Congressional Research Service Reports - 55 Matching Results

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Water Infrastructure Projects Designated in EPA Appropriations: Trends and Policy Implications

Description: This report discusses appropriations for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water infrastructure programs, focusing on congressional special project designations in the account that funds these programs. While some Members of Congress, interest groups, and Administration officials are critical of these types of congressional actions, there is little indication that the practice will cease. Information on the programmatic history of EPA involvement in assisting wastewater treatment and drinki… more
Date: November 17, 2008
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Air Act Issues in the 109th Congress

Description: The courts and the executive branch face major decisions on clean air issues in 2006, with Congress more likely playing an oversight role. One focus is EPA's Jan. 17 2006 proposal to strengthen air quality standards for fine particles, which are estimated to cause tens of thousands of premature deaths annually. Whether the proposal is supported by the available science and what impact its implementation would have likely issues of concern. Other issues of continuing interest are EPA's 2005 deci… more
Date: November 25, 2005
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Air Act Issues in the 109th Congress

Description: The courts and the executive branch face major decisions on clean air issues in 2006, with Congress more likely playing an oversight role. One focus is EPA's Jan. 17 2006 proposal to strengthen air quality standards for fine particles, which are estimated to cause tens of thousands of premature deaths annually. Whether the proposal is supported by the available science and what impact its implementation would have likely issues of concern. Other issues of continuing interest are EPA's 2005 deci… more
Date: November 25, 2005
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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EPA's Affordable Clean Energy Proposal

Description: This report provides background information about the Clean Air Act (CAA) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the power sector, and also highlights some of the major components of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) "Affordable Clean Energy Rule" (ACE) proposal.
Date: November 2, 2018
Creator: Shouse, Kate C.; Ramseur, Jonathan L. & Tsang, Linda
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Noise Abatement: Summary of the Issues

Description: This report discusses the issue of noise abatement in public places and residential areas and legislation and research regarding safe noise levels.
Date: November 4, 1970
Creator: Segal, Migdon R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Air Act Issues in the 106th Congress

Description: The Clean Air Act and its 1990 amendments appear to have contributed to a marked improvement in air quality nationwide. Of nearly 100 metropolitan areas not meeting air quality standards for ozone in 1990, more than two-thirds now do so. Even greater progress has been achieved with carbon monoxide: 36 of 42 areas not in attainment in 1990 now meet the standard. Nevertheless, EPA remains concerned about air pollution. In 1997, the Agency promulgated major revisions to its air quality standards f… more
Date: November 14, 2000
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Act Issues in the 106th Congress

Description: In the 106th Congress, no comprehensive activity on reauthorizing the Clean Water Act occurred, although a number of individual clean water bills were enacted. Other issues have been debated recently, such as reforming the law to provide regulatory relief for industry, states and cities, and individual landowners. The debate over many of these issues highlights differing views of the Act and its implementation by some who seek to strengthen existing requirements and others who believe that cost… more
Date: November 24, 1998
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Environmental Protection Legislation in the 105th Congress

Description: The 105th Congress enacted tax provisions relating to Superfund brownfields sites, transportation- and defense-related environmental provisions, a border smog bill, EPA funding as well as reinstating the tax that supports the Leaking Underground Storage Trust Fund. There were various actions on regulatory reform, the budget resolution, appropriations, highway- and defense-related environmental provisions, Superfund reform bills and underground storage tanks. It is too early to tell if these wil… more
Date: November 9, 1998
Creator: Lee, Martin R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Act Issues in the 107th Congress

Description: Key water quality issues that may face the 107th Congress include: actions to implement existing provisions of the Clean Water Act (CWA), 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. Legislative prospects for comprehensively amending the Act have for some time stalled over whether and exactly how to change the law. If clean water issues receive attention in the 107th Congress, consi… more
Date: November 25, 2002
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Climate Change Legislation in the 110th Congress

Description: This report briefly discusses the basic concepts on which climate change bills are based, and compares major provisions of the bills in each of the following categories: climate change research; emissions reduction technologies; U.S. actions pursuant to international emission reduction agreements; adaptation to the effects of climate change; GHG reporting and registration; and GHG emissions reduction programs.
Date: November 7, 2008
Creator: Ramseur, Jonathan L. & Yacobucci, Brent D.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Military Base Closures: Role and Costs of Environmental Cleanup

Description: This report provides an overview of cleanup requirements for the transfer and reuse of base closure properties, discusses the status of property transfer on bases closed under prior rounds, examines costs to clean up bases closed under these prior rounds, and discusses cleanup costs and issues for the 2005 round.
Date: November 15, 2005
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Act: A Summary of the Law

Description: This report presents the Summary of the Clean Water Act Law describing the essence of the statute.
Date: November 25, 2003
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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International Environment: Current Major Global Treaties

Description: Over the past decade, numerous major treaties have been concluded to deal with global environmental concerns. This report very briefly summarizes major global environmental treaties currently in effect, selected to include those that are subjects of frequent interest by Members of Congress.
Date: November 5, 1996
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Pipeline Security: Domestic Threats

Description: This report discusses recent acts of sabotage against U.S. oil pipelines by environmental activists have raised concern about the security of the nation's energy pipelines and the federal program to protect them.
Date: November 3, 2016
Creator: Parfomak, Paul W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Status of the Copenhagen Climate Change Negotiations

Description: This report evaluates the Copenhagen climate talks, including the status of the negotiations on the key issues under the formal negotiating tracks and the provisions of the Copenhagen Accord, and draws implications for the implementation of actions in developing countries.
Date: November 5, 2009
Creator: Leggett, Jane A. & Lattanzio, Richard K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Recent Trends and Factors

Description: A question for policy makers is whether U.S. GHG emissions will remain at current levels, decrease to meet the President's 2020 and 2025 goals, or increase to former (or even higher) levels. Multiple factors, including socioeconomics, technology, and climate policies, may impact GHG emission levels. The first section of this report provides current levels and recent trends in U.S. GHG emissions. The second section takes a closer look at some of the key factors that influence emission levels. Th… more
Date: November 24, 2014
Creator: Ramseur, Jonathan L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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EPA's Clean Power Plan Proposal: Are the Emission Rate Targets Front-Loaded?

Description: On June 18, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed regulations (the "Clean Power Plan") addressing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units. This report briefly discusses this proposal.
Date: November 3, 2014
Creator: Ramseur, Jonathan L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Brownfield Issues in the 110th Congress

Description: The Brownfields Act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants for the assessment and cleanup of sites that pose a less serious threat to human health and the environment than sites addressed by the Superfund program. The authorization expired on September 30, 2006. In the 109th Congress, a reauthorization bill, H.B. 5810, was reported from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on July 28, 2006, but went no further. This report contains information on the … more
Date: November 30, 2007
Creator: Reisch, Mark
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: Lessons Learned and Issues for Policy Makers

Description: The first section of this report provides an overview of the RGGI cap-and-trade program and the participating RGGI states. The subsequent sections discuss selected issues raised by RGGI that may be of interest to policy makers. The final section provides some final observations that may be instructive to policy makers.
Date: November 14, 2014
Creator: Ramseur, Jonathan L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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