Congressional Research Service Reports - 404 Matching Results

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Air Quality: Multi-Pollutant Legislation in the 110th Congress

Description: This report discusses air pollutants (petroleum, natural gas, and coal), which account for about two-thirds of U.S. electricity generation. These gases include several pollutants that directly pose risks to human health and welfare. The report also discusses the utilities that are subject to an array of environmental regulations.
Date: February 11, 2008
Creator: Parker, Larry & Blodgett, John
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Agency Actions Following the Supreme Court’s Climate Change Decision: A Chronology

Description: This report presents a chronology of major federal agency actions related to environmental concerns following the decision of Massachusetts v. EPA; it particularly looks at actions of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court held that greenhouse gases (GHGs), widely viewed as contributing to climate change, constitute “air pollutants” as that phrase is used in the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Meltz, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Revising the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Lead

Description: This report provides background on the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), the process used to establish the standards, the factors leading to the reduction in lead emissions, and the proposed changes to the lead standard, as well as information regarding the potential effects of any revision.
Date: July 28, 2008
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Is Biopower Carbon Neutral?

Description: This report assesses the variables involved in determining whether or not biopower (i.e., electricity generated from biomass) is a carbon-neutral alternative to fossil fuels as a way to help meet meet U.S. energy demands and reduce U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It includes information about the biomass carbon cycle, GHG accounting for biopower production, recent developments affecting the assessment, and overview of whether or not it can be considered carbon neutral, and legislative imp… more
Date: January 25, 2011
Creator: Bracmort, Kelsi
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Is Biopower Carbon Neutral?

Description: This report assesses the variables involved in determining whether or not biopower (i.e., electricity generated from biomass) is a carbon-neutral alternative to fossil fuels as a way to help meet meet U.S. energy demands and reduce U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It includes information about the biomass carbon cycle, GHG accounting for biopower production, recent developments affecting the assessment, and overview of whether or not it can be considered carbon neutral, and legislative imp… more
Date: July 6, 2011
Creator: Bracmort, Kelsi
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present, and Future

Description: This report surveys existing law for legal issues that have arisen, or may arise in the future, on account of climate change and government responses thereto. These include greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, liability for harms caused by climate change, water shortages, sea level rise, natural disasters, and how immigration/refugee law does not cover relocation due to climate change impacts.
Date: July 23, 2012
Creator: Meltz, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Cruise Ship Pollution: Background, Laws and Regulations, and Key Issues

Description: This report describes the several types of waste streams that cruise ships may discharge and emit. It identifies the complex body of international and domestic laws that address pollution from cruise ships. It then describes federal and state legislative activity concerning cruise ships in Alaskan waters and activities in a few other states, as well as current industry initiatives to manage cruise ship pollution.
Date: May 2, 2008
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Canadian Oil Sands: Life-Cycle Assessments of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Description: This report discusses basic methodology of life-cycle assessments and compares several publicly-available assessments of life-cycle emissions data for Canadian oil sands crudes against each other and against those of other global reference crudes. It also includes a survey of the scientific literature and the findings of the State Department's Keystone XL Project Envoronmental Impact Statement, and concludes with a discussion of tools for policymakers who are interested in using the assessment… more
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Lattanzio, Richard K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Climate Change: The Role of the U.S. Agriculture Sector

Description: This report discusses the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the U.S. agriculture sector, and cites current and potential estimates for U.S. agricultural soils to sequester carbon and partly offset national GHG emissions. The report describes the types of land management and farm conservation practices that can reduce GHG emissions and/or sequester carbon in agricultural soils, highlighting those practices that are currently promoted under existing voluntary federal agric… more
Date: June 20, 2008
Creator: Johnson, Renée
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Pollution Control Laws: How Are They Enforced?

Description: This report provides an overview of the statutory framework, key players, infrastructure, resources, tools, and operations associated with enforcement and compliance of the major pollution control laws and regulations administered by EPA. It also outlines the roles of federal (including regional offices) and state regulators, as well as the regulated community.
Date: August 21, 2008
Creator: Esworthy, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Cars, Trucks, and Climate: EPA Regulation of Greenhouse Gases from Mobile Sources

Description: As Congress and the Administration considered new legislation to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change over the last year and a half (a process that has now stalled), the Environmental Protection Agency simultaneously began to exercise its existing authority under the Clean Air Act to set standards for GHG emissions. The Administration has made clear that its preference would be for Congress to address the climate issue through new legislation. Nevertheless… more
Date: November 2, 2010
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Automobile and Light Truck Fuel Economy: The CAFE Standards

Description: This report discusses the current corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard of 35 miles per gallon (mpg), and the major issues on the CAFE debate. The report also offers an overview of Congressional interest in CAFE (1991-2005), and explains the CAFE and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
Date: May 7, 2008
Creator: Yacobucci, Brent D. & Bamberger, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Air Permitting: Status of Implementation and Issues

Description: This report describes the statutory background of the Title V program and the status of implementation, in terms of federal approval of state and local permitting authorities and permit issuance. It also discusses broad policy issues identified by various stakeholders, including program complexity and costs, and inconsistencies due to a lack of sufficient federal guidance.
Date: March 20, 2008
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Climate Change: Design Approaches for a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program

Description: This report explores strategies to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and options to address the cost issue in four parts. First, the basic economic tradeoff between controlling the quantity of GHG emissions and the program's compliance costs is introduced and explained. Second, the five dimensions of the cost issue that have arisen so far in the climate change debate are identified and discussed. Third, a representative sample of proposed approaches to address cost concerns is compared and… more
Date: June 2, 2008
Creator: Parker, Larry
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS)

Description: This report discusses carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), but not other types of carbon sequestration activities whereby CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and stored in vegetation, soils, or oceans.
Date: June 10, 2008
Creator: Folger, Peter
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Greenhouse Gas Reduction: Cap-and-Trade Bills in the 110th Congress

Description: This report discusses the Cap-and-Trade Bills in the 110th Congress which are meant to advance market-based greenhouse gas reduction programs, similar to the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. The report presents a side-by-side comparison of the major provision in each of the bills and includes a glossary of common terms.
Date: June 27, 2008
Creator: Parker, Larry; Yacobucci, Brent D. & Ramseur, Jonathan L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Role of Offsets in a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap-and-Trade Program: Potential Benefits and Concerns

Description: This report discusses offsets in relation to a greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade program. The first section of this report provides an overview of offsets by discussing different types of offset projects and describing how the offsets would likely be used in an emission reduction program. The next section discusses the supply of offsets that might be available in an emission trading program. The subsequent sections examine the potential offset benefits and the potential concerns associate… more
Date: September 22, 2008
Creator: Ramseur, Jonathan L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Climate Change: Comparison and Analysis of S. 1766 and S. 2191 (S. 3036)

Description: This report focuses on the second category of bills, and on two bills in particular: S. 1766 and S. 2191. S. 1766. Introduced July 11, 2007, by Senators Bingaman and Specter, S. 1766 would set emissions targets on most of the country's greenhouse gas emissions.
Date: June 4, 2008
Creator: Parker, Larry & Yacobucci, Brent D.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Air After the CAIR Decision: Back to Square One?

Description: This report discusses three Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) long-term options in regard to Clean Air: (1) starting anew with a new strategy with respect to mitigating transported air pollution based on the decision; (2) allowing the states to sort out the issue through Section 126 petitions; and (3) seeking new legislation providing EPA with the statutory authority to implement either CAIR in some form, or an alternative.
Date: July 22, 2008
Creator: McCarthy, James E.; Parker, Larry B. & Meltz, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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