USGS Guide to Federal Environmental Laws and Regulations

MENU OF FEDERAL LAWS & REGULATIONS

AirQuality

Cultural & Historic Resources

Endangered Species

Fish & Wildlife Conservation

List of Statutes by Section

Miscellaneous Acts

Organizing Federal Laws & Regulations

Prime & Unique Farmlands

Public Land Resources

Solid & Hazardous Substances

Water Resources Related Acts & Executive Orders

Water Quality

Denotes area of particular relevance to the USGS field staff

ORGANIZING FEDERAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS

Introduction

The following material serves as an entry level introduction to the compilation of Federal laws and regulations, their relationship to each other and where they may be found. The internet sites shown below may be accessed to obtain more detailed or specific information about Federal laws and regulations.

GPO Access United States Code:-

describes the functions of the CFR, U.S.C., Public Law

Thomas-

this Library of Congress site focuses on how our laws are made

Legal Information Institute-

provides an explanation of the U.S. Code

The Distinction Between Laws and Regulations

The difference between laws and regulations are sometimes misunderstood. Congress, and only Congress, enacts laws. Federal executive departments and administrative agencies write regulations to implement the authority of laws. Regulations (as well as Executive Orders and Proclamations) are ancillary or subordinate to laws but both laws and regulations are enforceable. The U.S. Code is the official compilation of codified laws by subject, the U.S. Statutes-at-Large is the official chronologic compilation of all laws, and the Code of Federal Regulations is the official compilation of regulations.

Slip Laws

When Congress enacts a law (titled "An Act"), it is first published as a slip law--a pamphlet print of each law enacted by Congress issued a few days after a bill becomes law. Slip laws carry the Statutes-at-Large page numbers that will be their permanent citation in a future Statutes-at-Large volume, marginal notes and citations, including U.S. Code classifications of current legislation, and guide to legislative history which also contains dates of related Presidential statements.

Statutes

The law or "Act" is then compiled annually in the U.S. Statutes-at-Large (Stat.). United States Statutes-at-Large contain all laws, concurrent resolutions, and joint resolutions enacted during a session of Congress. It also includes reorganization plans, proposed and ratified amendments to the Constitution, and proclamations by the President, and legislative histories. It also contains laws that apply to the general populace. These are known as public laws, and are referred to as PL in this guide. Arrangement is chronological by approval date in each category. The U.S. Statutes serve as the official legal source (1 U.S.C. 112) and must be considered when proposing a variance to a section of the U.S. Code.

U.S. Code

The Act is then codified in the U.S. Code (U.S.C.), which is published every six years with annual supplements. The U.S. Code codifies by category only public laws of general and permanent nature in effect on the date of publication. The vast quantity of expired and repealed laws since 1789 are not included in the U.S.C.

The U.S. Code is most often used to find the current "laws of the land." Aside from compiling laws by subject matter, the U.S. C. contains the history of recent amendments, cross- references and other notes of pertinence to aid the researcher. The U.S. Code also contains the Index of Acts by Popular Name, General Index and several tables.

Although the Statutes are the legal reference, 19 titles of the Code have been enacted into law, and thus supersede the specific Statutes from which they were enacted.

U.S.C. Supplement

The annual, cumulative supplements to the U.S.C. contain all changes in or additions to the general and permanent laws and Code ancillaries since the last edition of the Code.

How to Find Laws in the U.S. Code

There are several ways to find laws in the U.S. Code. The Index of Acts by Popular Name lists the names of laws by their popular designation or short title, the date of passage, the public law number and its location in the Statutes-at-large volumes, and the U.S. Code title number and sections. A history of amendments to the original law is listed although it may be incomplete.

The General Index lists items by subject matter, and thus is quite useful in searching for titles and sections pertinent to a particular subject. It is not, however, particularly useful for finding specific acts,

Table III in the U.S.C. is a good reference tool. It correlates all the laws of Congress listed by date of passage, public law number, Statutes- at-Large volume and page number, to their title and section in the U.S.C. Thus, any specific section of any law can be found directly in the U.S. Code via Table III.

The Federal Register System

The Federal Register consists of two publications, the annually revised Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and the daily Federal Register (FR). These two publications should be used together to find the latest version of a regulation.

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

The CFR codifies the general and permanent rules of Executive departments and agencies which have been published in the Federal Register. The CFR is divided into 50 titles which represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation. Each title is divided into chapters which usually bear the name of the issuing agency. Each chapter is further subdivided into parts covering specific regulatory areas. Throughout this guide, the CFR is cited by title and part, followed by the part's name and then the agency promulgating the regulation.

The Federal Register (FR)

The Federal Register is the daily supplement to the CFR. It serves as the mechanism to provide official notification to the public about Federal documents or proposals having general applicability. These may include Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, and Federal agency rules, regulations, and notices. The FR also serves to notify the public and interested parties about an agency's intent to prepare an environmental impact statement, or about proposed changes to an agency's rules and regulations. It also provides the mechanism for obtaining comments from affected parties regarding the proposed action by the agency.

List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA)

The LSA serves as an important tool for determining the current text of a specific CFR title and section, and for finding changes made to the CFR section. The LSA may be used as a checklist to determine how particular CFR sections might have been affected by subsequent rule changes. The LSA lists current regulations as well as regulations which were revoked, terminated or superseded. Current and proposed and rules and regulations are also listed along with their status.

The LSA is included in each FR issue and monthly changes are also published.

Citing Laws and Regulations

A complete typical citation, for a law is as follows: Pub. L. 86-705, Sept. 2, 1960, 74 Stat. 781 (30 U.S.C. 181, 182, 184, 187, 187a, 226, 226- 1, 226-2, 241). This citation shows that the 86th Congress passed public law number 705 on September 2, 1960. The original law is found in volume 74 of the U.S. Statutes-at-Large, page 781 and its current version is in Title 30 of the U.S. Code, sections 181, 182, etc. (Note: Laws passed before 1957 were numbered and cited as chapters and those laws are still cited this way. For example, the Mineral Lands Leasing Act is cited as ch. 85, 41 Stat. 437.)

A regulation is cited as 43 CFR Part 3040. This reads as Title 43 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 3040; Environment and Safety. When subsections of parts are cited they are cited simply as 30 CFR 250.34.