Congressional Research Service Reports - 43 Matching Results

Search Results

Results: 1 - 24 next
open access

Environmental Protection Issues in the 108th Congress

Description: The 108th Congress has acted on a variety of disparate environmental measures; some of these represent proposals or issues that had been under consideration in the 107th Congress and earlier. Environmental issues considered by Congress tend to fall into several major categories: (1) funding issues — whether funding levels are adequate and focused on appropriate priorities; (2) expanding, renewing, or refocusing specific environment programs; (3) environmental issues that are important “subsets”… more
Date: September 10, 2004
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R. & Isler, Margaret M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Environmental Services Markets in the 2008 Farm Bill

Description: This report gives an overview of issues involved in the provisions of the 2008 farm bill (P.L. 110-234, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act). It includes a brief overview describing environmental services markets, benefits and barriers, recent Congressional action related to the topics, and possible considerations.
Date: June 10, 2008
Creator: Johnson, Renée
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Accident Prevention under the Clean Air Act Section 112(r): Risk Management Planning by Propane Users and Internet Access to Worst-Case Accident Scenarios

Description: This report briefly describes two issues associated with EPA implementation of risk management planning requirements in the Clean Air Act Section 112(r): whether dealers and distributors of propane and other flammable fuels should be covered by the law, and whether electronic access to off-site consequence analyses (OCA), and especially worst-case analyses, should be restricted to avoid misuse by terrorists or criminals. These issues are addressed by S. 880, as reported, and H.R. 1301 in the 10… more
Date: June 10, 1999
Creator: Schierow, Linda-Jo
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Pipelines for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Control: Network Needs and Cost Uncertainties

Description: This report examines key uncertainties in CO2 pipeline requirements for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) by contrasting hypothetical pipeline scenarios in one region of the United States. The report summarizes the key factors influencing CO2 pipeline configuration for major power plants in the region, and illustrates how the viability of different sequestration sites may lead to enormous differences in pipeline costs.
Date: January 10, 2008
Creator: Parfomak, Paul W. & Folger, Peter
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Clean Water Act Issues in the 107th Congress

Description: Key water quality issues that may face the 107th Congress include: actions to implement existing provisions of the Clean Water Act (CWA), whether additional steps are necessary to achieve overall goals of the Act, and the appropriate federal role in guiding and paying for clean water activities. Legislative prospects for comprehensively amending the Act have for some time stalled over whether and exactly how to change the law. If clean water issues receive attention in the 107th Congress, consi… more
Date: January 10, 2001
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Environmental Protection Agency's FY2003 Budget

Description: On April 9, 2001, the President requested $7.3 billion in discretionary budget authority for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for FY2002, $512.0 million (or 7%) less than the FY2001 funding level of $7.8 billion. The request would not have continued funding of about $500 million for activities earmarked for FY2001, and contained provisions shifting more enforcement responsibilities to the states. Popular wastewater infrastructure funding, state roles, and the future of Superfund were s… more
Date: July 10, 2002
Creator: Lee, Martin R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Environmental Protection Agency's FY2003 Budget

Description: On April 9, 2001, the President requested $7.3 billion in discretionary budget authority for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for FY2002, $512.0 million (or 7%) less than the FY2001 funding level of $7.8 billion. The request would not have continued funding of about $500 million for activities earmarked for FY2001, and contained provisions shifting more enforcement responsibilities to the states. Popular wastewater infrastructure funding, state roles, and the future of Superfund were s… more
Date: March 10, 2003
Creator: Lee, Martin R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Clean Air Act Issues in the 108th Congress

Description: Clean air issues were discussed at length in the 107th Congress, but legislation was not enacted, leaving the same issues for possible consideration in the 108th. The most prominent air quality issues discussed in this report are; the controversy over EPA’s proposed changes to the New Source Review (NSR) requirements, Clear Skies / Multi-Pollutant Legislation, gasoline additive MTBE, Conformity of Transportation Plans and SIPs Deadlines for Achieving the Ozone Air Quality Standard.
Date: July 10, 2003
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Clean Air Act Issues in the 108th Congress

Description: Clean air issues were discussed at length in the 107th Congress, but legislation was not enacted, leaving the same issues for possible consideration in the 108th. The most prominent air quality issues discussed in this report are; the controversy over EPA’s proposed changes to the New Source Review (NSR) requirements, Clear Skies / Multi-Pollutant Legislation, gasoline additive MTBE, Conformity of Transportation Plans and SIPs Deadlines for Achieving the Ozone Air Quality Standard.
Date: October 10, 2003
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Clean Air Act Issues in the 109th Congress

Description: The courts and the executive branch face major decisions on clean air issues in 2006, with Congress more likely playing an oversight role. One focus is EPA's Jan. 17 2006 proposal to strengthen air quality standards for fine particles, which are estimated to cause tens of thousands of premature deaths annually. Whether the proposal is supported by the available science and what impact its implementation would have have likely issues of concern. Other issues of continuing interest are EPA's 2005… more
Date: February 10, 2006
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Overview of Federal Real Property Disposal Requirements and Procedures

Description: This report begins with an explanation of the central role played by the General Services Administration (GSA) in the disposal of federal real estate property at most agencies. It then provides a discussion of the unique disposal processes at Department of Defense and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), which each have independent statutory authority to dispose of their own properties. It concludes with an overview of the environmental and historic preservation requirements that apply to the dispos… more
Date: December 10, 2014
Creator: Hatch, Garrett; Else, Daniel H.; Luther, Linda; Bearden, David M. & Alexander, Kristina
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Global Climate Change

Description: This report briefly reviews the status of climate science, international negotiations, and congressional activity focused specifically on climate change.
Date: October 10, 2002
Creator: Justus, John R. & Fletcher, Susan R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Clean Power Plan: Legal Background and Pending Litigation in West Virginia v. EPA

Description: This report provides legal background on the Clean Power Plan rule (CPP) to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), its Clean Air Act (CAA) framework under Section 111, and climate-related lawsuits that have preceded the present litigation over the CPP. It then gives an overview of the participants in the current litigation, including two groups of Members of Congress, who have offered briefs in support of the petitioners and the respondents, respectively.
Date: January 10, 2017
Creator: Tsang, Linda & Wyatt, Alexandra M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Global Warming: The Litigation Heats Up

Description: This report focuses on the legal debate related to global warming, and past and possible litigation. The court cases, decided and pending, address four principal issues, whether the EPA has the authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, from either stationary or mobile sources; whether state regulation of GHG emissions from motor vehicles (limited to California at the moment) preempted by federal law; can the common law of nuisance be used to force cutba… more
Date: January 10, 2005
Creator: Meltz, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: A Primer

Description: This report focuses on the environmental quality of water resources as affected by animal agriculture, specifically animal waste, which can harm water quality through surface runoff, direct discharges, spills, and leaching into soil and groundwater. This report also discusses the contribution of emissions from animal feeding operations (AFO), enterprises where animals are raised in confinement, to air pollution.
Date: June 10, 2005
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Global Climate Change: Selected Legal Questions About the Kyoto Protocol

Description: This report addresses legal issues after the United States signed the Kyoto Protocol to the UnitedNations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The protocol is not yet in effect internationally and cannot be legally binding on the U.S. unless and until the Senate gives its advice and consent.
Date: January 10, 2001
Creator: Ackerman, David M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Global Climate Change: The Kyoto Protocol

Description: This report discusses the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that was completed December 11, 1997, committing the industrialized nations to specified, legally binding reductions in emissions of six “greenhouse gases.”
Date: June 10, 2004
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Military Base Closures: Role and Costs of Environmental Cleanup

Description: The upcoming 2005 round of military base closings has stimulated interest among potentially affected communities in how the bases to be selected for closure might be economically redeveloped to replace lost jobs. Environmental contamination can present a challenge to economic redevelopment if funding or technological constraints would limit the cleanup of the land to a degree that would be safe for its intended use. Most of the lands on bases closed under the previous four rounds have been clea… more
Date: June 10, 2005
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Global Climate Change: Selected Legal Questions About the Kyoto Protocol

Description: This report discusses the Kyoto Protocol and whether the United States is now legally bound by the Protocol, the legal implications of signing it, whether it could be implemented as an executive agreement without submission to the Senate, and whether the Protocol could be used as the legal basis for regulation of emissions even prior to ratification.
Date: April 10, 1998
Creator: Ackerman, David M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Climate Change Science: Key Points

Description: This report discusses the climate change science, that though often is portrayed as controversial there is a broad scientific agreement over many points. The report provides data on long-term temperature observations, estimate of human-related versus solar contributions to global temperature change over the 20th century, estimated top 20 emitting nations of greenhouse gases in 2010, and sea ice extent in Arctic (September) and Antarctica (April), 1979 to 2012
Date: September 10, 2013
Creator: Leggett, Jane A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Back to Top of Screen