Research Guides: ENSP 102: Introduction to Environmental Policy: Government Documents

Finding Government Documents

Starting Points
Library Databases

Search Engines

Many new government documents are published online on agency or branch websites. A search engine search can be an effective way to locate this information. Here are some ways to control your Google Searches:

Operators:

Use quotation marks (" ")
Use the asterisk (*)
Use the Google Advanced Search to use the "or" "and" connectors.

Limit by website type:

site:gov = all levels of government (federal, state, and local)
site:org = organizations, associations, think thanks
site:edu = educational institutions

Examples:

site:gov "due process clause" "climate change" constitution*
site:org "due process clause" "climate change" constitution*

U.S. Government Information: UMD Libraries
Guide from UMD Libraries on the basics of finding government information.
USA.gov
U.S. Government's web portal with links to government agency websites. Find information by subject or by using their search engine.

Congressional Publications
Access to the full text of congressional publications. Includes: hearings, legislative histories, committee prints and reports, House and Senate documents, Congressional Record, Serial Set, CRS Reports, bills, public laws, regulations...
Congressional hearings, public issues, legislation, history, and legal research.

UMD Discover on the Libraries' homepage is our catalog. The University of Maryland Library serves as a regional depository library under the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), and many government documents are cataloged in UMD Discover.

Regulations

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

The CFR is a codification of the rules published in the Federal Register by the Executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government.
The official legal edition of the CFR is available from the Government Printing Office website.
The CFR is divided into 50 titles which represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation, with environmental regulations contained mainly in Title 40 - Protection of Environment.
Each volume of the CFR is revised once each calendar year and updated on a quarterly basis, Title 40 is issued every July 1.
Other titles that are relevant to Environmental Law:
- Title 18 - Conservation of Power & Water Resources
- Title 33 - Navigation & Navigable Waters

The Federal Register

The Federal Register contains proposed regulations and final regulations that have yet to be added to the CFR.
Federal Register citations are found at the end of the CFR section text.
It is available online through GPO GovInfo.

Access the CFR and FR through the databases listed in the tabs above.

Regulations.gov
Online source for U.S. government regulations from nearly 300 federal agencies.

Search Strategies:

Enter your search terms
On the results page, limit by date or agency or document type

Once you are in a specific document, look on the left-side of the screen and under Details, you can see a Federal Register Number and/or a CFR citation.

Copy the CFR citation and run a search to find that regulation.

Example:
Using the topic, "Are EPA’s disparate impact regulations (40 CFR § 7.35(b)), which have been used as a vehicle for achieving environmental justice, unlawful under the Civil Rights Act 40 USC § 2000d?" try entering the following example.

"disparate impact" and hit search
On the left, select Rule under Document Type
Then select Environmental Protection Agency under Agency

The document below is part of the search results. On it's page, you can see a Federal Register Number and a CFR citation (40 CFR Part 141). You can copy the CFR citation and run a search to read that document.

Congressional Publications
Access to the full text of congressional publications. Includes: hearings, legislative histories, committee prints and reports, House and Senate documents, Congressional Record, Serial Set, CRS Reports, bills, public laws, regulations...
Congressional hearings, public issues, legislation, history, and legal research.

Steps for searching for regulations:

Click on "Regulations" at the top of the screen
Toggle between "Federal Register" or "Code of Federal Regulations"
Search by citation or keyword

Example:

Using the topic, "Are EPA’s disparate impact regulations (40 CFR § 7.35(b)), which have been used as a vehicle for achieving environmental justice, unlawful under the Civil Rights Act 40 USC § 2000d?" try entering the following example.

Select Code of Federal Regulations
Enter "disparate impact" AND "Environmental Protection Agency"

Gov Info
provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. including the Code of Federal Regulations.
EPA Laws and Regulations
Information about legal and regulatory activity impacting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) is a currently updated version of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). It is not an official legal edition of the CFR. The e-CFR is an editorial compilation of CFR material and Federal Register amendments produced by the National Archives and Records Administration's Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and the Government Publishing Office. The OFR updates the material in the e-CFR on a daily basis. The current update status appears at the top of all e-CFR web pages.

Federal Register Library
Full-text access to the Federal Register (1936 -), Federal Register Indexes (1939-1995), Compilation of Sections Affected (1949-2000), Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (1965-2004), and the Administrative Procedure Act (1944-1946). HeinOnline provides access to the complete contents of each Federal Register issue. Each Federal Register page is represented in both high quality image and OCR text formats. FR (1936-), CSA (1949-2000), Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (1965-2004).
Tip: Federal Register documents on HeinOnline are displayed and printed as high-resolution images. Once you are viewing a documents, use the Print Options link located in the toolbar just above the document to print or download the current page or the entire document in 30 page segments. Documents may be printed using the HeinOnline HPrint utility or downloaded and printed as a pdf file. HeinOnline adds citation information to the footer of each page.