Westlaw Next. Our premiere legal database. Provides access to a variety of legal information, including federal and state case law, the United States Code Annotated, the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Register, state statutes and administrative codes, and more. Also included are 900 law journals and reviews.
Popular Names of Acts in the U.S. Code. From Cornell's Legal Information Institute.
The US Environmental Protection Agency, Laws & Regulations. And their National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP).
The Federal Register. Published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. Environment has its own section. For Michigan laws and regulations, it's called the Michigan Register.
Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports on the environment. These reports, created by the investigative arm of Congress (usually for pending or proposed legislation--on any topic), provide an excellent background for a topic. They are not all available from one source, they cover any topic you could think of, and they contain citations and references to follow. From the Federation of American Scientists (Miscellaneous Topics might be the best place to look there), University of North Texas, Every CRS Report, Congress.gov, and now in the Catalog of Government Publications.
Congress.gov from the Library of Congress. The official source for federal legislative information. Track what's happening in Congress now and see what has happened in the past (back to 1995).
At our state level is the Michigan Legislature Website.
Two Congressional Committees you might want to follow: The House Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works. At the state level, the House Committee on Natural Resources, Environment, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation and in the Senate, the Natural Resources and Agriculture.
USA.gov is the official government search portal. A search here is only going to return government resources (at all levels).
Congressional Digest (Pro & Con Online). Offering an "impartial view of controversial issues" since 1921. Requires your NMU username and password. This also delves into the background of an issue. Once inside this resource, I recommend using the Index (chronological or by topic) to obtain your topic.
HeinOnline. Another resource for government information. While not as robust or current as WestlawNext, some students have found this to be easier to navigate for older topics.
Free resources concerning politics: RollCall, Politico, The Hill. Covers politics in Washington, D.C. Follow bills, people, actions, etc. A companion to these freely available sources (which is a subscription database) is CQ Researcher (which delves into the background of an issue).
The Environmental Law Reporter. NMU does not subscribe to this journal, but you can get a peek at it through the publisher's website. Articles can be requested via interlibrary loan.
You will no doubt use your favorite search engine to locate resources. What have you really found? Is it worthwhile for your research? Give the resource a closer look at using these internet evaluation questions. Use every trick you know to determine the validity of a website you find. There are going to be some very strong opinions (as opposed to fact) and deep pockets behind these websites.
From Harvard is a Think Tank search engine. They have selected over 1200 of them for inclusion.
News sources: Environment News Service, Society of Environmental Journalists,
Environmental Law resources from Justia's Virtual Chase.
