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Restructuring Electricity Markets, Public Power, and Tax-Exempt Bonds: An Economic Analysis

Description: Tax-exempt bonds subsidize public power's cost of capital and enable it to lower price. The subsidy is economically beneficial (enables public power price to reflect the true cost of electric service) only if the private market fails to provide the correct amount of electricity. In general, the private market does provide the correct amount of electricity; in those cases when it does not, the tax-exempt bond subsidy is unlikely to correct the problem. Tax-exempt bond legislation over the last 3… more
Date: June 10, 1998
Creator: Zimmerman, Dennis
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Electricity Restructuring Background: The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 and the Energy Policy Act of 1992

Description: The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT) increased competition in the electric generating sector by creating new entities that can generate and sell electricity at wholesale without being regulated as utilities under PUHCA. PURPA began to shift more regulatory responsibilities to the federal government, and EPACT continued that shift away from the states by creating new options for utilities and regulators to meet electricity demand.
Date: May 4, 1998
Creator: Abel, Amy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Some Perspectives on the Changing Role of the U.S. Government in Science and Technology

Description: This report analyzes a number of factors bearing on the government's role in science and technology (S&T): the character of research and development (R&D); the federal R&D missions involved; whether the government funds R&D in its own laboratories or in those of industry or academia; and the government's R&D budget and its management of, and planning for, S&T.
Date: April 14, 1998
Creator: Boesman, William C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Department of Energy FY1998 Research and Development Budget and Issues

Description: This report focuses on the R&D programs. DOE has divided its activities into four major business categories: Resource, Science and Technology, National Security, and Environmental Quality. Each has an R&D component, although the R&D funding is concentrated in the first three. Table 1 (on the next page) shows FY1997 R&D funding, the FY1998 request, and the FY1998 appropriation actions by those categories
Date: December 3, 1997
Creator: Rowberg, Richard E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Department of Energy's FY1998 Budget

Description: This issue brief describes the FY1998 request for DOE's major programs, its implications, and congressional action on the DOE budget. Table 1 at the end of the issue brief highlights the FY1998 DOE budget request. House and Senate marks and the final budget enacted will be included in revised versions as the appropriations bills move through the Congress.
Date: November 7, 1997
Creator: Humphries, Marc
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Gasoline Excise Tax - Historical Revenues: Fact Sheet

Description: This report provides a fact sheet about the Gasoline Excise Tax - Historical Revenues. The gas tax was regarded as a user tax where the federal government has imposed a gasoline excise tax with the passage of the revenue act in 1932.
Date: September 16, 1997
Creator: Talley, Louis Alan
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund (LUST)

Description: The Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund provides money under Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)- state cooperative agreements to pay cleanup and related costs involving leaking petroleum tanks if no financially solvent owners can be found, or if the owner or operator refuses or is unable to comply with an urgent corrective order. Both EPA and the states use trust fund monies to oversee and enforce LUST corrective actions. Primary financing for the trust fund comes from a 0.1 c… more
Date: August 28, 1997
Creator: Noto, Nonna A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Abandoned Mine Land Fund: Grants Distribution and Issues

Description: The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, P.L. 95-87), enacted in 1977, established reclamation standards for all coal surface mining operations, and for the surface effects of underground mining. It also established the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program to promote the reclamation of sites mined and abandoned prior to the enactment of SMCRA. To finance reclamation of abandoned mine sites, the legislation established fees on coal production. These collections are divided into federa… more
Date: March 26, 1997
Creator: Bamberger, Robert L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Tax Treatment of Alternative Transportation Fuels

Description: Historically, federal energy policy, including energy tax policy, promoted the development of oil and gas at the expense of alternative fuels and nonconventional forms of energy. Beginning in the 1970s, there was a shift in the focus of energy tax policy away from oil and gas toward energy conservation and toward the development of alternative fuels and nonconventional forms of energy.
Date: March 19, 1997
Creator: Lazzari, Salvatore
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Transportation Fuel Taxes Early in the 105th Congress

Description: The 105th Congress has reinstated for about half a year the federal excise taxes on fuel used by noncommercial aviation. This follows a similar move by the 104th Congress on aviation fuel taxes, and actions pertaining to the tax on diesel fuel used in recreational motorboats, and to the fuel tax credits given to first purchasers of diesel-powered cars and light trucks. The 104th Congress also debated repeal of the increase of 4.3 cents per gallon in transportation fuel taxes imposed by the Omni… more
Date: March 17, 1997
Creator: Gelb, Bernard A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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DOE Laboratory Restructuring Legislation in the 104th Congress

Description: Interest in restructuring (including eliminating) the Department of Energy (DOE) and its laboratories has increased since the end of the Cold War, and especially since the beginning of the 104th Congress. A number of non-legislative proposals and activities to this end are reviewed, including DOE's own proposals for "alignment and downsizing" of the Department and its laboratories.
Date: March 14, 1997
Creator: Boesman, William C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Electric Utility Restructuring: Overview of Basic Policy Questions

Description: Proposals to increase competition in the electric utility industry involve segmenting electric functions (generation, transmission, distribution) that are currently integrated (or bundled) in most cases (both in terms of corporate and rate structures). This report identifies five basic issues this effort raises for the Congress to consider as the debate on restructuring proceeds.
Date: January 28, 1997
Creator: Parker, Larry
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Nuclear Weapons Production Complex: Environmental Compliance and Waste Management

Description: The aging nuclear weapons production complex, managed by the Department of Energy (DOE), faces enormous environmental and waste management problems. Several hundred billion dollars may be needed to clean up leaking waste pits, groundwater contamination, growing accumulations of radioactive waste, and uncontrolled liquid discharges at DOE facilities. DOE's cleanup program is carried out by the Office of Environmental Management (EM). Cleanup funding escalated rapidly after the end of the Cold Wa… more
Date: January 17, 1997
Creator: Holt, Mark
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Energy Efficiency: A New National Outlook?

Description: In 1992, the Nation spent $522 billion for energy ($1996 constant), while energy efficiency and conservation measures were saving the economy about $275 billion per year. Energy is conserved when technical means are employed to improve efficiency or to reduce energy waste. In 1996 constant dollars, conservation research and development (R&D) funding declined from $698 million in FY1979 to $198 million in FY1988 and then climbed to $486 million in FY1994, 31% below the FY1979 peak.
Date: December 12, 1996
Creator: Sissine, Fred
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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DOE Laboratory Restructuring Legislation

Description: Interest in restructuring (including eliminating) the Department of Energy (DOE) and its laboratories has increased since the end of the Cold War, and especially since the beginning of the 104th Congress. A number of non-legislative proposals and activities to this end are reviewed, including DOE's own proposals for "alignment and downsizing" of the Department and its laboratories.
Date: December 4, 1996
Creator: Boesman, William C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Amtrak and Energy Conservation in Intercity Passenger Transportation

Description: A rationale for federal financial support to Amtrak has been that rail service conserves energy, compared to other forms of intercity passenger transportation. The numbers presented in this report suggest that the rationale might not be valid with regard to some alternative modes of transportation, and the report discusses some public policy implications that could follow from that conclusion.
Date: September 3, 1996
Creator: Thompson, Stephen J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Alternative Transportation Fuels: Oil Import, Highway Tax, and Implementation Issues

Description: This report discusses three major pieces of legislation designed to, among other objectives, foster the development, introduction, and diffusion of alternative nonpetroleum fuels into the U.S. transportation sector. These three pieces of legislation are the Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, and the Energy Policy Act of 1992.
Date: August 30, 1996
Creator: Behrens, Carl E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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World Solar Summit: Launching the World Renewable Energy Program

Description: The World Solar Summit and proposed World Solar Program 1996-2005 address energy problems through increased use of renewable energy technologies. The World Solar Commission will host the World Solar Summit in Harare, Zimbabwe, on September 16 and 17, 1996, and it will direct the World Solar Program 1996-2005. At the Summit, the Commission is expected to adopt a World Plan ofAction and a number of Strategic Projects. The proposed World Plan of Action includes a selection of high-priority renewab… more
Date: August 1, 1996
Creator: Sissine, Fred
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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