This week we are featuring a guest post by Chris Dyke and Dan Donahue, authors of the highly esteemed title Environmental Law: A Legal Research Guide.
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About the Authors
Christopher Dykes
Chris Dykes is currently the Head of Public Services at the University of Houston’s O’Quinn Law Library. He earned his B.A. in Political Science and Masters of Science in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He earned his J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law and his LL.M. in Taxation from Villanova University School of Law. He began his position as a reference/research librarian in 2006 and became Head of Public Services in 2017.
Dykes has published research guides on indigenous peoples’ international law and international taxation for GlobaLex (NYU Law) and has published research guide books on federal income tax and international taxation for Hein. He teaches a course on tax research and co-teaches a class on Texas legal research for the University of Houston Law Center. Chris has given presentations at the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting, the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL) annual meetings, and Continuing Legal Education courses. He has presented on legal research topics ranging from oil & gas, tax research, environmental law, and transactional research.
Daniel Donahue
Dan Donahue is currently a reference librarian at Georgetown Law Library. Prior to his current position, he was the foreign and international law librarian at the University of Houston Law Center’s O’Quinn Law Library, where he started in 2013. Dan earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia, his M.L.S. from the Catholic University of America’s School of Library and Information Science, his J.D. from George Mason University School of Law, and his Masters of Arts in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. Dan has given presentations at the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL) annual meeting, American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) annual meeting, and Continuing Legal Education programs. He has presented on topics such as legal technology, researching international law, and finding the law.
Why Write About Environmental Law?
Chris remarks, “I’ve given presentations on environmental law research and I’ve assisted with research in this area and have learned that Environmental law is an important but complex area. First, there are numerous environmental statutes at the federal level that have largely been enacted from the 1960s through the 1990s. Examples include the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which is designed to deal with hazardous waste sites. Second, there are multiple agencies involved at the federal level, not just the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For example, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is involved with regulating the oil and gas leases that occur on the federal lands that the agency manages. These multiple acts and agencies result in a massive and complicated regulatory structure. There are also administrative agency decisions and environmental statutes and regulations at the state level. A researcher, whether the individual is an academic scholar, a practitioner, or a librarian assisting with research, must have knowledge of the different acts, the regulatory structure, and case law research at the state and federal levels.”
“Dan and I wanted to create a research guide that would provide the reader with the tools needed to effectively navigate looking into this area of law. The goal is to give researchers an overview of the primary sources of environmental law at the state and federal levels as well as, secondary sources including practice guides, treatises, and news and current awareness sources. Due to the growing importance of international environmental law, we have a section that specifically discusses these sources. Our focus in creating this research guide is not to make the readers experts on environmental law, but to provide them with a foundation to effectively conduct legal research in this area.”
Environmental Law: A Legal Research Guide
This title is a research guide for librarians, practitioners, professors, and anyone whose research interests involve environmental law. It introduces the reader to the sources of primary and secondary authority with enough information to discern the importance of each resource. The researcher is introduced to major environmental acts passed by Congress as well as regulations and case law at both the state and federal levels. Secondary sources are essential due to the number and complexity of primary sources involved, especially with respect to regulation; the list of treatises and practice guides include a description of each. Another section covers subscription databases as well as free websites. Finally, the section on international environmental law contains information on relevant treaties and agreements and the sources that contain them.
Environmental Law: A Legal Research Guide
Item #: 1000136
ISBN: 978-0-8377-4076-8
Pages: xviii, 89p.
1 Volume……$79.00 $69.00
Published: Getzville; William S. Hein & Co., Inc.; 2018
Promo Code: ENVIRO2020
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