Congressional Research Service Reports - 76 Matching Results

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Military Base Closures: Role and Costs of Environmental Cleanup

Description: This report explains cleanup requirements for the transfer and reuse of properties on closed bases, discusses property transfer status and cleanup costs on bases closed in prior rounds, and examines estimates of costs to clean up bases to be closed in the 2005 round to make these properties safe for civilian reuse.
Date: October 3, 2006
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Perchlorate Contamination of Drinking Water: Regulatory Issues and Legislative Actions

Description: This report reviews perchlorate water contamination issues and developments. Concern over the potential health risks of perchlorate exposure has increased, and some states and members of Congress have urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set a drinking water standard for perchlorate.
Date: February 3, 2006
Creator: Tiemann, Mary
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Brief Summaries of Federal Animal Protection Statutes

Description: This report contains brief summaries of federal animal protection statutes, listed alphabetically. It includes statutes enacted to implement treaties, those that protect certain groups of animals (e.g., protection of "game" animals rather than predators), statutes to conserve fish, statutes that allow the disabled to use service animals, and statutes aimed at acts of animal rights advocates (the Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992, and the Recreational Hunting Safety and Preservation Act o… more
Date: October 16, 2006
Creator: Cohen, Henry
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the 109th Congress: Conflicting Values and Difficult Choices

Description: This report discusses various proposals to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; P.L. 93-205, 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1543). Major issues include changing the role of science in decision-making, modifying critical habitat (CH) procedures, reducing conflicts with Department of Defense activities, incorporating further protection and incentives for property owners, and increasing protection of listed species, among others.
Date: April 12, 2006
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.; Corn, M. Lynne; Sheikh, Pervaze A.; Baldwin, Pamela & Meltz, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Air Act Issues in the 109th Congress

Description: This report discusses major decisions on clean air issues facing the courts and the executive branch in 2006. One focus will be EPA's recent proposal to strengthen air quality standards for fine particles. Other issues of continuing interest are EPA's 2005 decisions limiting interstate transport of air pollution and establishing cap-and-trade systems for emissions from coal fired power plants, and the agency's proposed changes to New Source Review.
Date: March 21, 2006
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Exemptions from Environmental Law for the Department of Defense: An Overview of Congressional Action

Description: This report discusses the difficulty of assessing the impact of environmental requirements on military readiness, broader exemptions for military activities that Congress has enacted, and DOD's request for additional exemptions.
Date: January 9, 2006
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The National Environmental Policy Act: Streamlining NEPA

Description: This report discusses elements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321, et seq.) relevant to streamlining, issues associated with determining project delays attributed to NEPA, common streamlining methods, and recently proposed and enacted legislative and administrative streamlining activities.
Date: February 13, 2006
Creator: Luther, Linda
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Water Infrastructure Financing: History of EPA Appropriations

Description: This report summarizes, in chronological order, congressional activity to fund items in the State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG) account since 1987. In appropriations legislation, funding for EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) wastewater assistance is contained in the measure providing funds for the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.
Date: January 19, 2006
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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National Environmental Education Act of 1990: Overview, Implementation, and Reauthorization Issues

Description: This report presents an overview of the National Environmental Education Act of 1990, discusses appropriations, examines the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) implementation of the act, and analyzes reauthorization issues relevant to legislation introduced in recent Congresses.
Date: December 11, 2006
Creator: Bearden, David M.
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 109th Congress, including problems caused by specific contaminants, such as methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and perchlorate, as well as the related issue of the appropriate federal role in providing financial assistance for water infrastructure projects.
Date: March 20, 2006
Creator: Tiemann, Mary
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 109th Congress, which have included problems caused by specific contaminants, such as methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and perchlorate, as well as the related issue of the appropriate federal role in providing financial assistance for water infrastructure projects. Congress last reauthorized the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1996, and although funding authority for most SDWA programs expired in FY2003, broad reauthorization bills have… more
Date: May 3, 2006
Creator: Tiemann, Mary
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Global Climate Change

Description: This report briefly reviews the status of climate science, international negotiations, and congressional activity focused specifically on climate change.
Date: May 12, 2006
Creator: Justus, John R. & Fletcher, Susan R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Act and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) of Pollutants

Description: This report discusses the section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act, which 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 of this provision has been dormant until recently, when states and EPA were prodded by numerous lawsuits. The TMDL issue has become controversial, in part b… more
Date: October 25, 2006
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Wetlands Coverage of the Clean Water Act is Revisited by the Supreme Court: Rapanos v. United States

Description: This report discusses the Supreme Court decision in Rapanos v. United States, which addressed the asserted jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over wetlands adjacent to "waters of the United States," the problematic phrase used by the Clean Water Act (CWA) to define the geographic scope of the act's wetlands permitting program.
Date: September 12, 2006
Creator: Meltz, Robert & Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Animal Waste and Water Quality: EPA Regulation of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)

Description: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the release of waste from animal feedlots to surface water, groundwater, soil, and the air is associated with a range of human health and ecological impacts and contributes to the degradation of the nation's surface waters. This report describes the revised environmental rules, the background of the previous Clean Water Act rules and the Clinton Administration proposal, and perspectives of key interest groups on the proposal and final regulation… more
Date: September 21, 2006
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Air Act Issues in the 109th Congress

Description: This report provides an overview of seven prominent air issues of interest in the 109th Congress: revision of the particulate standards; multi-pollutant (or Clear Skies) legislation for electric power plants; mercury from power plants; New Source Review; the gasoline additives MTBE and ethanol; ozone nonattainment area deadlines; and the “conformity” of transportation and clean air planning.
Date: September 26, 2006
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies: Current Status and Analysis

Description: This report discusses these tax provisions. The first section discusses the origin and evolution of the oil and gas tax subsidies that were incorporated into the 2005 act. The second section summarizes each of the oil and gas tax subsidy provisions in the 2005 energy act and reports its corresponding revenue loss estimate. Section three describes other oil and gas tax subsidies and the final section describes several tax provisions that benefit the oil and gas industry.
Date: December 20, 2006
Creator: Lazzari, Salvatore
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Brownfields Tax Incentive Extension

Description: The brownfields tax incentive expired on December 31, 2005. Enacted in 1997, the provision allowed a taxpayer to fully deduct the costs of environmental cleanup in the year the costs were incurred, rather than spreading the costs over a period of years. The provision was adopted to stimulate the cleanup and developers of less seriously contaminated sites by providing a benefit to taxpaying developers of brownfield properties. This report contains information on the background of brownfields, su… more
Date: October 17, 2006
Creator: Reisch, Mark
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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