Congressional Research Service Reports - 951 Matching Results
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- Animal Waste and Water Quality: EPA’s Response to the Waterkeeper Alliance Court Decision on Regulation of CAFOs
- On June 30th, 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed regulations that would revise a 2003 Clean Water Act rule governing waste discharges from large confined animal feeding operations. This report details the 2003 rule and the Waterkeeper Alliance Decision and the EPA's response, including agricultural stormwater discharges, duties to apply for a permit, nutrient management plans, and aspects of the effluent limitation guidelines for confined animal feeding operations.
- Environmental Protection Issues in the 109th Congress
- This report provides an overview of key environmental issues receiving attention in the 109th Congress.
- Environmental Protection Issues in the 109th Congress
- This report provides an overview of key environmental issues receiving attention in the 109th Congress.
- Environmental Protection Issues in the 109th Congress
- This report gives an overview of key environmental issues that are receiving or may receive attention in the 109th Congress
- Environmental Protection Issues in the 109th Congress
- This report provides an overview of key environmental issues receiving attention in the 109th Congress
- EPA's New Ozone Standards: A Few Thoughts
- This report discusses the EPA's review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). After several years of analysis, EPA proposed more stringent standards last November. This began a public comment period, leading toward the final decision.
- EPA and the Army Corps' Rule to Define "Waters of the United States"
- This report describes the final revised rule defining the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA)--which the agencies refer to as the Clean Water Rule--and includes a table comparing the existing regulatory language that defines "waters of the United States" with the revisions.
- International Climate Change Negotiations: What to Expect in Paris, December 2015
- This report identifies critical issues regarding the expected Paris Agreement and a Decision that would give effect to the Agreement. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) draws on the draft negotiating texts, publicly available reports, and commentaries to suggest likely outcomes.
- EPA and the Army Corps' "Waters of the United States" Rule: Congressional Response and Options
- This report discusses four legislative options that Congress could consider to halt or redirect the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineer's proposed "waters of the United States" rule.
- EPA and the Army Corps' "Waters of the United States" Rule: Congressional Response and Options
- This report discusses four legislative options that Congress could consider to halt or redirect the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineer's proposed "waters of the United States" rule.
- Clean Water Act Section 401: Background and Issues
- Section 401 of the Clean Water Act requires that an applicant for a federal license or permit provide a certification that any discharges from the facility will comply with the Act, including water quality standard requirements. Disputes have arisen over the states' exercise of authority under Section 401. Until recently, much of the debate over the Section 401 certification issue has been between states and hydropower interests. A 1994 Supreme Court decision which upheld the states' authority in this area dismayed development and hydroelectric power interest groups. The Court revisited these issues in a 2006 ruling that unanimously upheld the states' authority to condition hydropower licenses. The dispute between states and industry groups about Section 401 authority has been a legislative issue on several occasions, but Congress has not responded by modifying the provision's scope. In addition, there has been interest in clarifying whether Section 401 certification applies to nonpoint source discharges, such as rainfall runoff, as well as point source discharges from pipes or ditches.
- Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report provides background information and issues for Congress on sustaining and modernizing the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions.
- Global Climate Change: Congressional Concern About "Back Door" Implementation of the 1997 U.N. Kyoto Protocol
- This report discusses legislation and issues relating to global climate change, some legislation and some FY1999 appropriations bills were used as vehicles for explicit congressional direction to the executive branch about possible "back door" implementation of the Kyoto Protocol.
- The Future of the Citizen Suit After Steel Co. and Laidlaw
- Two recent court decisions have called into question the viability of environmental citizen suits. In Steel Co., the Supreme Court denied plaintiff standing in a citizen suit where the defendant came into compliance after plaintiff sent its notice of intent to sue, but before it filed the complaint. Subsequently, the Fourth Circuit in Laidlaw invoked mootness doctrine to extend Steel Co.
- Clean Water Act Section 401: Background and Issues
- Section 401 of the Clean Water Act requires that an applicant for a federal license or permit provide a certification that any discharges from the facility will comply with the Act, including water quality standard requirements. Disputes have arisen over the states' exercise of authority under Section 401. Until recently, much of the debate over the Section 401 certification issue has been between states and hydropower interests. A 1994 Supreme Court decision which upheld the states' authority in this area dismayed development and hydroelectric power interest groups. The dispute between states and industry groups was a legislative issue in the 104th Congress through an amendment to a House-passed Clean Water Act re-authorization bill; the Senate did not act on that bill.
- Clean Water Issues in the 104th Congress
- For the 104th Congress, reauthorization of the Clean Water Act would seem likely to be a priority, since the Act was last amended in 1987 and authorizations expired on September 30, 1990. But legislative prospects in the 104th Congress are uncertain. Clean water also was a priority for the 103rd Congress, but, in 1994, Congress ran out of time and did not act on comprehensive amendments. Many of the issues proved to be too complex and controversial to be resolved easily, while Congress also was considering a large agenda of environmental and other bills. Controversies arose in connection with issues specific to the Clean Water Act and a trio of regulatory relief issues that became barriers to a number of bills in the 103rd Congress.
- Brownfields Program: Cleaning Up Urban Industrial Sites
- The Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is a pilot project to return idle or underused industrial and commercial facilities back to productive use, in situations where redevelopment is complicated by potential environmental contamination. The program is flexible, allowing cities to use a variety of approaches in utilizing grants of up to $200,000 to develop abandoned and underused sites, neighborhoods, and small regional areas. States and Indian tribes are eligible as well as local governments.
- Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
- This report discusses global climate change and the possibility that human activities are releasing gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), at rates that could affect global climate change.
- Deforestation: An Overview of Global Programs and Agreements
- In recent years, global environmental concerns have figured prominently on the American political agenda. In particular, tropical deforestation and its implications for global climate change and biological diversity loss have prompted public outcry. Concerns have since grown to include other forest types as well. The Congress has considered a variety of legislation to stem the tide of increasing deforestation and the United States has supported a number of bilateral and multilateral initiatives to assist other countries in managing their forest resources.
- Fast-Track Trade Authority Proposals: Which Environmental Issues are Included in the Principal Negotiating Objectives?
- This report discusses fast-track negotiating authority, which provides that Congress will consider trade agreements within mandatory deadlines, with limited debate, and without amendment. Environmental provisions are eligible for the fast-track procedure only if they meet at least one of the principal trade negotiating objectives.
- Environmental Protection: How Much it Costs and Who Pays
- A recurring issue in environmental policy is the cost of pollution control imposed on individuals, businesses, and government. To inform policymakers about these costs, a number of surveys and analyses have been conducted over the years. consistent, basic sources have been an annual survey of costs to manufacturers, conducted by the Bureau of Census(BOC), and an annual analysis of total costs, prepared by the Bureau of Economic Analysis(BEA). Overall, the BEA analysis showed the nation spent $122 billion for pollution abatement and control in 1994, or about 1.76% of Gross Domestic Product. Personal consumption expenditures for pollution control were $22 billion, government 435 billion, and business $65 billion. These 1994 data represent the end of the annual series; the BOC survey and BEA analysis have been discontinued
- Fast-Track Trade Authority: Which Environmental Issues are "Directly Related to Trade"?
- This report discusses fast-track negotiating authority, which provides that Congress will consider trade agreements within mandatory deadlines, with limited debate, and without amendment. Trade negotiating objectives have generally been included in fast-track legislation to establish priorities for trade negotiators.
- Litigation Seeking to Establish Climate Change Impacts as a Common Law Nuisance
- 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.
- EPA and the Army Corps' Proposed Rule to Define "Waters of the United States"
- This report describes the March 25, 2014 proposed rule to define "waters of the United States," particularly focused on clarifying the regulatory status of waters located in isolated places in a landscape, the types of waters with ambiguous jurisdictional status following the Supreme Court's ruling. It includes a table comparing the proposal to existing regulatory language.
- Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the sustaining and modernization of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions.
- EPA and the Army Corps' Proposed "Waters of the United States" Rule: Congressional Response and Options
- This report discusses four legislative options that Congress could consider to halt or redirect the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineer's proposed "waters of the United States" rule: the Congressional Review Act, appropriations bill limitations, targeted legislation, and broad amendments to the Clean Water Act. Each option faces a steep path to enactment.
- 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.
- The World Bank's Clean Technology Fund (CTF)
- The United States Treasury has led efforts to create a $10 billion Clean Technology Fund (CTF), located at the World Bank, to help fund deployment of clean technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing economies. The Bush administration has asked Congress to authorize and appropriate U.S. funding of $2 billion over three years (FY2009 to FY2011). While many Members of Congress have expressed support for the CTF, others have raised concerns, primarily with respect to whether the CTF should finance carbon-based energy projects. To date, Congress has not passed legislation authorizing or appropriating U.S. contributions to the Fund.
- Clean Water Issues in the 107th Congress: An Overview
- Key water quality issues that may face the 107th Congress include: actions to implement existing provisions of the Clean Water Act, whether additional steps are necessary to achieve overall goals of the Act, and the appropriate federal role in guiding and paying for clean water activities. This Act is the principal law that deals with polluting activity in the nation’s lakes, rivers, and coastal waters and authorizes funds to aid construction of municipal wastewater treatment plants. Legislative prospects for comprehensively amending it have been stalled over whether and exactly how to change the law.
- Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
- This report discusses global climate change and the possibility that human activities are releasing gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), at rates that could affect global climate change.
- Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
- This report discusses global climate change and the market-based strategies to reduce greenhouse gases.
- Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
- This report discusses global climate change and the possibility that human activities are releasing gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), at rates that could affect global climate change.
- Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
- This report discusses global climate change and the market-based strategies to reduce greenhouse gases.
- Global Climate Change: The Kyoto Protocol
- Negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was completed on December 11, 1997, committing the industrialized nations to specified, legally binding reductions in emissions of six “greenhouse gases.” The Protocol entered into force on February 16, 2005, and its emissions reduction requirements are binding on the 35 industrialized countries that have ratified it; the United States disengaged from the Protocol in 2001 and has not ratified it.
- Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR): Controversies for the 108th Congress
- This report discusses the ongoing debate about whether or not to approve energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Current law forbids energy leasing in the Refuge. This report addresses several legislative options on the issue, as well as policymakers' arguments for and against development, especially in the wake of increasing terrorism since 2000-2001.
- Global Climate Change Treaty: Negotiations and Related Issues
- This report discusses the negotiations leading the Kyoto conference of the parties. The United States and other parties to the 1992 Climate Change Convention signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro will meet December 1-12 in Kyoto, Japan, to conclude year-long negotiations on a legally binding protocol or amendment to reduce or stabilize emissions of greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. proposal to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases to 1990 levels between 2008-2012 is less ambitious than environmentalists and many other treaty Parties urge, but represents a commitment that others, including many in business, fear could damage the economy. A key aspect of the negotiations also is what should be expected of developing nations, whose current emissions of greenhouse gases are relatively small, but are expected to increase rapidly over the next decade with economic development. A sense of the Senate resolution calls for all countries to meet scheduled reductions, and would agree to U.S. participation only if harm to the domestic economy is avoided. If agreement is reached in Kyoto, Senate approval would be required for U.S. ratification, and legislation to implement commitments would also likely be necessary.
- Climate Change Legislation in the 108th Congress
- Climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been an issue in the 108th Congress, as they have been over the past decade. Bills directly addressing climate change issues range from those focused primarily on climate change research (H.R. 1578 and S. 1164) to comprehensive emissions cap and trading programs for all six greenhouse gases (S. 139 and H.R. 4067). This report briefly discusses basic concepts on which these bills are based, and compares major provisions of the bills in each of the following categories: climate change research, GHG reporting and registries, and cap and trade programs.
- Superfund: A Brief Comparison of the Chairmen's Bills
- No Description Available.
- Safe Drinking Water Act: Implementation and Issues
- No Description Available.
- Safe Drinking Water Act: Implementation and Issues
- No Description Available.
- Safe Drinking Water Act: Implementation and Issues
- No Description Available.
- Safe Drinking Water Act: Implementation and Issues
- No Description Available.
- Safe Drinking Water Act: Implementation and Issues
- No Description Available.
- Superfund and Brownfields in the 107th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Superfund and Brownfields in the 107th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Superfund and Brownfields in the 107th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Superfund and Brownfields in the 107th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Superfund and Brownfields in the 107th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Superfund and Brownfields in the 107th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Global Climate Change: Adequacy of Commitments Under the U.N. Framework Convention and the Berlin Mandate
- This report discusses the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) convened July 8-19, 1996, in Geneva, Switzerland.