Congressional Research Service Reports - 39 Matching Results

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Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA's Air Compliance Agreement

Description: This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, intended to produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a "safe harbor" from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
Date: August 26, 2008
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality: EPA's 2006 Changes to the Particulate Matter (PM) Standard

Description: On October 17, 2006,3 the EPA published its revisions to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulates to provide protection against potential health effects associated with short- and long-term exposure to particulate matter (including chronic respiratory disease and premature mortality). In order to better understand EPA's actions, this report provides an analysis of the agency's final 2006 revisions to the particulates NAAQS, and the estimated costs and benefits of the … more
Date: April 17, 2008
Creator: Esworthy, Robert & McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Regulation of Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions: State and Federal Standards

Description: This report discusses the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards (including tighter standards enacted under P.L. 110-140) and compares them with the GHG standards under California’s law. It also identifies some factors that would have a bearing on the relative stringency of CAFE and the California program.
Date: January 11, 2008
Creator: Yacobucci, Brent D.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality Standards and Sound Science: What Role for CASAC?

Description: This report discusses the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which are standards that define what EPA considers to be clean air. Their importance stems from the long and complicated implementation process that is set in motion by their establishment.
Date: April 21, 2008
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA’s Air Compliance Agreement

Description: This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, intended to produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.
Date: September 30, 2008
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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2006 National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Fine Particulate Matter (PM25): Designating Nonattainment Areas)

Description: This report summarizes and describes the EPA's (Environmental Protection Agency) final revisions to the NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards). The summary also explores how the revisions are contentious in certain areas that may not be meeting those standards which materializes as congressional oversight.
Date: December 1, 2008
Creator: Esworthy, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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China's Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Mitigation Policies

Description: This report discusses China's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as the policies and programs that they have put in place to mitigate them. These issues affect how Congress considers envionmental policies and relations with China.
Date: September 10, 2008
Creator: Leggett, Jane A.; Logan, Jeffrey & Mackey, Anna
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Automobile and Light Truck Fuel Economy: The CAFE Standards

Description: This report discusses the current corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard of 35 miles per gallon (mpg), and the major issues on the CAFE debate. The report also offers an overview of Congressional interest in CAFE (1991-2005), and explains the CAFE and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
Date: May 7, 2008
Creator: Yacobucci, Brent D. & Bamberger, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Pollution from Ships: MARPOL Annex VI and Other Control Options

Description: This report provides information regarding pollution from ships and port facilities; discusses some of the measures being implemented and considered by local, state, and federal regulatory agencies; discusses the efforts to ratify and to strengthen Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL); and describes legislation Congress is considering to control emissions from ships by amending the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Date: September 9, 2008
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Role of Offsets in a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap-and-Trade Program: Potential Benefits and Concerns

Description: This report discusses offsets in relation to a greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade program. The first section of this report provides an overview of offsets by discussing different types of offset projects and describing how the offsets would likely be used in an emission reduction program. The next section discusses the supply of offsets that might be available in an emission trading program. The subsequent sections examine the potential offset benefits and the potential concerns associated… more
Date: June 2, 2008
Creator: Ramseur, Jonathan L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Role of Offsets in a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap-and-Trade Program: Potential Benefits and Concerns

Description: This report discusses offsets in relation to a greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade program. The first section of this report provides an overview of offsets by discussing different types of offset projects and describing how the offsets would likely be used in an emission reduction program. The next section discusses the supply of offsets that might be available in an emission trading program. The subsequent sections examine the potential offset benefits and the potential concerns associated… more
Date: September 22, 2008
Creator: Ramseur, Jonathan L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Capturing CO2 from Coal-Fired Power Plants: Challenges for a Comprehensive Strategy

Description: This report examines the current effort to develop technology that would capture CO2. First, the paper outlines the current status of carbon capture technology. Second, the paper examines the role of government in developing that technology, both in terms of creating a market for carbon capture technology and encouraging development of the technology. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of implications of capture technology for climate change legislation.
Date: August 15, 2008
Creator: Parker, Larry; Folger, Peter & Stine, Deborah D.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Pollution Control Laws: How Are They Enforced?

Description: This report provides an overview of the statutory framework, key players, infrastructure, resources, tools, and operations associated with enforcement and compliance of the major pollution control laws and regulations administered by EPA. It also outlines the roles of federal (including regional offices) and state regulators, as well as the regulated community.
Date: May 12, 2008
Creator: Esworthy, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Carbon Cycle: Implications for Climate Change and Congress

Description: This report puts the human contribution of carbon to the atmosphere into the larger context of the global carbon cycle. The report focuses almost entirely on carbon dioxide (CO2), which alone is responsible for over half of the change in Earth's radiation balance. Moreover, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas released to the atmosphere from human activities.
Date: March 13, 2008
Creator: Folger, Peter
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality: Multi-Pollutant Legislation in the 110th Congress

Description: This report discusses air pollutants (petroleum, natural gas, and coal), which account for about two-thirds of U.S. electricity generation. These gases include several pollutants that directly pose risks to human health and welfare. The report also discusses the utilities that are subject to an array of environmental regulations.
Date: February 11, 2008
Creator: Parker, Larry & Blodgett, John
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Revising the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Lead

Description: This report provides background on the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), the process used to establish the standards, the factors leading to the reduction in lead emissions, and the proposed changes to the lead standard, as well as information regarding the potential effects of any revision.
Date: July 28, 2008
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Cruise Ship Pollution: Background, Laws and Regulations, and Key Issues

Description: This report describes the several types of waste streams that cruise ships may discharge and emit. It identifies the complex body of international and domestic laws that address pollution from cruise ships. It then describes federal and state legislative activity concerning cruise ships in Alaskan waters and activities in a few other states, as well as current industry initiatives to manage cruise ship pollution.
Date: May 2, 2008
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Climate Change: The Role of the U.S. Agriculture Sector

Description: This report discusses the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the U.S. agriculture sector, and cites current and potential estimates for U.S. agricultural soils to sequester carbon and partly offset national GHG emissions. The report describes the types of land management and farm conservation practices that can reduce GHG emissions and/or sequester carbon in agricultural soils, highlighting those practices that are currently promoted under existing voluntary federal agric… more
Date: June 20, 2008
Creator: Johnson, Renée
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Pollution Control Laws: How Are They Enforced?

Description: This report provides an overview of the statutory framework, key players, infrastructure, resources, tools, and operations associated with enforcement and compliance of the major pollution control laws and regulations administered by EPA. It also outlines the roles of federal (including regional offices) and state regulators, as well as the regulated community.
Date: August 21, 2008
Creator: Esworthy, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Automobile and Light Truck Fuel Economy: The CAFE Standards

Description: This report discusses the current corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard of 35 miles per gallon (mpg), and the major issues on the CAFE debate. The report also offers an overview of Congressional interest in CAFE (1991-2005), and explains the CAFE and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
Date: May 7, 2008
Creator: Yacobucci, Brent D. & Bamberger, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Air Permitting: Status of Implementation and Issues

Description: This report describes the statutory background of the Title V program and the status of implementation, in terms of federal approval of state and local permitting authorities and permit issuance. It also discusses broad policy issues identified by various stakeholders, including program complexity and costs, and inconsistencies due to a lack of sufficient federal guidance.
Date: March 20, 2008
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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