U.S. Environmental Law
A basic guide to U.S. environmental law research.
About Study Aids
Study aids, which generally focus on particular areas of law that correspond to the subjects of law school courses, can help law students gain a basic understanding of legal principles and clarify complex concepts. They can be used both when preparing for class and when studying for exams, as supplements to the assigned reading of a course. Additional study aids in the Law Library's collection can be found through the Library's Study Aids guide.
Online:
Note: When prompted to login, use your GW Law email address and password.
- Aspen Learning Library includes the Examples & Explanations series and CrunchTime study guides.
- LexisNexis Digital Library includes the Understanding and Q&A series.
Print:
- Print study aids may be borrowed from the Reserve Collection at the Law Library's Circulation/Reserve Desk for up to 2 hours.
- Older print editions may be found in the Law Library stacks.
Emanuel Law Outlines for Environmental Law, 5th ed. by Contains comprehensive coverage of the topics, cases, and black letter law found in your casebook. The Quiz Yourself and Essay Q&A features help you test your knowledge throughout the semester. Exam Tips alert you to the issues and fact patterns that can be found on exams. The Capsule Summary provides a quick review of the key concepts covered in the full Outline.
Examples and Explanations for Environmental Law, 9th ed. by Provides hypothetical questions complemented by detailed explanations that allow you to test your knowledge and compare your own analysis.
Understanding Environmental Law, 4th ed. by Chapters provide a basic summary of the building blocks of environmental law: its constitutional underpinning; federal versus state regulatory authority; common law antecedents; and how the process for the environmental review of government (typically agency) actions operates.
Nutshells
Environmental Law in a Nutshell, 10th ed. by Provides an up-to-date foundation for understanding environmental law.
The Law of Hazardous Wastes and Toxic Substances in a Nutshell, 3d ed. by Discusses laws and regulations relating to the production and sale of toxic substances, use of toxic substances, toxic pollution under the clean water, clean air, and safe drinking water acts, and disposal of hazardous wastes.
Ocean and Coastal Management Law in a Nutshell by Provides short summaries of state, U.S. national, and international law and policy. New material includes discussion of marine renewable energy (green hydrogen and offshore wind), current beach access controversies, coastline adaptation to sea-level rise, climate change policies for ocean protection, and cultural heritage law.
Toxic Torts in a Nutshell, 7th ed. by Introduces the study of toxic torts and identifies the theories of liability related to both toxic products and environmental pollution.
Water Law in a Nutshell, 6th ed. by Discusses changes in evolving areas like groundwater-surface water conflicts, public recreational uses, instream flow protection, federal water development, takings claims, and water access and equity.
Casebooks
Environmental Law and Policy, 5th ed. by Emphasizes environmental policy, as well as the structure and details of the federal environmental statutes. It focuses students' attention on how tradeoffs between environmental goals and social goals are resolved in different and difficult contexts.
Environmental Protection: Law and Policy, 9th ed. by Provides an interdisciplinary overview of Environmental Law, incorporating history, theory, litigation, regulation, policy, science, economics, and ethics. It covers the history of environmental protection; policy objectives; regulatory design strategies; constitutional federalism; and related statutory interpretation issues concerning the design and implementation of the environmental laws.
Hornbooks
Principles of Environmental Law by Presents the basic mechanics of the major environmental statutes. It also includes a separate chapter on how these environmental statutes are enforced by the government and through citizen suits.
Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI)
CALI lessons are interactive online tutorials written by law professors at CALI member schools. They can be used for studying topics in environmental law.
Ask any Reference Librarian for the GW Law CALI code.