USGS Guide to Federal Environmental Laws and Regulations

This guide was written to provide an overview of the major environmental statutes and corresponding regulations. This guide serves as a tool to aid government agencies at the federal, state and local levels, private industry, academia, the general public and public interest groups. This guide is not intended to be exhaustive of all the regulations that exist for any given statute and contains those that were deemed to be key in understanding any given statute as a whole. Cited sources, including the U.S. Code (U.S.C.) and U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), have been reviewed through April of 1996. The Survey's Environmental Affairs Program (EAP) does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of any material presented in this guide. We encourage your comments and suggestions, and invite you to email the Webmaster.

Topical Areas Covered by this Guide

Air Quality	Cultural & Historic Resources	Endangered Species
Fish and Wildlife Conservation	Prime and Unique Farmlands	Public Land Resources
Solid and Hazardous Substances	Water Quality	Water Resources Related Acts & Executive Orders
Miscellaneous Acts	List of Statutes by Section	Organizing Federal Laws and Regulations

Denotes area of particular relevance to the USGS field staff.

Sources of Additional Information

Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School--This is a user-friendly tool for finding specific sections of the U.S. Code. Acts can be searched by title, but it is used more easily when the exact title and section are known.

U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel U.S. Code - This service yields search results that are divided into titles, parts, and sections. 

GPO Access of the Government Printing Office--Provides searches of numerous government document databases with advanced searches for up to three year's worth of the Federal Register. Basic databases of note include Public Laws issued this session of Congress, U.S. Code, and Department of the Interior reports.

Thomas of the Library of Congress- This is an excellent resource for keeping in tune with recent legislative actions. Using Thomas, you may track the history of bills before Congress as well as legislation enacted into law.

Environmental Law Net -A comprehensive interactive environmental law internet resource on environmental law, providing direct environmental law access to federal and state environmental laws and regulations.

National Park Service - Laws and regulations, designations, closures, permit requirements and other restrictions.