Congressional Research Service Reports - 44 Matching Results

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Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate: Marine Mammal Issues

Description: After global warming became a concern in the mid-1950s, researchers proposed measuring deep ocean temperatures to reveal any significant trends in core ocean warming. Acoustic thermometry can detect changes in ocean temperature by receiving low-frequency sounds transmitted across an ocean basin because the speed of sound is proportional to water temperature. Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate, or ATOC, is an international program involving 11 institutions in seven nations. It is designed as … more
Date: May 12, 1995
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Agriculture and EPA’s New Air Quality Standards for Ozone and Particulates

Description: This report considers the effects of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air quality regulations on agriculture. Moreover, the report summarizes these EPA regulations and what pollutants they target. Specifically, the report discusses the negative effects of these pollutants on agriculture and the benefits of these regulations.
Date: March 24, 1998
Creator: McCarthy, James E. & Zinn, Jeffrey A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality and Motor Vehicles: An Analysis of Current and Proposed Emission Standards

Description: The extent to which emissions from motor vehicles and the amount of sulfur in commercial gasoline should be regulated has become a controversial issue. The EPA is proposing national limits on gasoline sulfur levels which would become effective in 2004. This report provides background information on the regulation of vehicle emissions in the United States, analyzes key elements of the National Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) program and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Tier 2 proposal, sum… more
Date: September 2, 1999
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality and the New Ozone NAAQS: The OTAG Process

Description: The Ozone Transport Assessment Group (OTAG) represented a cooperative effort between states, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and numerous stakeholders to address teh complex issue of ozone transport. However, opponents of the new ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) argue that the OTAG recommendations are far too vague and ambiguous to be cited by EPA as a basis for implementation. This report provides background on the effort, and summarizes OTAG's assessment and reco… more
Date: July 30, 1998
Creator: Parker, Larry & Blodgett, John E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality and Transportation Enhancement Provisions in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991

Description: This report describes how the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ) and enhancement programs function, examines the policy issues surrounding them, and summarizes relevant provisions in major legislation to reauthorize ISTEA in the 105th Congress.
Date: June 10, 1998
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality and Transportation Enhancement Provisions in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991

Description: Federal funding to assist states in addressing the environmental impacts of surface transportation is a major issue for the second session of the 105th Congress. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 (P.L. 102-240) authorized a total of $155 billion for transportation projects from FY1992 to FY1997. This report describes how the Congrestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ) and enhancement programs function, examines the policy issues surrounding them, and… more
Date: June 10, 1998
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Air Quality and Vehicle Emission Standards: An Overview of the National Low Emission Vehicle Program and Related Issues

Description: This report provides background information on federal emission standards for motor vehicles under the Clean Air Act and stricter standards originally developed to address the severity of air quality problems in California, explains the low emission standards and flexible compliance mechanisms to which states and manufacturers have voluntarily agreed under the National Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) Program, discusses the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) estimates of the program's air qualit… more
Date: January 4, 1999
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality: EPA's Ozone Transport Rule, OTAG, and Section 216 Petitions - A Hazy Situation?

Description: The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments provided the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states with new tool to address the problem of interstate transport of air pollutants. This report discusses the actions undertaken as a direct result of this act, additional pollution reduction enforcement measures pursued by the EPA, and actions undertaken by states to reduce offending emissions not in compliance with these measures.
Date: June 15, 1999
Creator: Parker, Larry & Blodgett, John E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Air Quality: EPA's Proposed New Ozone and Particulate Matter Standards

Description: This report discusses the contentious issue of enforcing stringent national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone and particulate matter (PM), the opponents of which decry as harmful to the economy. The report discusses actions undertaken by the EPA, President Clinton's support of the NAAQSs, and the criticisms of opponents.
Date: June 27, 1997
Creator: Blodgett, John E.; Parker, Larry & McCarthy, James E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Air Quality: EPA’s Proposed Ozone Transport Rule, OTAG, and Section 126 Petitions — A Hazy Situation?

Description: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently engaged in a series of regulatory actions to address the transport of ozone pollution in the eastern United States. This report reviews this situation with respect to an EPA-proposed Ozone Transport Rule and other activities.
Date: May 14, 1998
Creator: Parker, Larry & Blodgett, John E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality: EPA's Proposed Ozone Transport Rule, OTAG, and Section 216 Petitions - A Hazy Situation?

Description: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently engaged in a series of regulatory actions to address the transport of ozone pollution in the eastern United States. This report reviews this situation with respect to an EPA-proposed Ozone Transport Rule and other activities.
Date: May 14, 1998
Creator: Parker, Larry & Blodgett, John E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Air Quality: Impacts of Trip Reduction Programs on States and Affected Employers

Description: This report discusses employer trip reduction (ETR) programs, which would require large employers to implement certain transportation control measures as part of a national effort to combat air pollution, largely as a direct result of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.
Date: August 18, 1993
Creator: Flechtner, Maura K. & Mayer, Susan L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality Standards: The Decisionmaking Process

Description: The decisions by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1997 to revise the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone and particulate matter refocused attention on the criteria and the process by which these decisions are made Tracing the steps of the decision pieces, this report identifies the statutory criteria established by the Congress and summarizes the administrative procedures the Agency follows in setting these standards and in reviewing them ev… more
Date: June 24, 1998
Creator: Blodgett, John E.; Parker, Larry & McCarthy, James E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

California Air Quality FIP - A Fact Sheet

Description: On April 10, 1995, President Clinton signed P.L. 104-6, which contained a provision that rescinds the Federal air quality implementation plan (FIP) for the South Coast, Ventura, and Sacramento areas of California.(1) As a result, the FIP issued by EPA has no further force and effect, and California will continue pursuing approval of its own State implementation plan (SIP) in lieu of the FIP. Promulgation of the FIP was perceived by some within the State as having a detrimental effect on Califor… more
Date: April 13, 1995
Creator: Mayer, Susan L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Air Act Permitting: Status of Implementation

Description: The 1990 Clean Air Act amendments established an operating permit system that is affecting many new and existing sources of air emissions, as well as state and local air pollution control agencies. After delays and early missteps, the operating permit program is moving ahead. All state and local programs have received interim or full approval, and permits are being issued, although at a slower rate than anticipated. However, a number of issues exist. These include the effect of key federal regu… more
Date: May 14, 1999
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

A Clean Air Option: Cash for Clunkers

Description: The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 encourage states to pursue market-based approaches to improve air quality. An Accelerated Vehicle Retirement (AVR) program, commonly referred to as "Cash for Clunkers," is designed to provide an economic incentive for the owners of highly polluting vehicles to retire their automobiles permanently from use and to provide greater flexibility for private industry to reduce emissions by sponsoring such a program. The implementation of AVR programs can be controv… more
Date: September 16, 1996
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The D.C. Circuit Remands the Ozone and Particulate Matter Clean-Air Standards:

Description: On May 14, 1999, in American Trucking Ass'ns v. EPA, a U.S. court of Appeals ruled that deficiencies in EPA's promulgation of new primary and secondary air quality standards required that they be remanded to the agency for further consideration. The decision is controversial, in part because the two-judge majority opinion relied principally on a long-moribund legal doctrine known as the nondelegation doctrine. The decision, if it survives appeal, will thus have implications for all delegations … more
Date: June 10, 1999
Creator: Meltz, Robert & McCarthy, James E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

EPA's Tier 2 Proposal for Stricter Vehicle Emission Standards: A Fact Sheet

Description: The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 established "Tier 1" standards to limit tailpipe emissions from new motor vehicles, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to determine if more stringent requirements are needed to attain or maintain National Ambient Air Quality Standards. EPA also must assess the availability and cost-effectiveness of technologies necessary to control emissions. In a report submitted to Congress in August 1998, EPA concluded that tougher standards are nec… more
Date: June 24, 1999
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Ethanol and Clean Air: The "Reg-Neg" Controversy and Subsequent Events

Description: The Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), enacted in 1990, called for cleaner automotive fuels in order to upgrade air quality. This appeared to provide new market potential for ethanol, which is obtained from corn grown in the midwestern United States, and which is already in large-scale use in a blend of ten percent ethanol to ninety percent gasoline. The CAAA left specific details of the clean fuels program to be worked out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in consultation with the in… more
Date: June 22, 1993
Creator: Segal, Migdon
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Global Climate Change

Description: This report discusses the effect of human activities on global climate change. Human activities, particularly burning of fossil fuels, have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and other trace gases, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), methane, and nitrous oxide.
Date: December 4, 1996
Creator: Justus, John R. & Morrissey, Wayne A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Global Climate Change: A Concise History of Negotiations and Chronology of Major Activities Preceding the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention

Description: This report discusses the ongoing international policy debate regarding Global Climate Change and U.S. involvement in the issue of global climate change.The report provides an historical context of the current debate, which is important in understanding the fundamental issues about global climate change.
Date: May 5, 1998
Creator: Morrissey, Wayne A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Global Climate Change: Carbon Emissions and End-Use Energy Demand

Description: This report presents an analysis of the potential impacts of the Kyoto Protocol on U.S. energy demand. The analysis focuses on 27 common end-uses — light duty vehicles, residential space heating, industrial direct process heat, etc. — that describe the way energy is used in the United States
Date: January 20, 1999
Creator: Rowberg, Richard E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Global Climate Change: Coal Use in China and Other Asian Developing Countries

Description: Report discussing factors behind China's planned reliance on coal for future energy growth, including background information, factors in Asian coal use trends, Asian and world energy demands, the Asian coal and world markets, CO2 emissions trends, projected energy supply and emissions from other sources, and general conclusions regarding the issues.
Date: June 16, 1999
Creator: Humphries, Marc
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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