Congressional Research Service Reports for Environmental Law

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the public policy research arm of Congress. CRS reports are an invaluable resource for anyone interested in researching new and upcoming issues in environmental law, however, their dissemination is only allowed at the discretion of Congress–as a result only select materials are available to the public. Below please find a list of websites that provide copies of environmental CRS reports. Additional reports may be available to Pace students via ProQuest Congressional:

• Federation of American Scientists - Updated on a weekly basis, environmental CRS reports are located in the Miscellaneous Topics category.  Organized in reversed chronological order (1995-present), the best search strategy for this site is to brainstorm key terms and employ a Ctrl F search.
• National Agriculture Law Center - Provides links to reports released since January 2010, dealing with the following environmental topics: Animal Agriculture; Aquaculture; Biotechnology; Climate Change; Disaster Impact and Assistance; Energy; Environmental Issues; Food Safety; Food Security/Aid; Forestry; International Agriculture; Public Lands; Rural Development; Sustainable and Organic Farming; Transportation; and Water Resources. Reports published within the last few months are designated with a "New" icon.
• National Council for Science and the Environment - Provides access to over 2225 reports (updated daily) on the following environmental topics: Agriculture; Air; Biodiversity; Climate Change; Energy;Forests; Marine; Mining; Natural Resources; Pesticides; Pollution; Population; Public Lands; Risk & Reform; Science & Technology; Stratospheric Ozone; Transportation; Waste Management; Water; and Wetlands.
• U.S. Department of State - This collection primarily focuses on Foreign Policy and international relations, however, the site also has reports for such topics as: Emergency Preparedness & Disasters; Energy; Environment; and Science, Technology & Health; For ease of use, researchers can sort reports by Date, Region, and Topic. The department of State has an approximate one-to-two week delay for posting reports.
• University of North Texas Digital Library – Contains a growing collection of reports beginning in 1990. The site has both a basic and advanced search feature in addition to the ability to browse by hyperlinked subjects on environmental legal issues including: Agriculture;Air pollution; Animals;Energy;Environmental protection; Hazardous substances; Marine resources; Natural resource; Public lands; Science policy; Solid wastes; Transportation;Water pollution; and Water resources.
• Wikileaks – This site has a significant collection of CRS reports dating back to 1990, however, it is difficult to navigate and the entries are not arranged in any real workable order other than by date.  As a result, the best search strategy for this site is to brainstorm key terms and employ a Ctrl F search.