Although state environmental regulations can be both scientifically and legally complex, as the state’s chief law enforcement officer, state attorneys general play an important role in the area of environmental policy. In some states, attorneys general have direct enforcement authority, but in all states the attorney general represents state environmental agencies. Sometimes this means enforcing existing statutes and regulations, while at other times it means defending challenges to agency permitting decisions or rules brought by private parties.

Resources

State Attorneys General Environmental Actions

Columbia Law School's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, in partnership with StateAG.org, has produced a valuable legal research tool for those interested in environmental law and policy.

The State AG Environmental Actions database includes a variety of environmental lawsuits and other actions involving state attorneys general. Users can search its contents by state, issue or type of action. The database also includes links to relevant documents and resources.

The following offices of attorney general maintain active websites describing their offices’ environmental actions:

Important Court Decisions

From the Tierney Blog

For additional resources on the environment, see the Environment section of the National State Attorneys General Program (AGP) archive: