Congressional Research Service Reports - 361 Matching Results

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Clean Water Act and TMDLs

Description: 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 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 because of requirements and costs … more
Date: September 11, 1997
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Wetland Mitigation Banking: Status and Prospects

Description: Wetland protection is controversial because the federal government regulates activities on private lands and because the natural values at some of these regulated sites are being debated. This controversy pits property owners and development interests against environmentalists and others who seek to protect the remaining wetlands. Mitigation banking, which allows a person to degrade a wetland at one site if a wetland at another site is improved, has been identified as a potential answer to this… more
Date: September 12, 1997
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Stormwater Permits: Status of EPA's Regulatory Program

Description: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states are implementing a federally mandated program for controlling stormwater discharges from industrial plants and municipalities. Because of the large number of affected sources and deadline changes and extensions that have led to confusion, numerous questions have arisen about this program. Impacts of the program;s requirements, especially on cities, are a continuing concern. EPA has recently proposed permit rules to cover smaller cities and so… more
Date: June 10, 1998
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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American Heritage Rivers

Description: This report discusses the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, implemented in 1998 by President Bill Clinton. The Initiative designed 14 rivers as "American Heritage Rivers," and declared that each "will receive help over the next five years tapping federal resources to carry out their plans for revitalizing their rivers and riverfronts." This report also discusses the reactions from both supporters and detractors of the initiative, and related legislation and appropriations.
Date: August 3, 1998
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A. & Cody, Betsy A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Act Section 401: Background and Issues

Description: Section 401 of the Clean Water Act requires that an applicant for a federal license or permit provide a certification that any discharges from the facility will comply with the Act, including water quality standard requirements. Disputes have arisen over the states' exercise of authority under Section 401. Until recently, much of the debate over the Section 401 certification issue has been between states and hydropower interests. A 1994 Supreme Court decision which upheld the states' authority … more
Date: October 4, 1998
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Rural Water Supply and Sewer Systems: Background Information

Description: The Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act impose requirements regarding drinking water quality and wastewater treatment in rural areas. Approximately 27% of the U.S. population lives in areas defined by the Census Bureau as rural. Many rural communities need to complete water and waste disposal projects to improve the public health and environmental conditions of their citizens
Date: January 20, 1999
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Nationwide Permits for Wetlands Projects: Permit 26 and Other Issues and Controversies

Description: Nationwide permits of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers authorize certain types of projects in wetlands and other waters and are a key means of minimizing the regulatory burden on landowners This report discusses the nationwide permits reissued in 1996, focusing on one of the most controversial permits (number 26), and a July 1998 proposal to modify nationwide permit 26 further. The revised permits and a federal court decision that invalidated certain Corps' regulations could be impetus for congr… more
Date: January 21, 1999
Creator: 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 1996: Overview of P.L. 104-182

Description: The 104th Congress made extensive changes to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) with the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 (P.L. 104-182), bringing to a close a multi-year effort to amend a statute that was widely criticized as having too little flexibility, too many unfunded mandates, and an arduous but unfocused regulatory schedule. Among the many changes to the SDWA, the 1996 amendments added provisions to provide funding to communities for drinking water madates, focus regulatory e… more
Date: February 8, 1999
Creator: Tiemann, Mary
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Desalination R and D: The New Federal Program

Description: The purpose of the program is to determine the most technologically efficient and cost- effective means by which useable water can be produced from saline water or water otherwise impaired or contaminated. Currently, the cost of desalting seawater is 3 to 5 times the comparable cost of desalting brackish water, which is up to twice as expensive as the treatment and delivery of other municipal water supplies (not counting sewage-related costs). Funding for the new Desalination R&D Program is pro… more
Date: February 18, 1999
Creator: Mielke, James E
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Appropriations for FY2004: Energy and Water Development

Description: This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It summarizes the status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity, and is updated as events warrant.
Date: January 30, 2000
Creator: Behrens, Carl & Humphries, Marc
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Water Quality Initiatives and Agriculture

Description: RL30437: Water Quality Initiatives and Agriculture Claudia Copeland Specialist in Resources and Environmental Policy Resources, Science, and Industry Division February 16, 2000 ABSTRACT Agriculture, which has been a relatively minor component of national water quality policies and programs, especially regulatory policies, is currently involved with several recent Administration water quality initiatives. This report provides background on three ongoing initiatives with potential to affect… more
Date: February 16, 2000
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Wetlands Regulation and the Law of Property Rights "Takings"

Description: When a wetland owner is denied permission to develop, or offered a permit with very burdensome conditions, the property's value may drop substantially. Wetlands programs also may impose costly development delays. For these reasons, federal and state wetlands regulation continues to generate "takings" lawsuits by land owners. Such suits allege that by narrowing or eliminating the economic uses to which a wetland can be put, the government has "taken" (permanently or temporarily) the wetland unde… more
Date: February 17, 2000
Creator: Meltz, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Wetland Issues

Description: 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 has been disappearing rapidly. 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. By 1980, total wetland acreage was estimated to be 104 million acres. Losses continue, although the rate of… more
Date: September 1, 2000
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A. & Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Issues in the 107th Congress: An Overview

Description: 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. Legislativ… more
Date: January 5, 2001
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Endocrine Disruption: An Introduction

Description: 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 conside… more
Date: January 11, 2001
Creator: Schierow, Linda-Jo & Buck, Eugene H.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Supreme Court Addresses Corps of Engineers Jurisdiction Over "Isolated Waters": The SWANCC Decision

Description: 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.
Date: February 16, 2001
Creator: Meltz, Robert & Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Western Water Resource Issues

Description: 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.
Date: July 27, 2001
Creator: Cody, Betsy A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Wetland Issues

Description: 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 los… more
Date: August 7, 2001
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A. & Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Water Quality: Implementing the Clean Water Act

Description: 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 th… more
Date: August 15, 2001
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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