Congressional Research Service Reports - 50 Matching Results
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- The Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve and the National Oilheat Research Alliance
- This report discusses the price of home heating oil in the Northeast. The Northeast demand for home heating oil has declined by 47% since 2000, from nearly 7 billion gallons to 3.6 billion gallons in 2011. The report provides detailed information regarding northeast home heating oil reserve and national Oilheat Research Alliance.
- Energy and Water Development: FY2013 Appropriations
- No Description Available.
- Energy and Water Development: FY2014 Appropriations
- This report discusses the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill that provides funding for civil works projects of the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), for the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the Department of Energy (DOE), and several independent agencies.
- Energy and Water Development: FY2014 Appropriations
- This report discusses the Energy and Water Development bill, which includes funding for civil works projects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), the Department of the Interior's Central Utah Project (CUP) and Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the Department of Energy (DOE), and a number of independent agencies, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).
- Energy and Water Development: FY2014 Appropriations, Preliminary Tables
- No Description Available.
- Energy Policy: 113th Congress Issues
- This report discusses the energy policy in the United States that is focused on three major goals: assuring a secure supply of energy, keeping energy costs low, and protecting the environment.
- Energy Policy: 113th Congress Issues
- Report that discusses the energy policy in the United States, which is focused on three major goals: assuring a secure supply of energy, keeping energy costs low, and protecting the environment.
- Energy Policy: 113th Congress Issues
- This report discusses various aspects and considerations regarding energy policy in the United States. The report covers topics including energy conservation, efficiency, supply, prices and legislation.
- Energy Policy: 113th Congress Issues
- This report discusses energy policy in the United States that focus on three major goals: assuring a secure supply of energy, keeping energy costs low, and protecting the environment.
- Energy Policy: 113th Congress Issues
- This report discusses the energy policy in the United States that focuses on three major goals: assuring a secure supply of energy, Keeping energy costs low, and protecting the environment.
- DOD Alternative Fuels: Policy, Initiatives and Legislative Activity
- This report provides background information and identifies issues for Congress regarding Department of Defense (DOD) alternative fuel initiatives, a subject of debate at congressional hearings on DOD's proposed FY2013 budget. The services (the Army, Navy, and Air Force) have spent approximately $48 million to purchase alternative fuels, and the Navy has proposed a $170 million investment in biofuel production capacity. The services have also spent funds on testing, certification and demonstrations of alternative fuels. By comparison, DOD purchases of petroleum fuels totaled approximately $17.3 billion in FY2011.
- Algae's Potential as a Transportation Biofuel
- This report discusses the status of algae-based biofuels (ABB) research and development, federal funding, and legislative concerns.
- Biomass: Comparison of Definitions in Legislation
- This report discusses the use of biomass, its legislative history, and the proposed redefinition of biomass in legislation.
- Meeting the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Mandate for Cellulosic Biofuels: Questions and Answers
- This report, in a question and answer format, discusses some challenges facing the cellulosic biofuels community, including feedstock supply estimates, and potential legislative options to address cellulosic biofuels production uncertainty for the Renewable Fuel Standard.
- The Renewable Fuel Standard: In Brief
- This report provides a basic description of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), including some of the widely discussed issues.
- Wildfire Fuels and Fuel Reduction
- This report examines wildfire biomass fuels. It discusses fuel characteristics and their relation to wildfire intensity and spread, and includes a description of actions proposed to reduce biomass fuel levels, their effectiveness for protecting property and resources from wildfires, and their impacts on other resource values. It concludes with an examination of the federal authorities for fuel reduction activities on federal and non-federal lands, together with data on the funding provided under each of these authorities.
- Geoengineering: Governance and Technology Policy
- This report is intended as a primer on the policy issues, science, and governance of geoengineering technologies. The report will first set the policy parameters under which geoengineering technologies may be considered. It will then describe selected technologies in detail and discuss their status. The third section provides a discussion of possible approaches to governmental involvement in, and oversight of, geoengineering, including a summary of domestic and international instruments and institutions that may affect geoengineering projects.
- Hydropower: Federal and Nonfederal Investment
- This report explains how the federal government is involved directly in hydropower generation at federal facilities and in the regulation of nonfederal hydropower generation; the focus is on current roles and processes and common concerns and questions about changing those roles.
- Prospects for Coal in Electric Power and Industry
- This report discusses future prospects for coal as the dominant fuel used in electricity production. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects coal to be a significant part of the U.S. power generation industry's future to well past 2030, but given price competition from natural gas, and emerging environmental regulations, that role will likely be smaller than in recent decades. Coal-fired generation is likely to face a challenging future.
- Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Incentives: A Summary of Federal Programs
- This report describes federal programs that provide grants, loans, loan guarantees, and other direct or indirect incentives for energy efficiency, energy conservation, and renewable energy. For each program, the report provides the administering agency, authorizing statute(s), annual funding, and the program expiration date. The appendixes provide summary information in a tabular format and also list recently expired programs.
- Proposed U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the offshore areas of the Gulf of Mexico that provide a setting for domestic and international energy production, U.S. military training and border operations, trade and commerce, fishing, tourist attractions, and recreation.
- Nuclear Energy: Overview of Congressional Issues
- This report discusses issues regarding the use of nuclear energy in light of the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster, which has lead several countries to reconsider the breadth of their nuclear programs. The report provides basic facts and statistics and then focuses specifically on major issues including safety, radioactive waste, policy, emergency response, and the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.
- 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.
- Rare Earth Elements: The Global Supply Chain
- This report provides a discussion of the major issues and concerns of the global supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs), their major end uses, and legislative and other policy proposals that Congress may consider to improve the U.S. rare earth position.
- U.S. and World Coal Production, Federal Taxes, and Incentives
- This report serves as a primer on U.S. and world coal resources and production and highlights some of the congressional interest related to coal production on U.S. federal lands. The report primarily describes the past 10 years of coal activity but also includes a discussion of future coal production projections and federal coal incentives, many of which do not expire.
- U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices
- This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of the changing oil prices on the nation's merchandise trade balance.
- U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices
- This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of the changing oil prices on the nation's merchandise trade balance.
- U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices
- This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of the changing oil prices on the nation's merchandise trade balance.
- U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices
- This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of the changing oil prices on the nation's merchandise trade balance.
- Canadian Oil Sands: Life-Cycle Assessments of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- This report discusses the basic methodology of life-cycle assessments and compares several of the publicly available studies of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data for Canadian oil sands crudes against each other and against those of other global reference crudes. As congressional concern over the environmental impacts of Canadian oil sands production may encompass both a broad understanding of the resource as well as a specific assessment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the report surveys both the general scientific literature as well as the individual findings in the State Department's 2011 Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and 2013 Draft Supplementary EIS for the Keystone XL Project.
- The World Bank Group Energy Sector Strategy
- This report summarizes the provisions of the proposed Energy Sector Strategy of the World Bank Group (WBG). It situates the strategy within current WBG lending practices and in response to various stakeholder critiques. A final section outlines issues for Congress.
- EPA Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants: Many Questions, Some Answers
- This report discusses the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) proposals for electric generating units (EGU) Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
- EPA Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants: Many Questions, Some Answers
- This report discusses the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) proposals for electric generating units (EGU) Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
- Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress, and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific Arctic-related issues.
- Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress, and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific Arctic-related issues.
- Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress, and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific Arctic-related issues.
- Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress, and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific Arctic-related issues.
- Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress, and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific Arctic-related issues.
- Keystone XL Pipeline Project: Key Issues
- This report describes the Keystone XL Project Presidential Permit application, and the process that the State Department is obligated to complete in processing that permit application. It also reviews selected issues that arose during the 2008 permit application process, particularly those that may affect the current permit application. This report also summarizes key arguments that have been raised, both for and against the pipeline, by the pipeline's developers, state and federal agencies, environmental groups, and other stakeholders. Finally, the report discusses the constitutional basis for the State Department's authority to issue a Presidential Permit, and opponents' possible challenges to this authority.
- Keystone XL Pipeline Project: Key Issues
- This report describes the Keystone XL Project Presidential Permit application, and the process that the State Department is obligated to complete in processing that permit application. It also reviews selected issues that arose during the 2008 permit application process, particularly those that may affect the current permit application. This report also summarizes key arguments that have been raised, both for and against the pipeline, by the pipeline's developers, state and federal agencies, environmental groups, and other stakeholders. Finally, the report discusses the constitutional basis for the State Department's authority to issue a Presidential Permit, and opponents' possible challenges to this authority.
- Keystone XL Pipeline Project: Key Issues
- This report describes the Keystone XL Project and the process that the State Department is obligated to complete in processing that permit application. It also reviews selected issues that arose during the 2008 permit application process, particularly those that may affect the current permit application. This report also summarizes key arguments that have been raised by the pipeline's developers, state and federal agencies, environmental groups, and other stakeholders. Finally, the report discusses the constitutional basis for the State Department's authority to issue a Presidential Permit, and opponents' possible challenges to this authority.
- Winter Fuels Outlook 2013-2014
- This report discusses Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook (STEWFO) is to provide estimates of expected average annual heating fuel expenditures in comparison to previous years.
- U.S. Natural Gas Exports: New Opportunities, Uncertain Outcomes
- This report examines what has changed in the U.S. natural gas market and the prospects and implications of the United States becoming a significant net natural gas exporter.
- U.S. Natural Gas Exports: New Opportunities, Uncertain Outcomes
- This report examines what has changed in the U.S. natural gas market and the prospects and implications of the United States becoming a significant net natural gas exporter.
- Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS): Overview and Issues
- This report focuses specifically on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). It describes the general nature of the biofuels RFS and its implementation, and outlines some of the emerging issues related to the sustainability of the continued growth in U.S. biofuels production needed to fulfill the expanding RFS mandate, as well as the emergence of potential unintended consequences of this rapid expansion. This report does not address the broader public policy issue of how best to support U.S. energy policy.
- Energy Tax Policy: Issues in the 113th Congress
- This report discusses the energy tax policy that may also be considered as part of comprehensive tax reform legislation in the 113th Congress. Also the report discusses a number of other energy tax incentives scheduled to expire at the end of 2013, including provisions to support building energy efficiency and renewable fuels.
- Energy Tax Policy: Issues in the 113th Congress
- This report discusses the energy tax policy that may also be considered as part of comprehensive tax reform legislation in the 113th Congress. Also the report discusses a number of other energy tax incentives, including provisions to support building energy efficiency and renewable fuels, that are also scheduled to expire at the end of 2013.
- Hydraulic Fracturing and Safe Drinking Water Act Regulatory Issues
- This report reviews past and proposed treatment of hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the principal federal statute for regulating the underground injection of fluids to protect groundwater sources of drinking water. It reviews current SDWA provisions for regulating underground injection activities, and discusses some possible implications of the enactment of legislation authorizing EPA to regulate hydraulic fracturing (beyond diesel) under this statute.
- Offshore Oil and Gas Development: Legal Framework
- This report explains the nature of U.S. authority over offshore areas pursuant to international and domestic law. It also describes the laws, at both the state and federal levels, governing the development of offshore oil and gas and the litigation that has flowed from development under these legal regimes. Also included is an outline of recent changes to the authorities regulating offshore development, as well as a discussion of recent executive action and legislative proposals concerning offshore oil and natural gas exploration and production.
- Alternative Fuels and Advanced Technology Vehicles: Issues in Congress
- This report provides an overview of current issues surrounding alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles - issues discussed in further detail in other CRS reports referred to in each section.