Congressional Research Service Reports - 404 Matching Results
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- Air Quality: EPA’s Proposed Ozone Transport Rule, OTAG, and Section 126 Petitions — A Hazy Situation?
- 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.
- Air Quality: EPA's Ozone Transport Rule, OTAG, and Section 216 Petitions - A Hazy Situation?
- 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.
- Highway Fund Sanctions and Conformity Under the Clean Air Act
- This report discusses two Clean Air Act provisions that can result in denial of federal highway funding to local areas: sanctions and the lapse of what is called "conformity." Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is required to impose highway fund or other sanctions on areas that have not submitted or not implemented adequate plans to attain air quality standards. In addition, federal agencies may not provide financial support to transportation improvements in areas that have not attained air quality standards, unless the improvements conform with the State Implementation Plan for achieving air quality. This report provides information concerning the authority to impose sanctions and to make conformity determinations, lists the areas that have been subject to sanctions determinations since 1990, describes their current status, and discusses the role of sanctions and alternatives under the Act. This report will be updated as developments warrant.
- The Role of Offsets in a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap-and-Trade Program: Potential Benefits and Concerns
- 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 associated with offsets.
- Air Quality: EPA's Proposed Ozone Transport Rule, OTAG, and Section 216 Petitions - A Hazy Situation?
- 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.
- Acid Rain: Does it Contribute to Forest Decline?
- This minibrief describes the major hypothesis explaining why acid rain may be contributing to forest decline, along with the major arguments against this hypothesis. For additional information on acid rain and current legislation for pollutant emissions controls, see IB83016 -- Acid Rain: Current Issues, and IB83005 -- Clean Air Act: An Overview.
- Air Pollution (A brief Summary of Federal Activities)
- This report is a summary of federal-mandated research on air pollution in the United States, its impact on health, how to control it, and better techniques to maintain air quality.
- Mercury Emissions from Electric Power Plants: States are Setting Stricter Limits
- No Description Available.
- The D.C. Circuit Remands the Ozone and Particulate Matter Clean-Air Standards:
- 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 of congressional authority to agencies. In addition, its holding that the revised ozone ambient standard cannot be enforced has sparkled debate. By itself, however, the decision is unlikely to have major short-term effects on the ozone and particulate matter control programs
- Clean Air Standards: The Supreme Court Agrees to Review
- In May, 2000, the Supreme Court agreed to review this decision, raising the prospect of a major pronouncement on the non-delegation doctrine, the enforceability of the revised ozone standard, and the role of compliance costs in setting nationwide air quality standards.
- The Clean Air Act and Non-Degradation
- This report discusses the policy of non-degradation as put forth in the Clean Air Act.
- Air Pollution: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography
- This report is an annotated bibliography of references on air pollution, mainly focusing on Congressional documents that were recent as of the report's publication. In the first section, the author organizes the entries alphabetically by author, or by title if there is no author. In the second section, the author arranges the entries by major subject headings, with sub-headings where necessary.
- Federal Agency Actions Following the Supreme Court’s Climate Change Decision: A Chronology
- 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).
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, that would produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, that would produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- From an environmental quality standpoint, much of the interest in animal agriculture has focused on impacts on water resources, because animal waste, if not properly managed, can harm water quality through surface runoff, direct discharges, spills, and leaching into soil and groundwater. A more recent issue is the contribution of emissions from animal feeding operations (AFO), enterprises where animals are raised in confinement, to air pollution. AFOs can affect air quality through emissions of gases such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, and odor. These pollutants and compounds have a number of environmental and human health effects. This report reviews key issues associated with the Air Compliance Agreement.
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, that would produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, that would produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
- Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) in the United States
- This report provides a summary and analysis of the current state of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) in the United States and current legislation and funding related to the CCS process and the regulation of air pollution and greenhouse gases.
- Aviation and Climate Change
- This report provides background on aviation emissions and the factors affecting them; it discusses the tools available to control emissions, including existing authority under the Clean Air Act and proposed economy-wide cap-and-trade legislation; and it examines international regulatory developments that may affect U.S. commercial airlines.
- Aviation and Climate Change
- This report provides background on aviation emissions and the factors affecting them; it discusses the tools available to control emissions, including existing authority under the Clean Air Act and proposed economy-wide cap-and-trade legislation; and it examines international regulatory developments that may affect U.S. commercial airlines.
- EPA's 20115 Ozone Air Quality Standards
- This report discusses the EPA's standard-setting process for National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), the specifics of the most recent reviews, and issues raised by the 2015 rulemaking, which lowered the allowed levels of ozone pollution in the air, and its implementation.
- EPA Proposes to Repeal the Clean Power Plan
- This report discuses the EPA proposal in October 2017 to repeal the "Clean Power Plan" due to their determination after review of the rule that it exceeded their statutory authority to implement it. Steps in the process of repealing the rule, the outcome of the current court case regarding the rule, and possible replacement rules regarding Carbon dioxide emissions and power plants.
- Air Quality and Electricity: Enforcing New source Review
- This report discusses seven law suits that the Justice Department filed against electric utilities in the Midwest and South in violation of the New Source Review (NSR) and Clean Air Act (CAA). The EPA is attempting to use the NSR and CAA to reduce emissions, even thought they believe that some sources are evading NSR requirements.
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, that would produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, intended to produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, that would produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, that would produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
- Air Quality: EPA’s Proposed Interstate Air Quality Rule
- This report discusses the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed rule on the effect of interstate transport of air pollutants on non-attainment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The Interstate Air Quality (IAQ) rule suggests a region-wide emissions cap to be implemented in two phases.
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- From an environmental quality standpoint, much of the interest in animal agriculture has focused on impacts on water resources, because animal waste, if not properly managed, can harm water quality through surface runoff, direct discharges, spills, and leaching into soil and groundwater. A more recent issue is the contribution of emissions from animal feeding operations (AFO), enterprises where animals are raised in confinement, to air pollution. AFOs can affect air quality through emissions of gases such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, and odor. These pollutants and compounds have a number of environmental and human health effects. This report reviews key issues associated with the Air Compliance Agreement.
- Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement
- This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, that would produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
- Air Pollution: Remedial Activities of the 91st Congress
- This report discusses legislative proposals and bills in the 91st Congress related to reducing air pollution.
- Estimates of Carbon Mitigation Potential from Agricultural and Forestry Activities
- This report presents a brief overview of the available estimates from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carbon mitigation studies, and then discusses some of the limitations of the available data and modeling results. It includes informationa bout estimated current emissions and sequestration, estimated addtional potential sequestration, limitations of mitigation potential estimates, and considerations for Congress.
- Estimates of Carbon Mitigation Potential from Agricultural and Forestry Activities
- The report is organized into three parts. The first provides a brief overview of the role of the agriculture and forestry sectors within the broader climate change debate, describing available estimates of current GHG emissions and carbon sequestration in the farm and forestry sectors. The second describes available data and information on the potential for carbon storage (tonnage) by type of farming and forestry activity, and presents available estimates of the carbon sequestration potential in these sectors. The final part discusses some of the limitations of available estimates of GHG mitigation potential in the agriculture and forestry sectors, focusing on recent policy and market changes and other types of modeling uncertainties that could limit the accuracy of available mitigation projections.
- Highway Funding, the States, and New Air Quality Standards
- The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), PL. 102-240, set aside $6 billion from FY1992 to FY1997 for the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ) to assist states in complying with federal air quality standards by funding transportation projects that lower emissions.
- Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: Implementation Issues
- For two decades, scientists have been warning that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons (bromine-containing fluorocarbons) may deplete the stratospheric ozone shield that screens out some of the Sun's harmful ultraviolet rays and thus regulates the amounts which reach the Earth's surface. CFCs have been used as refrigerants, solvents, foam blowing agents, and outside the United States, as aerosol propellants; Halons are used primarily as firefighting agents. Increased radiation could result in an increase in skin cancers, suppression of the human immune system, and decreased productivity of terrestrial and aquatic organisms, including some commercially important crops.
- Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: Regulatory Issues
- For two decades, scientists have been warning that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Halons (bromine-containing fluorocarbons) may deplete the stratospheric ozone shield that screens out some of the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays and thus regulates the amounts which reach the Earth's surface. CFCs have been used as refrigerants, solvents, foam blowing agents, and outside the United States as aerosol propellants; Halons are used primarily as firefighting agents. Increased radiation could result in an increase in skin cancers, suppression of the human immune system, and decreased productivity of terrestrial and aquatic organisms, including some commercially important crops.
- Federal Agency Actions Following the Supreme Court's Climate Change Decision: A Chronology
- This report presents a chronology of major federal agency actions taken in the wake of Massachusetts v. EPA. In Massachusetts v. EPA, the 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). As a result, said the Court, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had improperly denied a petition seeking CAA regulation of GHGs from new motor vehicles by saying the agency lacked authority over such emissions.
- Climate Change Legislation in the 109th Congress
- Climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a continuing issue in the 109th Congress. Bills directly addressing climate change issues range from those focused primarily on climate change research to comprehensive emissions cap-and-trade programs. Additional bills focus on GHG reporting and registries, or on power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, as part of wider controls on pollutant emissions. The bills vary in their approaches to climate change issues. This report briefly discusses the basic concepts on which these bills are based and compares major provisions of the bills in each of the following categories: climate change research, technology deployment, GHG reporting and registries, and emissions reduction programs.
- Climate Change Legislation in the 109th Congress
- Climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a continuing issue in the 109th Congress. Bills directly addressing climate change issues range from those focused primarily on climate change research to comprehensive emissions cap-and-trade programs. Additional bills focus on GHG reporting and registries, or on power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, as part of wider controls on pollutant emissions. The bills vary in their approaches to climate change issues. This report briefly discusses the basic concepts on which these bills are based and compares major provisions of the bills in each of the following categories: climate change research, technology deployment, GHG reporting and registries, and emissions reduction programs.
- Climate Change Legislation in the 109th Congress
- Climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a continuing issue in the 109th Congress. Bills directly addressing climate change issues range from those focused primarily on climate change research to comprehensive emissions cap-and-trade programs. Additional bills focus on GHG reporting and registries, or on power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, as part of wider controls on pollutant emissions. The bills vary in their approaches to climate change issues. This report briefly discusses the basic concepts on which these bills are based and compares major provisions of the bills in each of the following categories: climate change research, technology deployment, GHG reporting and registries, and emissions reduction programs.
- Air Pollution: Legal Perspectives on the “Routine Maintenance” Exception to New Source Review
- The report surveys the original legal landscape surrounding this exemption – in the contexts of determining applicability of New Source Performance Standards, and New Source Review in Prevention of Significant Deterioration and nonattainment areas. It then summarizes the many significant developments during the current Bush Administration, both in the Federal Register and in the courts.
- Air Pollution Emission Control: Existing Technologies and Mercury Cobenefits
- This report considers the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) use of stationary sources to reduce air pollutant emissions. Specifically, when these technologies reduce pollutants that they were not necessarily designed for which creates cobenefits.
- Paris Agreement: United States, China Move to Become Parties to Climate Change Treaty
- This report discusses the Paris agreement, which was negotiated under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and where President Obama and China's President Xi Jinping synchronously deposited their nations' signed instruments with U.N. Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon.
- Methane and Other Air Pollution Issues in Natural Gas Systems
- This report discusses the natural gas supply chain that contributes to air pollution in several ways, including (1) the leaking, venting, and combustion of natural gas in the course of production operations; and (2) the combustion of other fossil fuel resources or other emissions during associated operations.
- Methane and Other Air Pollution Issues in Natural Gas Systems
- This report provides information on the natural gas industry and the types and sources of air pollutants in the sector. It examines the role of the federal government in regulating these emissions, including the provisions in the Clean Air Act and other statutes, and EPA's and other agencies' regulatory activities. It concludes with a brief discussion of a number of issues under debate.
- Climate Change and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS): Looking to 2020
- This report discusses the European Union's (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is a cornerstone of the EU's efforts to meet its obligation under the Kyoto Protocol. It covers more than 10,000 energy intensive facilities across the 27 EU Member countries.
- Clean Air Issues in the 111th Congress
- This report provides a brief overview on the issue of climate change as well as other Clean Air Act issues of interest to the 111th Congress.
- Clean Air Issues in the 111th Congress
- This report provides a brief overview on the issue of climate change as well as other Clean Air Act issues of interest to the 111th Congress.
- International Climate Change Financing: The Green Climate Fund (GCF)
- This report discusses the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which aims to assist developing countries in their efforts to combat climate change through the provision of grants and other concessional financing for mitigation and adaptation projects, programs, policies, and activities.