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  • InsideTrack
  • September 07, 2016

    Lyme Disease to Manure: Environmental and Public Health Resources

    From brownfields to manure to Lyme disease, you can find answers to environmental questions with these various internet resources.

    Carol J. Schmitt

    natural environment with globe

    Sept. 7, 2016 – With the recent stories about water quality in Flint, Michigan, and Rio de Janerio, do you wonder how safe your drinking water is? Where you can find that information?

    Perhaps you want to get rid of the 64-inch projection television your grandparents gave you – the one with the picture tube. If you put it on the curb, will the waste collectors take it?

    Carol Schmitt, Masters of Library & Information Studies U.W.-Madison, is the law librarian and Law Library Manager for Boardman & Clark LLP, Madison.

    You can find the answer to these questions and more from these great federal and Wisconsin environmental law resources.

    Federal Agency Information

    Start with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This site is nicely arranged and very easy to navigate with tabs across the top to help you locate what you are looking for.

    From the drop-down menu under the Laws and Regulations tab, you will find news, updates to the laws and acts, answers to FAQs, and more:

    • Laws and Executive Orders: A full summary of the Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and Food Quality Protection Act, etc. Links include the summary and a PDF of the full act.

    • Regulations: Search for regulations, track EPA rulemakings and retrospective reviews, locate action initial lists, and find links to individual state environmental agencies.

    • By Topic: Browse by broad area, including air, cross-cutting issues, emergency management, land and cleanup, pesticides, toxic substances, waste, and water.

    • By Business Sector: Information and links to the main regulations for specific industries such as transportation, oil and gas, agriculture, etc.

    • Compliance: A searchable database for facilities and their environmental compliance.

    • Enforcement: Information about enforcement (policy, documents, initiatives). And at the bottom of the page, there is a great little area titled “Enforcement in Your Community.”

    • Policy and guidance: Includes policy and guidance documents.

    Some of the more interesting areas on the EPA website include:

    Interested in environmental law? Join the section!

    The State Bar Environmental Law Section promotes communication and cooperation among private, public interest, in-house, and government attorneys on issues that affect the environment and related law. The section sponsors CLE seminars and has an elist.​​​​ Join a section.

    Wisconsin DNR

    The major environmental agency in Wisconsin is the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Just like with the EPA website, a great starting point on the Wisconsin DNR website is the Licenses and Regulations tab.

    Under here you will find information on regulations by topic such as environmental, air pollution, and water; licenses and registration of all-terrain vehicle and utility vehicles; and permits.

    Some areas within the Wisconsin DNR website worth checking out include:

    Public Health Information

    Three related government websites for environmental public health information are:

    Here are some odds and ends web resources that you may find useful:

    Carol Schmitt is a member of Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin (LLAW) and the American Association of Law Libraries. LLAW's Public Relations Committee coordinates regular contributions by its members to InsideTrack.


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