Florida Environmental Law Research

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Florida Environmental Law Research

• Elizabeth FarrellResearch/Instructional
  Technology LibrarianFall, 2008

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Getting Started

• Environmental law can be confusing to research
  because an issue may involve looking at federal
  and state statutes, federal and state regulations
  AND your states principles of common law and
  equity.
• So, where do you start?

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Secondary Sources!

• Types of Secondary Sources
• Periodicals law reviews/journals
• Treatises
• Legal Encyclopedias
• CLE Materials
• Current Awareness Tools (Blogs, Newsletters)
• Dont forget Look for both topical
  (environmental) and jurisdiction-specific
  (Florida) sources. Also think about
  interdisciplinary materials (e.g., science, urban
  planning).

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Treatises

• Lexis Westlaw have valuable resources (check
  both), however.
• There are a number of essential sources outside
  LN/WL
• Check for both PRINT and ONLINE materials
• Have you searched the catalog?
• Have you looked at the available databases?

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Treatises
Treatise on Florida Environmental and Land Use
Lawhttp//www.eluls.org/treatise.html - password
access (ask a librarian)
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(No Transcript)
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Environmental Law on Lexis
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Environmental Law on Lexis
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Environmental Law on Westlaw
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Environmental Law on Westlaw
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Current Awareness Tools

• Great for staying up on the issues and
  controversies
• Good source to find paper topics
• Possible tools
• Newsletters (BNA)
• Blogs
• Environmental Advocacy Organizations
• Always check on reliability and reputation of
  source

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BNA Newsletters
Access BNA via the Research Centers list of
databases.
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BNA Newsletters
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Other Important EnvironmentalLaw Databases

• The Research Center has online (and some print)
  access to these resources
• BNA Environment Reporter
• ELIs Environmental Law Reporter
• EE Publications (ClimateWire, Land Letter,
  Greenwire)

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BNA Environment Reporter
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ELIs Environmental Law Reporter
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EE Publications
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Florida Sources of Environmental Law

• Environmental law covers all branches of
  government - you may need to research Florida
  statutes, regulations, administrative decisions
  and cases depending on your issue.
• Floridas Department of Environmental Protection
  is the administrative agency responsible for the
  states water, air and land.

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Florida Statutes

• Florida Statutes Official Source (print and
  online for free _at_ Online Sunshine)
• http//www.leg.state.fl.us/
  
• Florida Statutes Annotated (West print/online)
• Florida Annotated Statutes (Lexis print/online)

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Florida Administrative Code

• http//www.flrules.org

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Administrative Materials

• Div. of Administrative Hearings -
  http//www.doah.state.fl.us/

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Florida Administrative Law Reports

• Some administrative decisions are scattered
  online, but do not have FALR citations.
• Westlaw and Lexis are trying to build libraries
  of decisions, but if you have a FALR citation
  from another source, must use the print resource.
• ER FALR has final orders from environmental and
  land use agencies.

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Questions?