One of the principal uses of ELR is for in-depth research. With over 10,000 full-text cases, thousands of agency documents (many not available anywhere else–even at the agencies), hundreds of digests of briefs and pleadings, and dozens of statutes and statutory amendments published since we began in 1971, ELR is an extensive repository of the key source documents of modern American and international environmental law. In addition, ELR's document collection includes numerous treaties and international agreements, which offer our readers the ability to conduct extensive research on international environmental law. Finally, ELR's trove of Articles, Dialogues, and Comments–over 2,000 footnoted articles, the largest collection of commentary and analysis on the subjects--provides invaluable analysis of virtually every environmental, natural resources, toxic tort, health/safety, and land use law issue.

There are several ways to access this store of information. A good place to start is the Indexes section. In addition to containing a cumulative table of cases published in ELR, a table for determining the official citation for a case if you only have the ELR cite, and bibliographies of environmental law articles published in other journals (a separate and also extensive bibliography of books and articles published on international environmental law topics is available at the International Materials section), the Indexes section contains Subject Matter Indexes. Each one contains several years worth of citations to cases, Articles, Dialogues, and Comments published in ELR. There is also an index of briefs and pleadings digested in our Briefs & Pleadings service.

Set forth below are descriptions of several easy ways to use the Subject Matter Index to begin your research. Each description begins with a chart that diagrams the steps to take, then contains a more detailed explanation, followed by illustrations taken from ELR.

One way to begin your ELR research is with an ELR Article on the subject that interests you. To find that Article, go to the Subject Matter Index in the Indexes section. ELR Articles are indicated by the word "analyzed" appearing before a citation.

Let's take an example. Suppose you are interested in the recovery of natural resource damages under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). You want to know what proposals have been made in the past to revise CERCLA's natural resource damages provision. Start off by turning to the major heading "Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act" in the Subject Matter Index. Since you probably want to begin with the most recent information on this topic, use the current Subject Matter Index.

Your first inclination will be to turn to the subheading "Natural resource damages." Because of the complexity of environmental law, ELR groups related topics under a more general subheading. Therefore, the entries relating to CERCLA natural resource damages appear under the subheading "Remedies," which in turn has a sub-subheading for "Natural resource damages." But don't worry, the Subject Matter Index contains many cross-references that will lead you to the place you want to go. So, if you look for a subheading "Natural resource damages" under the CERCLA main heading, there will be a cross-reference directing you to the sub-subheading "Natural resource damages" under "Remedies."

When you go to "Natural resource damages" under "Remedies" in the CERCLA section of the Subject Matter Index, you will see an entry for "Proposed revisions to natural resource damages program". This description is followed by the word "analyzed," so you know the citations that follow it refer to Articles. Let's look at the first one, 27/10121. As the introduction to the Subject Matter Index tells you, this citation means that the Article you want appears in volume 27, page 10121, of the News & Analysis print binders. The same numbering organization of articles and litigation materials is used in ELR's online service. When you click on the link from the Index, you will see the first page of an Article entitled "Reforming CERCLA's Natural Resource Damage Provisions: A Challenge to the 105th Congress From the Clinton Administration."

This Article provides an excellent example of the way that ELR is cross-referenced and cross-linked for your convenience. In the footnotes on the first page of this Article, you will see citations and links to cases, the CERCLA statute, and agency documents, which are contained in other ELR sections. If you look at footnote 1 of the Article, for example, you will see a citation to the case Artesian Water Co. v. Government of New Castle County, 851 F.2d 643, 649, 18 ELR 21012, 21014 (3d Cir. 1988). This citation includes both a cite to the official reporter (851 F.2d 643, 649) and a cite to the copy of that opinion that appears in ELR (18 ELR 21012, 21014). The ELR copy of this case appears in volume 18, page 21012, of both the ELR Litigation binders and the online version. You can link directly to the decision from the footnoted article.

When you examine a case in the ELR Litigation service, you will see that they begin with a short summary written by ELR's staff of attorney-editors. These will facilitate your research by quickly showing you what the case is about. Each summary tracks the order of the holdings in the case, allowing you to find the holding you want more easily. In addition, many case summaries end with references and links to related cases and to briefs in that litigation that are digested in the ELR Briefs & Pleadings service. Although the ELR Briefs & Pleadings service contains digests of briefs in hundreds of cases, not all cases appearing in the ELR Litigation section or cited in Articles appearing in the News & Analysis service have related briefs digested in the ELR Briefs & Pleadings materials. Nevertheless, you will find many cases that refer to digested briefs.

ELR Articles do not just reference materials appearing in the ELR Litigation service. If you look at footnote 2 of the natural resource damages Article in Illustration 2, you will see a cite to an Executive Order. At the end of this citation you will see "ELR Admin. Mat. II 45087." This tells you that this document appears in ELR's Administrative Materials service. Because of the enormous volume of agency documents, not all of the agency documents in ELR's collection appear in the Administrative Materials service in full text. Many of them are listed as available from the ELR Guidance & Policy Collection. If, for example, you are researching environmental enforcement and turn to the Article "The State of Environmental Enforcement: A Speech Presented at the American Bar Association's 1998 Annual Meeting" (volume 28, page 10711, of the News & Analysis service), you will see that footnote 1 cites a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accomplishments report. At the end of this cite, there is a parenthetical that reads "available from the ELR Document Service, ELR Order No. AD-3928." This means that you can obtain this document simply by referring to our Guidance & Policy Collection.

Finally, ELR Articles provide cross-references to the statutes that appear in the ELR Federal Laws & Regulations service. Go back to the natural resource damages Article we took as our example above. If you look at footnote 3, you will see a citation that reads "ELR Stat. CERCLA §101(16)." This tells you that you can examine §101(16) of CERCLA by looking at the copy of CERCLA that appears in the ELR Federal Laws and Regulations section.

Perhaps you are interested in beginning your research by turning directly to the case law. ELR allows you to do this easily, in several ways. Let's start with the Indexes section.

Let's take an example. Say you are doing research on the addition of chemicals to the toxics release inventory under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). You turn to the EPCRA section of the Subject Matter Index and look under the subheading "Toxics release inventory, §313". One entry particularly interests you: "EPA decision to list 3-IODO-2-Propynyl Butyl Carbamate was not arbitrary and capricious." The cite and link at the end (28/20200) does not begin with the word "analyzed," so you know that this is a case, not an Article, Dialogue, or Comment. (The Subject Matter Index only contains cites and links to cases, Articles, Dialogues, and Comments. Briefs and pleadings digests are referenced and linked in their own index in the Briefs and Pleadings service. Agency documents are listed in the Administrative Materials and Guidance & Policy Collection sections, and federal statutes and treaties are provided in the Federal Laws and Regulations section.)

To find this EPCRA case, click on the link. The case begins with a summary written by ELR's attorney-editors. Following the case summary is a reference, in brackets, to prior decisions in this litigation that appear in ELR. In addition, at the end of the bracketed reference is a citation to an ELR digest of briefs in this case ("Briefs & Pleads. 66525"). To examine this digest, click on the link and go to the ELR Briefs & Pleadings service. There you will find a short summary of the litigation and the parties' arguments. Following this summary is an outline of the parties' briefs.

You can also locate decisions using the Litigation section, by way of the current and cumulative litigation directories.