Congressional Research Service Reports - 105 Matching Results
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- Environmental Pollution: Legislation and Programs in the Areas of Water and Air Pollution and Solid Waste Management
- This report discusses past and current legislation related to air and water pollution as well as solid waste management.
- The Environmental Protection Agency's Brownfields Program: Scope, Authorities, and Implementation
- The federal role in assisting states and communities to clean up brownfield sites -- real property affected by the potential presence of environmental contamination -- has been an ongoing issue for more than a decade. While there appears to be a broad consensus that a federal role in the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields is desirable, issues regarding the degree of financial assistance and overall program effectiveness have been raised.
- Exemptions from Environmental Law for the Department of Defense
- Whether broader expansions from federal environmental laws are needed to preserve military readiness has been an issue. Questions have been raised as to whether environmental requirements have limited military training activities to the point that readiness would be compromised. The potential impacts of broader exemptions on environmental quality have raised additional questions. Although certain exemptions the Department of Defense (DOD) first requested in FY2003 have been enacted into law, Congress has opposed others. From FY2003 to FY2008, DOD requested exemptions from the Clean Air Act, Solid Waste Disposal Act, and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. To date, Congress has not enacted these three latter exceptions. The Administration's FY2009 defense authorization bill does not include these exemptions.
- Federal and State Authority to Regulate Radioactive Waste Disposal and Transportation
- There appears to be a growing controversy concerning whether a state has the authority to prevent the federal government from disposing of nuclear wastes within it and transporting nuclear wastes through it. Several states have statutes purporting to veto the federal government's action in these areas. This report investigates whether these state statutes may be unconstitutional and preempted by federal statutes and regulations.
- High-Level Nuclear Waste Disposal - A Fact Sheet
- The Federal government's high-level waste disposal program is designed to build a permanent repository for highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants and defense facilities. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) created an office in the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop this repository, to be paid for by a fee on nuclear-generated electricity.
- Hurricane-Damaged Drinking Water and Wastewater Facilities: Impacts, Needs, and Response
- This report describes information that has been gathered about impacts of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities and on ongoing efforts to assess damages and needs to repair and reconstruct damaged systems.
- Hurricane-Damaged Drinking Water and Wastewater Facilities: Impacts, Needs, and Response
- This report describes information that has been gathered about impacts of the August 29 hurricane (Hurricane Katrina) on drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities, and on ongoing efforts to assess damages and needs to repair and reconstruct damaged systems.
- "Innocent Landowners" and "Prospective Purchasers" in the Superfund Act
- The Superfund Act contains several devices that eliminate the liability or reduce the transaction costs normally incurred under the Act by persons that acquire contaminated land. This report focuses on three of them, two addressed in the recently enacted brownfields law (P.L. 107-118). The first device is the innocent-landowner defense, available to persons who acquire land after the hazardous substance is put there, and who (among other things) find no contamination before acquisition despite “all appropriate inquiry.” The second device allows use of innocent-landowner status as a basis for early de minimis settlement with EPA. The third exempts the “bona fide prospective purchaser” from “owner” and “operator” liability despite pre-acquisition awareness of contamination on the property, if certain conditions are met.
- Interstate Waste Transport: Legislative Issues
- This report discusses ten issues raised by proposed legislation to allow controls on interstate commerce in solid waste. Such legislation has been considered in every Congress since 1990.
- Issues in International Trade Law: Restricting Exports of Electronic Waste
- Electronic waste (e-waste) is a term that loosely refers to obsolete, broken, or irreparable electronic devices. Because e-waste is generated in high volumes in the United States and contains hazardous materials, it is a growing area of domestic concern. Currently, e-waste is essentially unregulated at the federal level and can be disposed of with common household garbage in municipal solid waste landfills or incinerators. Recently, momentum has developed for domestic legislation restricting U.S. e-waste exports. These restrictions could take many forms, including a partial or total ban on e-waste exports, an e-waste export licensing system, or a quota on e-waste exports. This report looks at how such legislation could affect and work with prior US disposal laws.
- The Liability Exemptions in the Senate Brownfields Bill (S. 350)
- No Description Available.
- The Liability Exemptions in the Senate Brownfields Bill (S. 350)
- This report deals solely with the liability provisions of S. 350, found in Title II of the bill. (The manager’s amendment does not concern these.) These provisions cover three types of innocent parties: (1) owners of properties contaminated from contiguous properties, (2) prospective purchasers, and (3) innocent landowners.
- Managing Disaster Debris: Overview of Regulatory Requirements, Agency Roles, and Selected Challenges
- Report that addresses the challenges in removing debris resulting from a "major disaster" or "emergency" declared by the President, as well as the role of federal agencies in debris removal.
- Managing Disaster Debris: Overview of Regulatory Requirements, Agency Roles, and Selected Challenges
- This report addresses debris resulting from a "major disaster" or "emergency" declared by the President. First, it discusses the types of debris commonly generated during and after a disaster and selected factors that can make "debris removal"2 such a costly, complex operation. Second, it discusses the roles of federal, state, and local agencies after a disaster has been declared--with regard to both funding debris removal and the actual physical process of removal.
- Managing Disaster Debris: Overview of Regulatory Requirements, Agency Roles, and Selected Challenges
- This report addresses debris resulting from a “major disaster” or “emergency” declared by the President. First, it discusses the types of debris commonly generated during and after a disaster and selected factors that can make “debris removal” such a costly, complex operation. Second, it discusses the roles of federal, state, and local agencies after a disaster has been declared — with regard to both funding debris removal and the actual physical process of removal.
- Managing Electronic Waste: An Analysis of State E-Waste Legislation
- As more states propose e-waste legislation, potentially regulated stakeholders (particularly electronics manufacturers and retailers) have expressed concern that they will be required to comply with a patchwork of state requirements throughout the United States. This concern has led to an increased call for federal legislation regarding e-waste management. To help policy makers better understand the impact of state e-waste legislation, this report discusses issues that have led to state action, common elements in state-waste laws and proposals, and an overview of each enacted state law.
- Managing Electronic Waste: An Analysis of State E-Waste Legislation
- In 2005, two congressional hearings were held to explore issues associated with e-waste, and the Congressional E-Waste Working Group was formed. One goal common to both the hearings and the establishment of the working group was to explore potential national solutions to the e-waste management issue. With increased legislative activity in the states, it is anticipated that stakeholders will increase their call for federal legislation regarding e-waste management. To illustrate the issues associated with individual state action, this report discusses the key issues that have led to state action, describes common elements in state waste laws and proposals, and provides an overview of each enacted state law.
- Managing Electronic Waste: Issues with Exporting E-Waste
- Electronic waste (e-waste) is a term that is used loosely to refer to obsolete, broken, or irreparable electronic devices like televisions, computer central processing units (CPUs), and computer monitors. There are various issues of concern with regard to e-waste disposal and recycling. This report looks at issues specifically related to its export for recycling. Particularly, it discusses documented impacts to human health and the environment that have been tied to unsafe recycling practices in developing countries, as well as issues that have motivated certain stakeholders to divert e-waste from landfill disposal and, hence, increase recycling. It also provides an overview of various factors necessary to understand why e-waste disposal has become a concern in the United States, and it also discusses waste management requirements in the United States.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Nuclear Energy Policy
- This report discusses the nuclear energy policy issues facing Congress, which include the implementation of federal incentives for new commercial reactors, radioactive waste management policy, research and development priorities, power plant safety and regulation, and security against terrorist attacks.
- 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.
- 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.
- Nuclear Waste Repository Siting: Expedited Procedures for Congressional Approval
- No Description Available.
- Nuclear Waste Repository Siting: Expedited Procedures for Congressional Approval
- No Description Available.
- Nuclear Weapons: Disposal Options for Surplus Weapons-Usable Plutonium
- With the end of the Cold War, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START), and other agreements, the United States and Russia have dramatically reduced their arsenals of nuclear weapons. As a result, each side has accumulated large stockpiles of plutonium, one of the principal materials used in nuclear warheads. The United States recently declared a holding of approximately 50 metric tons of weapons-usable plutonium excess to military needs. Even greater levels are believed to exist in Russia.
- Ocean Dumping: A Time to Reappraise?
- No Description Available.
- Packaging: The Pro and Con of Restrictive Legislation
- This report discusses the pros and cons of legislative proposals regarding package manufacturing standards aimed at reducing waste and littering and increasing recycling.
- Proposed High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository: Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Progress
- This report discusses current findings on the site's geology, hydrology, geochemistry, and tectonic history; reviews the site characterization process that DOE is pursuing; discusses the problems inherent in assessing risk and projecting site suitability; and reviews concerns regarding attempts to model the repository's behavior into the distant millennia.
- Radioactive Tank Waste from the Past Production of Nuclear Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress
- How to safely dispose of wastes from producing nuclear weapons has been an ongoing issue. The most radioactive portion of these wastes is stored in underground tanks at Department of Energy (DOE) sites in Idaho, South Carolina, and Washington State. There have been concerns about soil and groundwater contamination from some of the tanks that have leaked. This report provides background information on the disposal of radioactive tank waste, analyzes waste disposal authority in P.L. 108-375, and examines potential implications for environmental cleanup.
- Radioactive Tank Wastes: Disposal Authority in the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for FY2005
- No Description Available.
- The Radwaste Paradox
- No Description Available.
- The Radwaste Paradox
- No Description Available.
- Recycling Computers and Electronic Equipment: Legislative and Regulatory Approaches for "E-Waste"
- No Description Available.
- Recycling Computers and Electronic Equipment: Legislative and Regulatory Approaches for "E-Waste"
- No Description Available.
- Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Concerns in Agricultural Trade
- This report categorizes, describes, and in some cases quantifies these barriers on a country-by-country basis. Sixty-two major trading partners are covered in the 2008 report.10 Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade (TBTs) are generally detailed in each country’s profile and, where feasible, their impacts on U.S. exports are quantified by U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).
- Solid Waste Issues in the 105th Congress
- The 105th Congress adjourned without passing any legislation affecting solid waste management. Changes to the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) cleanup program and bills to exempt from hazardous waste management requirements certain wastes generated by remediation of old waste sites had been considered possible until late in the second session. The House passed changes to the LUST program (H.R. 688) on April 23, 1997. A comparable Senate bill (S. 555) was ordered reported, amended, September 23, 1998; but it never came to the floor.
- Superfund: A Brief Comparison of the Chairmen's Bills
- 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.
- Superfund and Brownfields in the 107th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Superfund and Natural Resource Damages
- No Description Available.
- Superfund and the Brownfields Issue
- No Description Available.
- Superfund Cleanup Standards Reconsidered
- The reauthorization of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, has focused on two major areas of reform: liability, and cleanup standards/remedy selection.