Research Guides: Sustainability Policy Studies: U.S. Government Information

Researching with Government Documents

For more see the Government Information portal at Columbia.

Some useful places to begin:

Congressional Publications: Access to hearings, committee prints, CRS reports, legislative histories, the Congressional Record, federal regulations, and the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. Many documents are in full text and cover the years 1789 to the present; others are citations that are available in full text in print or microform in the library.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) : Known as "the investigative arm of Congress" and "the congressional watchdog." GAO supports the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and helps improve the performance and accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people.
US Trade Representatives Office Topics: USTR is an agency with decades of specialized experience in trade issues and regions of the world. It negotiates directly with foreign governments to create trade agreements, to resolve disputes, and to participate in global trade policy organizations.

Climate Change

Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions
The report on global warming, requested by President Bush from the National Acadamy of Science, Committee on the Science of Climate Change, June 6, 2001.
Planning Climate and Global Change Research: A Review of the Draft U.S. Climate Change Science Program Strategic Plan, National Academy of Science, February 25, 2003
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
ATSDR implements the health-related sections of laws that protect the public from hazardous wastes and environmental spills of hazardous substances. This site connects to various databases and includes lists of Superfund sites.
Climate Diagnostics Center
The mission of the Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC) is to identify the nature and causes for climate variations on time scales ranging from a month to centuries. It is a joint project of CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences) and NOAA (see below).
Department of Commerce:

Environmental Topics

Council On Environmental Quality: Formulates and recommends national policies to promote the improvement of the quality of the environment.
Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
International Energy and Commodities Policy: Coordinates U.S. international energy policy related to commodities, including energy supply, and U.S. participation in the International Energy Agency; monitors cooperative multilateral and bilateral agreements related to energy; coordinates energy-related aspects of U.S. relations with other countries.
Office of Environmental Management: Publications List

Energy

Department of Energy:
The Department of Energy has four distinct missions: Energy, Defense, Cleanup and Waste Management, and Science, Technology and the National Labs.

Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
DOE Information Bridge
This web site includes the full-text and bibliographic records of DOE-sponsored report literature produced by the DOE and DOE contractor research and development community.
Office of Environmental Management
Publications List