Congressional Research Service Reports - 12 Matching Results
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- 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.
- Endocrine Disruption: An Introduction
- Exposure to certain chemicals in the environment could disrupt the hormone systems of animals and humans, according to some scientists who are concerned about potential risks to public health and ecosystems. Congress has mandated chemical screening to assess the potential of pesticides and drinking water contaminants to influence the normal functions of female, male and thyroid hormones. As conflicting scientific evidence accumluates on the hormone disruption hypothesis, legislators may consider proposals to increase or decrease funding for the endocrine disruption screening program, or to expand its requirements to include additional chemicals or hormone functions.
- Water Resource Issues in the 107th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Soil and Water Conservation Issues
- No Description Available.
- The Supreme Court Addresses Corps of Engineers Jurisdiction Over "Isolated Waters": The SWANCC Decision
- On January 9, 2001, the Supreme Court handed down Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At issue in SWANCC was the scope of Clean Water Act section 404, which requires permits for the discharge of dredged or fill materials into "navigable waters," defined by the Act as "waters of the United States." Section 404 is the charter for the federal wetlands permitting program.
- Western Water Resource Issues
- Growing populations and changing values continue to place increasing demands on water supplies and river systems, resulting in water use and management conflicts throughout the country. Recent conflicts are particularly evident in the West, where the population is expected to increase 30% in the next 20-25 years and where agricultural needs are often in direct conflict with urban needs, as well as with water demand for threatened and endangered species, recreation, and scenic enjoyment.
- Wetland Issues
- Wetlands, in a wide variety of forms, are found throughout the country. The various values of these areas have been increasingly recognized in recent years, but the remaining acreage continues to disappear. When European settlers first arrived, total wetland acreage was more than 220 million acres in the lower 48 states, according to estimates by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It estimates that by 1997 total wetland acreage was 105.5 million acres. Losses continue, although the rate of loss has slowed considerably during the past decade and restoration efforts have grown, and some regions are approaching the national policy goal of no-net-loss. Recent losses have been concentrated in forested wetlands, and net losses are greatest in the eastern United States.
- Water Quality: Implementing the Clean Water Act
- Congress enacted the most recent major amendments to the Clean Water Act in 1987 (P.L. 100-4). Since then, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), states, and others have been working to implement the many program changes and additions mandated in the law. At issue today, as it has been for some time, is what progress EPA and the states are making. In general, many states and environmental groups fault EPA for delays in issuing guidance and assistance needed to carry out the provisions of the law. EPA and others are critical of states, in turn, for not reaching beyond conventional knowledge and institutional approaches to address their water quality problems. Environmental groups have been criticized for insufficient recognition of EPA's and states' need for flexibility to implement the Act. Finally, Congress has been criticized for not providing adequate funding and resources to meet EPA and state needs.
- Soil and Water Conservation Issues
- No Description Available.
- Water Infrastructure Funding: Review and Analysis of Current Issues
- This report identifies a number of issues likely to receive attention in connection with water infrastructure. It begins with a brief review of federal involvement, describes the current debate about funding needs, and then examines key issues, including what is the nature of the problems to be solved; who will play, and what is the federal role; and questions about mechanisms for delivering federal support, including state-by-state allotment of federal funds.
- Clean Water Act and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) of Pollutants
- Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act requires states to identify waters that are impaired by pollution, even after application of pollution controls. For those waters, states must establish a total maximum daily load (TMDL) of pollutants to ensure that water quality standards can be attained. Implementation was dormant until recently, when states and EPA were prodded by numerous lawsuits.
- Arsenic in Drinking Water: Recent Regulatory Developments and Issues
- This report discusses issues regarding the arsenic’s health effects and how to reduce the uncertainty in assessing health risks associated with exposure to low levels of arsenic. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the current standard of 50 parts per billion (ppb) in 1975. . This report reviews EPA efforts to develop a new arsenic rule and summarizes key provisions and subsequent events.