Congressional Research Service Reports - 23 Matching Results

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Legislative Options in the 114th Congress for Financing Water Infrastructure

Description: This report addresses several options considered by Congress to address the financing needs of local communities for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects and to decrease or close the gap between available funds and projected needs.
Date: December 30, 2016
Creator: Copeland, Claudia; Maguire, Steven & Mallett, William J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The "Waters of the United States" Rule: Legislative Options and 114th Congress Responses

Description: This report discusses legislative activity in the 114th Congress regarding a major regulatory initiative related to the "waters of the United States" rule. Despite the court's stay of the rule, some in Congress favor halting the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) and the Corps' current approach to defining "waters of the United States."
Date: December 29, 2016
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Western Water and Drought: Legislative Analysis of H.R. 2898 and S. 1894

Description: This report summarizes and analyzes several key provisions in H.R. 2898 and S. 1894. It includes analysis of provisions specific to California, such as the management of threatened and endangered fish populations in relation to pumping operations of the Central Valley Project (CVP) and the State Water Project (SWP) as well as provisions that are broader in scope and might have nationwide implications.
Date: December 23, 2015
Creator: Sheikh, Pervaze A.; Cody, Betsy A.; Stern, Charles V.; Carter, Nicole T.; Luther, Linda & Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Mexico: Background and U.S. Relations

Description: This report provides an overview of political and economic conditions in Mexico followed by assessments of some key issues of congressional interest in Mexico: security, human rights, trade, migration, energy, and water issues. The report summarizes legislative action that occurred related to these topics during the 113th Congress and refers to other CRS products and experts that can be consulted for further information.
Date: December 16, 2014
Creator: Ribando Seelke, Clare
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Analysis of H.R. 5781, California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2014

Description: This report provides a description and analysis of H.R. 5781, the California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2014, which passed the House December 9, 2014. It includes a summary of key provisions of the bill, and compares it with two other bills from the 113th Congress aiming to address different aspects of drought and water management in California.
Date: December 11, 2014
Creator: Cody, Betsy A.; Sheikh, Pervaze A. & Stern, Charles V.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Army Corps of Engineers' Nationwide Permits Program: Issues and Regulatory Developments

Description: Congressional interest in wetlands permit regulatory programs has been evident in the past in oversight hearings and in connection with bills to fund the Corps' regulatory programs. For some time, there has been a stalemate over legislation that would revise wetlands regulatory law and that could, if enacted, modify the nationwide permit program. During this time, no consensus has emerged on whether or how to reform overall wetlands policy legislatively. Recently, Obama Administration initiativ… more
Date: December 28, 2010
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Terrorism and Security Issues Facing the Water Infrastructure Sector

Description: This report examines recent congressional interest in the security of wastewater utilities, and whether or not to include water utilities in chemical plant security regulations implemented by Department of Homeland Security. Damage to or destruction of the nation's water supply and water quality infrastructure by terrorist attack or natural disaster could disrupt the delivery of vital human services in this country, threatening public health and the environment, or possibly causing loss of life… more
Date: December 15, 2010
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Desalination: Status and Federal Issues

Description: This report discusses desalination in the context of federal policy. Interest in desalination of seawater, brackish water, and contaminated freshwater has increased in the United States as the technology's costs have fallen and pressure to develop new water supplies has grown. Adoption of desalination, however, remains constrained by financial, environmental, and regulatory and social factors.
Date: December 30, 2009
Creator: Carter, Nicole T.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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California Drought: Hydrological and Regulatory Water Supply Issues

Description: This report discusses California's current hydrological situation and provides background on regulatory restrictions affecting California water deliveries, as well as on the long-established state water rights system, which also results in uneven water deliveries in times of shortages.
Date: December 7, 2009
Creator: Cody, Betsy A.; Folger, Peter & Brougher, Cynthia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Western Water Resource Issues

Description: For more than a century, the federal government has constructed water resource projects for a variety of purposes, including flood control, navigation, power generation, and irrigation. While most municipal and industrial water supplies have been built by non-federal entities, most of the large, federal water supply projects in the West, including Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, were constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation (Department of the Interior) to provide water for irrigation.
Date: December 9, 2005
Creator: Cody, Betsy A. & Sheikh, Pervaze A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Safe Drinking Water Act: Implementation and Issues

Description: This report discusses key drinking water issues in the 108th Congress involving water infrastructure funding and problems caused by specific contaminants, such as the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), perchlorate, and lead in drinking water. Congress last reauthorized the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1996, and although funding authority for most SDWA programs expired in FY2003, broad reauthorization efforts were not pursued as EPA, states, and water utilities continued … more
Date: December 8, 2004
Creator: Tiemann, Mary
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Wetland Issues

Description: Instead of a single comprehensive federal wetland protection law, multiple laws provide varying levels of protection in different forms: the permit program authorized in §404 in the Clean Water Act; programs for agricultural wetlands; laws that protect specific sites; and laws that protect wetlands which perform certain functions. Many protection advocates view these laws and their implementation as inadequate or uncoordinated. Others, who advocate the rights of property owners and development … more
Date: December 17, 2002
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A. & Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1995: Overview of S.1316, As Passed

Description: On November 29, 1995, the Senate passed S. 1316, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Amendments of 1995, unanimously. The 1974 Act was last reauthorized in 1986. Both the House and Senate passed SDWA bills by wide margins in the past Congress, and strong interest in reauthorizing the Act continues in the 104th Congress. Many of the issues discussed in the SDWA debate, while specific to the Act, are of concern in the broader regulatory reform debate on unfunded Federal mandates and cost-benefit a… more
Date: December 18, 1995
Creator: Tiemann, Mary
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Wetlands and Agriculture: Policy Issues in the 1995 Farm Bill

Description: Wetlands protection efforts have been a major concern for agricultural interests since Congress enacted so-called swampbuster provisions in the 1985 Food Security Act. Under these provisions, all producers who alter wetlands risk losing certain farm program benefits. Determining which sites are wetlands and enforcement of penalties remain contentious issues. Controversy has been heightened by confusion over how this program is related to the principal Federal regulatory program to protect wetla… more
Date: December 19, 1994
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A.
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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