Congressional Research Service Reports - 96 Matching Results

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Clean Water Act Section 401: Background and Issues

Description: 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 … more
Date: October 4, 1998
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Issues in the 104th Congress

Description: 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… more
Date: December 1, 1994
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Brownfields Program: Cleaning Up Urban Industrial Sites

Description: 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 go… more
Date: April 3, 1995
Creator: Reisch, Mark
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Deforestation: An Overview of Global Programs and Agreements

Description: 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… more
Date: October 21, 1992
Creator: Lyke, Julie & Fletcher, Susan R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Fast-Track Trade Authority Proposals: Which Environmental Issues are Included in the Principal Negotiating Objectives?

Description: 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.
Date: October 17, 1997
Creator: Wilson, Arlene
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Environmental Protection: How Much it Costs and Who Pays

Description: 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 $1… more
Date: April 16, 1997
Creator: Blodgett, John E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Fast-Track Trade Authority: Which Environmental Issues are "Directly Related to Trade"?

Description: 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.
Date: October 2, 1997
Creator: Wilson, Arlene
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Global Climate Change Treaty: Negotiations and Related Issues

Description: 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… more
Date: November 21, 1997
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Issues in the 105th Congress

Description: For the 105th Congress, reauthorization of the Clean Water Act may be a priority in the second session. The Act was last amended in 1987 and authorizations expired on Sept. 30, 1990. Clean water was a priority for the last two Congresses, but no legislation was enacted. In the 104th Congress, the House passed a comprehensive reauthorization bill, but during House debate and subsequently, controversies arose over whether and how the Act should be made more flexible and less burdensome on regulat… more
Date: August 21, 1997
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Global Climate Change: Carbon Emissions and End-Use Energy Demand

Description: This report presents an analysis of the potential impacts of the Kyoto Protocol on U.S. energy demand. The analysis focuses on 27 common end-uses — light duty vehicles, residential space heating, industrial direct process heat, etc. — that describe the way energy is used in the United States
Date: January 20, 1999
Creator: Rowberg, Richard E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Animal Waste Management and the Environment: Background for Current Issues

Description: This report addresses the Background and the then current issues related to Animal Waste Management and the Environment.This background report describes the livestock production industry along with the public health and environmental concerns related to the industry.
Date: April 26, 1999
Creator: Copeland, Claudia & Zinn, Jeffrey
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality: EPA’s Proposed Ozone Transport Rule, OTAG, and Section 126 Petitions — A Hazy Situation?

Description: 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.
Date: May 14, 1998
Creator: Parker, Larry & Blodgett, John E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Stormwater Permits: Status of EPA's Regulatory Program

Description: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states are implementing a federally mandated program for controlling stormwater discharges from industrial plants and municipalities. Because of the large number of affected sources and deadline changes and extensions that have led to confusion, numerous questions have arisen about this program. Impacts of the program;s requirements, especially on cities, are a continuing concern. EPA has recently proposed permit rules to cover smaller cities and so… more
Date: June 10, 1998
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Role of Designation of Critical Habitat under the Endangered Species Act

Description: On June 14th, 1999, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) called for public comment on its current procedures for designating critical habitat. In addition, a proposal is before the Senate (S.1100) to move the time at which critical habitat must be designated for a species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) from being (basically) concurrent with the listing of the species to the time a recovery plan is finalized for that species. This report is written as background for considering the curren… more
Date: July 16, 1999
Creator: Baldwin, Pamela
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996: Overview of P.L. 104-182

Description: The 104th Congress made extensive changes to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) with the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 (P.L. 104-182), bringing to a close a multi-year effort to amend a statute that was widely criticized as having too little flexibility, too many unfunded mandates, and an arduous but unfocused regulatory schedule. Among the many changes to the SDWA, the 1996 amendments added provisions to provide funding to communities for drinking water madates, focus regulatory e… more
Date: February 8, 1999
Creator: Tiemann, Mary
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Implementing Acid Rain Legislation

Description: This report discusses the broad-ranging provisions in Title IV of The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (P.L. 101-549), which raise myriad implementation issues, particularly with respect to the system of tradable "allowances."
Date: April 5, 1995
Creator: Parker, Larry
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality: EPA's Ozone Transport Rule, OTAG, and Section 216 Petitions - A Hazy Situation?

Description: 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.
Date: June 15, 1999
Creator: Parker, Larry & Blodgett, John E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Highway Fund Sanctions and Conformity Under the Clean Air Act

Description: 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 impro… more
Date: October 15, 1999
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality: EPA's Proposed Ozone Transport Rule, OTAG, and Section 216 Petitions - A Hazy Situation?

Description: 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.
Date: May 14, 1998
Creator: Parker, Larry & Blodgett, John E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Implementing Acid Rain Legislation

Description: This report discusses the broad-ranging provisions in Title IV of The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (P.L. 101-549), which raise myriad implementation issues, particularly with respect to the system of tradable "allowances."
Date: November 15, 1994
Creator: Parker, Larry
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Trade and Environment: Treatment in Recent Agreements--GATT and NAFTA

Description: This report reviews some of the concerns surrounding the environment work program and other environmental issues. It briefly describes work underway in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and current thinking underlying development of U.S. positions on trade and the environment in the GATT.
Date: February 24, 1994
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R. & Tiemann, Mary
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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