1980), 42 USC 9601 et seq.
  NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT, 83 Stat. 852 (1970), 42 USC 4321 et seq.
  RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT (RCRA) 90 Stat. 2795 (1976), 42 USC 6901 et seq.
  TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT, 90 Stat. 2003 (1976), 15 USC 2601 et seq.

B. FEDERAL AGENCIES:
     1. Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) -issues regulations on all agencies binding them to implementing NEPA.

          A. NEPA- created the Council; environmental impact statement imposed on all federal agency actions.
          B. CEQ Regulations at 40 C.F.R. pt. 1500; each agency responsible for developing own set of regs. Implementing NEPA.
          C. CEQ provides annual report on environmental quality.

    2. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) www.epa.gov
          A. Coordinates and implements major federal environmental programs.
          B.  Administers: Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act,
                   Hazardous Waste disposal, chemical regulation-pesticides, radioactive waste, noise regulation.
         C.  Regulations implementing programs, in compliance with federal Administrative Procedure Act, at 40 C.F.R.
         D.  Federal Register: notices of proposed rulemaking, public hearings, interpretive rulings and rule revisions. Texts of
                    rules, regulations, guidelines and policy statements.

C. FEDERAL CASE LAW:
    Government Information Resources-UVa Library: Administrative Decisions and Other Actions-By Agency

         1. Annotated Codes
         2.  West reporter series-Supreme Court, Federal Reporters- in print and online
         3.  Lexis -ENVIRN library
         4.  Westlaw-FENV
         5.  Lexis and Westlaw include:  EPA Administrative Law Judge decisions; EPA Appeals Board decisions.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW - LOUISIANA  (Loyola Online Catalog)

RESEARCH GUIDES:  Detailed research guides in the areas of legislative and administrative law may be accessed at my web page: www.loyno.edu/~beisen/

LOUISIANA LAW: LEGISLATIVE/ADMINISTRATIVE SOURCES

A. STATE STATUTES:

                  Lexis and Westlaw

B. STATE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW:

 Louisiana Register
  KFL 34 .A2 L68
  http://doa.louisiana.gov/osr/  1998-

 Louisiana Administrative Code-codified La. Regulations
  Environmental Regulatory Code-KFL 354 .A39 L68; Title 33
  http://doa.louisiana.gov/osr/lac/lac.htm

C. STATE CASE LAW:

         1.  West reporter system-Southern Reporter
         2.  Lexis
         3.  Westlaw

  A. REFERENCE SOURCES:

Gilpin, Alan.  Dictionary of environmental law / Alan Gilpin.
 REF K 3584.6 .G55 2000

King, James J.  The environmental dictionary : and regulatory cross reference / compiled by James J. King.
 REF KF 3775 .A68 K57 1995

 Environmental law careers directory.
 REF KF 299 .E6 E58 2002-2003

Porteous, Andrew. Title Dictionary of environmental science and technology / Andrew Porteous
REF GE 10 .P67 1996

Environmental acronyms / Julie Hong, editor.
REF KF 3775 .Z9 E45 1995

B. TEXTS AND TREATISES:

 Findley, Roger W.  Environmental law in a nutshell / by Roger W. Findley, Daniel A. Farber.
Reserve KF 3775 .Z9 F56 2004

 Weinberg, Philip.  Understanding environmental law / Philip Weinberg, Kevin Reilly.
Reserve KF 3775 .W45 1998

Grad, Frank P.   Treatise on environmental law.
 KF 3775 .G7   8 vols., updated by loose leafs-2007

Strand, Margaret N.  Wetlands deskbook / Margaret N. Strand
 KF 5624 .W48 1997

Environmental law handbook. (19th ed.)  KF 3775 .E473

C. LOOSELEAF SERVICES:

Environment Reporter (BNA) KF 3775 .A6 E49

Material from no. [6] "Current developments" is periodically transferred to transfer binders. [1] Federal laws.--[2] State air laws. 2 v.--[3] State water laws. 2 v.--[4] State solid waste, land use.--[5] Decisions.--[6] Current developments v.--[7] Monographs.--[8] Federal regulations.
 Decisions volume contains cases from federal and state courts, published weekly; full text of decision. Cases cover full spectrum of environmental issues-air, water pollution, hazardous waste, pesticides, land use, etc. Has a table of cases, and a table by jurisdiction; also has an index-digest.

Environmental Law Reporter (Washington, Environmental Law Institute)
     KF 3775 .A6 E 5 - up to 1994; Lexis-ENVIRN

Cases published are selected cases from federal and state courts; has a table of cases, pending litigation volume that summarizes the pleadings in pending environmental cases.

D. PERIODICALS

Legal Periodicals:
 Law reviews or journals dealing exclusively with environmental, land use, natural resources, or energy law topics. Written by practitioners, law professors and law students. Issues are covered in great detail with extensive footnotes for references. Include book reviews and comments or notes on particular cases.

Electronic format:
 HeinOnline:  http://heinonline.org/HOL/Welcome
 Full text of all academic journals can be found in pdf format.

Lexis and Westlaw coverage only goes back to the early 1990's

Environmental periodicals: Loyola Online Catalog:

 Environmental Law-Periodicals
 Environmental Law-United States-Periodicals
 Environmental Law-International-Periodicals
 Environmental Policy-Periodicals
 Environmental Policy-United States-Periodicals

Government Periodicals, Newsletters, Bulletins and Monitoring Reports:
      Links to Other Library Catalogs: http://law.loyno.edu/library/catalogs.html
           Monroe Library, Tulane Law Library
            Check other libraries or interlibrary loan

RESEARCH GUIDES:
 Murphy, Toni.  Environmental guide to the Internet / Toni Murphy, Carol Briggs-Erickson.
    REF HC79 .E5 B75 1998

 Vermont Law School Environmental Law Research Guide
http://www.vermontlaw.edu/library/resource-directory/index.cfm

Jurist - Environmental Law Guide
http://www.jurist.law.pitt.edu/sg_env.htm

Findlaw - Environmental Law
http://www.findlaw.com/01topics/13environmental/index.html

Hieros Gamos - United State Environmental Law
http://www.hg.org/envirus.html

Zimmerman's Research Guide
http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman/disp.aspx?z=1430
http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman/disp.aspx?z=2073

Environmental Library on LexisNexis:

 News and Developments make it useful for updating information.
 Research can be done by topic, as well as statutory developments on specific environmental Acts. The Federal Register, federal case law, federal public laws and the CFR are available. Select legislative histories are available.

Environmental Library on Westlaw:

 Separate databases are available for federal cases, EPA decisions, Law Review, Texts, and Bar Journals; Federal Register, CFR, Administrative materials, U.S. Code Annotated and legislative materials.
 Extensive state coverage including administrative cases and materials, administrative decisions, and statutes from most states.
 Several databases available for international materials: BNA International Environmental Daily, International Environmental Law Documents, etc.

Science. gov - Environment & Environmental Quality

     Locate government websites and other information.

BNA Environment & Safety Library - www.bna.com/

Comprehensive , fee-based, online research collection of federal and state law, regulations, documents and compliance tools. Includes Environment Reporter, daily environmental reports, etc.

Environment, Health & Safety Professional Information Center: http//ehscenter.bna.com/
         A free site, it features news, selected cases and regulations; analysis from various reporters.

Environmental Protection Agency - www.epa.gov/

 Wide range of information on all aspects of environmental topics. Provides many links to actual documents, other websites and publications. It is an excellent place to start for research on any environmental topic. It is much more of a network than other websites because it is so large. If you click on a topic, it will lead to many other links. Specialized databases include:
 EnviroMapper (part of the Superfund website)
 www.epa.gov/superfund/
 Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO)
www.epa.gov/echo/
 EPA Online Library System
 www.epa.gov/natlibra/ols.htm

Other Government Databases:

USA.gov is the U.S. government portal. It provides a central source for access for finding federal deparments and agencies.
The Index page - http://www.usa.gov/index.shtml
Select By Topic on the left hand side -  “Environment, Energy and Agriculture” as the topic to get links to federal departments.

Other Specialized Databases:

 Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America
 www.cec.org

 Cornell’s Legal Information Institute
 www.law.cornell.edu/topics/environmental.html

Energy and Environmental Law
 www.arentfox.com/practices/energy

Environmental Law Information Resources
 http://envinfo.com

Environmental Law Net
 http://lawvianet.com/index.html

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
 http://unfccc.int/2860.php

Washlaw Web
 www.washlaw.edu/subject/environmental.html