Environmental Justice: A Legal Research Guide

Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. There has not always been geographic equity in the protection of the environment and there are concerns that areas with few resources have been more exposed to environmental hazards.

This guide introduces users to resources containing information relevant to legal issues pertaining to the pursuit of environmental justice. It provides information on where to begin your research of environmental justice, including suggested internet sources, federal statutory law and legislative resources, executive branch materials, secondary materials, and much more. Advanced legal research opportunities present themselves for this topic based on relevant executive orders, legislative histories, statistics underlying laws on the subject matters, and routinely proposed regulations due to inclusive goals of the environmental justice movement.