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Congressional Research Service Reports
Litigation Seeking to Establish Climate Change Impacts as a Common Law Nuisance
Date: May 9, 2011
Creator: Meltz, Robert
Description: There are five common law/nuisance suits addressing climate change now or formerly active. Of the three no longer active, none were successful. Of the two still-active cases, one has recently leaped to center stage because the Supreme Court agreed to hear it. In Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., Inc., eight states sued five utility companies alleged to be emitting the most GHGs in the nation through their coal-fired electric power plants. Following a Second Circuit decision, the Supreme Court agreed on December 6, 2010, to resolve threshold issues in this case.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc40110/
International Climate Change Financing: Needs, Sources, and Delivery Methods
Date: May 5, 2011
Creator: Lattanzio, Richard K.
Description: This report discusses the domestic and international efforts to increase foreign assistance to address climate change. Proponents maintain that such assistance could help promote low-emissions and high-growth economic development in lower-income countries, while simultaneously protecting the more vulnerable countries from the effects of a changing climate. The fundamental dispute concerning international financing for climate change centers upon who should pay for it and how.
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Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc40169/
Geoengineering: Governance and Technology Policy
Date: January 10, 2011
Creator: Bracmort, Kelsi
Description: This report is intended as a primer on the policy issues, science, and governance of geoengineering technologies. The report will first set the policy parameters under which geoengineering technologies may be considered. It will then describe selected technologies in detail and discuss their status. The third section provides a discussion of possible approaches to governmental involvement in, and oversight of, geoengineering, including a summary of domestic and international instruments and institutions that may affect geoengineering projects.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31472/
Litigation Seeking to Establish Climate Change Impacts as a Common Law Nuisance
Date: November 19, 2010
Creator: Meltz, Robert
Description: This report discusses recent legislative initiatives seeking to establish climate change impacts as a common law nuisance. The report explains what private and public nuisances are, the issues faced by policymakers when litigating a climate-change/nuisance suit, and also discusses five climate-chance/nuisance suits that are now or formerly active, as a basis of comparison. The report also explores arguments of those both for and against addressing the complex issue of climate change through common law suits.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc29637/
International Climate Change: A Negotiations Side-by-Side
Date: November 18, 2010
Creator: Leggett, Jane A.
Description: This report discusses various cooperative international efforts to address the issue of global climate change. The two major international agreements discussed in a side-by-side comparison are the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 2010 Copenhagen Accord. The report discusses how many observers are hoping that initiatives carried out under the Copenhagen Accord may help bridge divides between the various tracks and economic groupings established under the Kyoto Protocol.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc29635/
Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
Date: October 8, 2010
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Description: The diminishment of Arctic sea ice has led to increased human activities in the Arctic, and has heightened concerns about the region's future. Issues such as Arctic sovereignty claims; commercial shipping through the Arctic; Arctic oil, gas, and mineral exploration; endangered Arctic species; and increased military operations in the Arctic could cause the region in coming years to become an arena of international cooperation, competition, or conflict. This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress, and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific Arctic-related issues.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31354/
Ocean Acidification
Date: July 2, 2009
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
Description: With increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, the extent of effects on the ocean and marine resources is an increasing concern. One aspect of this issue is the ongoing process whereby seawater becomes acidified (i.e., ocean acidification) as more CO2 dissolves in it, causing hydrogen ion concentration in seawater to increase. While not yet fully understood, the ecological and economic consequences of ocean acidification could be substantial. Congress is beginning to focus attention on better understanding ocean acidification and determining how this concern might be addressed.
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Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc26133/
Calculation of Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions for the Renewable Fuel Standard
Date: June 25, 2009
Creator: Yacobucci, Brent D.
Description: The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) significantly expanded the renewable fuel standard (RFS) established in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. EISA requires an increasing amount of the 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022 mandate be met with "advanced biofuels." This report defines the classification "biofuels," discusses the ongoing debate regarding several aspects of biofuels endeavors, and discusses related legislative efforts on climate change policy and low-carbon fuel standards.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc26141/
Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Critical Barriers and Congressional Policy
Date: June 24, 2009
Creator: Parfomak, Paul W.
Description: Federal policymakers are debating a range of potential initiatives for reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from U.S. energy sources. An overarching policy issue which arises from carbon control proposals is how the CO2 reduction targets could be achieved. One method that has garnered significant attention is increasing the electricity efficiency in buildings. Analysts have identified a number of critical socioeconomic and policy barriers which have historically limited the impact of federal and state building efficiency programs. This report describes those barriers, the degree to which federal law has addressed them, and their implications for meeting future U.S. carbon reduction targets.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc26171/
Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS)
Date: June 19, 2009
Creator: Folger, Peter
Description: Carbon capture and sequestration (or storage) - known as CCS - has attracted interest as a measure for mitigating global climate change because large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from fossil fuel use in the United States are potentially available to be captured and stored underground or prevented from reaching the atmosphere. Congressional interest has grown in CCS as part of legislative strategies to address climate change. The large and rapid influx of funding for industrial-scale CCS projects may accelerate development and deployment of CO2 capture technologies.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc26253/