Congressional Research Service Reports - 1,392 Matching Results
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- EPA Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants: Many Questions, Some Answers
- This report discusses the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) proposals for electric generating units (EGU) Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
- The Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve and the National Oilheat Research Alliance
- This report discusses the price of home heating oil in the Northeast. The Northeast demand for home heating oil has declined by 47% since 2000, from nearly 7 billion gallons to 3.6 billion gallons in 2011. The report provides detailed information regarding northeast home heating oil reserve and national Oilheat Research Alliance.
- Nuclear Energy Policy
- This report discusses nuclear energy issues currently facing Congress, such as federal incentives for new commercial reactors, radioactive waste management policy, research and development priorities, power plant safety and regulation, nuclear weapons proliferation, and security against terrorist attacks.
- U.S. Natural Gas Exports: New Opportunities, Uncertain Outcomes
- This report examines what has changed in the U.S. natural gas market and the prospects and implications of the United States becoming a significant net natural gas exporter.
- Energy and Water Development: FY2014 Appropriations
- This report discusses the Energy and Water Development bill, which includes funding for civil works projects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), the Department of the Interior's Central Utah Project (CUP) and Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the Department of Energy (DOE), and a number of independent agencies, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).
- Hydropower: Federal and Nonfederal Investment
- This report analyzes a wide range of factors that would attribute to the success of investing in Hydropower, the use of flowing water to produce energy. Some factors include but are not limited to federal or nonfederal classifications, clean energy discussions, fluctuating electricity market rates.
- Energy Tax Policy: Issues in the 113th Congress
- This report discusses the energy tax policy that may also be considered as part of comprehensive tax reform legislation in the 113th Congress. Also the report discusses a number of other energy tax incentives, including provisions to support building energy efficiency and renewable fuels, that are also scheduled to expire at the end of 2013.
- Energy-Water Nexus: The Energy Sector’s Water Use
- This report addresses how the U.S. energy sector uses and relies on water; it provides summary descriptions into four topics: Water for Energy Primer, Fuel Production, Electric Grid and Generation, Policy Response Options and Considerations.
- Proposed U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the offshore areas of the Gulf of Mexico that provide a setting for domestic and international energy production, U.S. military training and border operations, trade and commerce, fishing, tourist attractions, and recreation.
- Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
- 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.
- European Union Wind and Solar Electricity Policies: Overview and Considerations
- The subject matter covered within this report is European Union (EU) renewable electricity generation--specifically onshore wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity.
- Energy Policy: 113th Congress Issues
- Report that discusses the energy policy in the United States, which is focused on three major goals: assuring a secure supply of energy, keeping energy costs low, and protecting the environment.
- Energy Policy: 113th Congress Issues
- This report discusses the energy policy in the United States that focuses on three major goals: assuring a secure supply of energy, Keeping energy costs low, and protecting the environment.
- Europe's Energy Security: Options and Challenges to Natural Gas Supply Diversification
- Report that focuses on potential approaches that Europe might employ to diversify its sources of natural gas supply, Russia's role in Europe's natural gas policies, and key factors that could hinder efforts to develop alternative suppliers of natural gas.
- Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
- 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.
- Energy Policy: 113th Congress Issues
- This report discusses energy policy in the United States that focus on three major goals: assuring a secure supply of energy, keeping energy costs low, and protecting the environment.
- Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
- 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.
- Wildfire Fuels and Fuel Reduction
- This report examines wildfire biomass fuels. It discusses fuel characteristics and their relation to wildfire intensity and spread, and includes a description of actions proposed to reduce biomass fuel levels, their effectiveness for protecting property and resources from wildfires, and their impacts on other resource values. It concludes with an examination of the federal authorities for fuel reduction activities on federal and non-federal lands, together with data on the funding provided under each of these authorities.
- Energy and Water Development: FY2014 Appropriations, Preliminary Tables
- No Description Available.
- U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices
- This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of the changing oil prices on the nation's merchandise trade balance.
- Keystone XL Pipeline Project: Key Issues
- This report describes the Keystone XL Project Presidential Permit application, and the process that the State Department is obligated to complete in processing that permit application. It also reviews selected issues that arose during the 2008 permit application process, particularly those that may affect the current permit application. This report also summarizes key arguments that have been raised, both for and against the pipeline, by the pipeline's developers, state and federal agencies, environmental groups, and other stakeholders. Finally, the report discusses the constitutional basis for the State Department's authority to issue a Presidential Permit, and opponents' possible challenges to this authority.
- Agriculture-Based Biofuels: Overview and Emerging Issues
- This report reviews the evolution of the U.S. biofuels sector and the role that federal policy has played in shaping its development. In addition, it highlights emerging issues that are critical to the biofuels sector and of relevance to Congress.
- Nuclear Energy: Overview of Congressional Issues
- This report discusses issues regarding the use of nuclear energy in light of the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster, which has lead several countries to reconsider the breadth of their nuclear programs. The report provides basic facts and statistics and then focuses specifically on major issues including safety, radioactive waste, policy, emergency response, and the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.
- Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
- 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.
- Energy and Water Development: FY2013 Appropriations
- No Description Available.
- U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices
- This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of the changing oil prices on the nation's merchandise trade balance.
- The World Bank Group Energy Sector Strategy
- This report summarizes the provisions of the proposed Energy Sector Strategy of the World Bank Group (WBG). It situates the strategy within current WBG lending practices and in response to various stakeholder critiques. A final section outlines issues for Congress.
- Keystone XL Pipeline Project: Key Issues
- This report describes the Keystone XL Project and the process that the State Department is obligated to complete in processing that permit application. It also reviews selected issues that arose during the 2008 permit application process, particularly those that may affect the current permit application. This report also summarizes key arguments that have been raised by the pipeline's developers, state and federal agencies, environmental groups, and other stakeholders. Finally, the report discusses the constitutional basis for the State Department's authority to issue a Presidential Permit, and opponents' possible challenges to this authority.
- U.S. Natural Gas Exports: New Opportunities, Uncertain Outcomes
- This report examines what has changed in the U.S. natural gas market and the prospects and implications of the United States becoming a significant net natural gas exporter.
- Alternative Fuels and Advanced Technology Vehicles: Issues in Congress
- This report provides an overview of current issues surrounding alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles - issues discussed in further detail in other CRS reports referred to in each section.
- Algae's Potential as a Transportation Biofuel
- This report discusses the status of algae-based biofuels (ABB) research and development, federal funding, and legislative concerns.
- Offshore Oil and Gas Development: Legal Framework
- This report explains the nature of U.S. authority over offshore areas pursuant to international and domestic law. It also describes the laws, at both the state and federal levels, governing the development of offshore oil and gas and the litigation that has flowed from development under these legal regimes. Also included is an outline of recent changes to the authorities regulating offshore development, as well as a discussion of recent executive action and legislative proposals concerning offshore oil and natural gas exploration and production.
- Canadian Oil Sands: Life-Cycle Assessments of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- This report discusses the basic methodology of life-cycle assessments and compares several of the publicly available studies of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data for Canadian oil sands crudes against each other and against those of other global reference crudes. As congressional concern over the environmental impacts of Canadian oil sands production may encompass both a broad understanding of the resource as well as a specific assessment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the report surveys both the general scientific literature as well as the individual findings in the State Department's 2011 Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and 2013 Draft Supplementary EIS for the Keystone XL Project.
- Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS): Overview and Issues
- This report focuses specifically on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). It describes the general nature of the biofuels RFS and its implementation, and outlines some of the emerging issues related to the sustainability of the continued growth in U.S. biofuels production needed to fulfill the expanding RFS mandate, as well as the emergence of potential unintended consequences of this rapid expansion. This report does not address the broader public policy issue of how best to support U.S. energy policy.
- U.S. and World Coal Production, Federal Taxes, and Incentives
- This report serves as a primer on U.S. and world coal resources and production and highlights some of the congressional interest related to coal production on U.S. federal lands. The report primarily describes the past 10 years of coal activity but also includes a discussion of future coal production projections and federal coal incentives, many of which do not expire.
- Meeting the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Mandate for Cellulosic Biofuels: Questions and Answers
- This report, in a question and answer format, discusses some challenges facing the cellulosic biofuels community, including feedstock supply estimates, and potential legislative options to address cellulosic biofuels production uncertainty for the Renewable Fuel Standard.
- U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices
- This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of the changing oil prices on the nation's merchandise trade balance.
- DOD Alternative Fuels: Policy, Initiatives and Legislative Activity
- This report provides background information and identifies issues for Congress regarding Department of Defense (DOD) alternative fuel initiatives, a subject of debate at congressional hearings on DOD's proposed FY2013 budget. The services (the Army, Navy, and Air Force) have spent approximately $48 million to purchase alternative fuels, and the Navy has proposed a $170 million investment in biofuel production capacity. The services have also spent funds on testing, certification and demonstrations of alternative fuels. By comparison, DOD purchases of petroleum fuels totaled approximately $17.3 billion in FY2011.
- Prospects for Coal in Electric Power and Industry
- This report discusses future prospects for coal as the dominant fuel used in electricity production. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects coal to be a significant part of the U.S. power generation industry's future to well past 2030, but given price competition from natural gas, and emerging environmental regulations, that role will likely be smaller than in recent decades. Coal-fired generation is likely to face a challenging future.
- Keystone XL Pipeline Project: Key Issues
- This report describes the Keystone XL Project Presidential Permit application, and the process that the State Department is obligated to complete in processing that permit application. It also reviews selected issues that arose during the 2008 permit application process, particularly those that may affect the current permit application. This report also summarizes key arguments that have been raised, both for and against the pipeline, by the pipeline's developers, state and federal agencies, environmental groups, and other stakeholders. Finally, the report discusses the constitutional basis for the State Department's authority to issue a Presidential Permit, and opponents' possible challenges to this authority.
- Hydropower: Federal and Nonfederal Investment
- This report explains how the federal government is involved directly in hydropower generation at federal facilities and in the regulation of nonfederal hydropower generation; the focus is on current roles and processes and common concerns and questions about changing those roles.
- Hydraulic Fracturing and Safe Drinking Water Act Regulatory Issues
- This report reviews past and proposed treatment of hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the principal federal statute for regulating the underground injection of fluids to protect groundwater sources of drinking water. It reviews current SDWA provisions for regulating underground injection activities, and discusses some possible implications of the enactment of legislation authorizing EPA to regulate hydraulic fracturing (beyond diesel) under this statute.
- Energy Policy: 113th Congress Issues
- This report discusses various aspects and considerations regarding energy policy in the United States. The report covers topics including energy conservation, efficiency, supply, prices and legislation.
- Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
- 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.
- Electricity Transmission Cost Allocation
- This report analyzes recent developments concerning transmission cost allocation leading up to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Order No. 1000, as well as the contents of the order and their potential impact on the transmission planning process in the future.
- Department of Defense Purchase of Renewable Energy Credits Under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012
- Report that looks at the background of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA), the Department of Defense's (DOD) electrical use, and DOD electricity use versus state electricity use.
- Biomass: Comparison of Definitions in Legislation Through the 112th Congress
- Report discussing the use of biomass, its legislative history, and the proposed redefinition of biomass in legislation.
- Energy Policy: 112th Congress Issues and Legislative Proposals
- This report discusses the energy policy in the United States, which has focused on three major goals: assuring a secure supply of energy, keeping energy costs low, and protecting the environment.
- U.S. Renewable Electricity: How Does Wind Generation Impact Competitive Power Markets?
- This report analyzes the impacts of wind generation on competitive power markets, including financial and economic impacts on electric power generators. Overall, the report aims to provide context for several electricity market concepts that are relevant to understanding the economic effects of wind power generation.
- Natural Gas in the U.S. Economy: Opportunities for Growth
- Report that examines what has changed in the natural gas industry and focuses on the demand side and ancillary benefits to the U.S. economy.