Congressional Research Service Reports - 30 Matching Results

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National Estuary Program: A Collaborative Approach to Protecting Coastal Water Quality

Description: This report discusses National Estuary Program and is based on 11 of the 28 estuaries that are currently in the National Estuary Program which represent common environmental problems along the nation’s coastline: on the Pacific Coast, the Columbia River, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, and Santa Monica Bay; on the Atlantic Coast, Albemarle-Pamlico Sound, Long Island Sound, Narragansett Bay, and Maryland’s coastal bays (excluding Chesapeake Bay); and on the Gulf of Mexico, Charlotte Harbor, Corp… more
Date: January 12, 2001
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Ballast Water Management to Combat Invasive Species

Description: This report provides background on various approaches to ballast water management and reviews current ballast water management laws and programs.
Date: January 28, 2010
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Ballast Water Management to Combat Invasive Species

Description: This report provides background on various approaches to ballast water management and reviews current ballast water management laws and programs.
Date: January 20, 2011
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Act: A Summary of the Law

Description: This report presents a summary of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, or Clean Water Act, describing the essence of the statute without discussing its implementation.
Date: January 24, 2002
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Act and Pollutant Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)

Description: This report discusses the total maximum daily load (TMDL) program which regulates pollutants to ensure that water quality standards can be attained; section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act requires states to identify waters that are impaired by pollution, even after application of pollution controls. The report focuses on new challenges facing the TMDL program, including more complex TMDLs, larger scale impairments, and nonpoint sources.
Date: January 17, 2014
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Clean Water Act and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) of Pollutants

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: January 4, 2005
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
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
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Controversies over Redefining "Fill Material" Under the Clean Water Act

Description: This report discusses the 2002 rule (the Clean Water Act), focusing on how it changes which material and types of activities are regulated under Section 404 and the significance of these issues, especially for the mining industry.
Date: January 23, 2014
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Energy-Water Nexus: The Water Sector's Energy Use

Description: This report provides background on energy for facilities that treat and deliver water to end users and also dispose of and discharge wastewater. This report first discusses water-related energy use broadly and then energy for facilities that treat and deliver water to end users and also dispose of and discharge wastewater.
Date: January 3, 2014
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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EPA and the Army Corps' Rule to Define "Waters of the United States"

Description: This report describes the revised rule of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) which defines the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Agencies refer to this final rule as the Clean Water Rule. This report includes a table comparing the existing regulatory language that defines "waters of the United States" with the revisions.
Date: January 4, 2016
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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EPA and the Army Corps' Rule to Define "Waters of the United States"

Description: This report describes the final revised rule--which the agencies refer to as the Clean Water Rule--announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It includes a table comparing the existing regulatory language that defines "waters of the United States" with the revisions.
Date: January 5, 2017
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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EPA and the Army Corps' "Waters of the United States" Rule: Congressional Response and Options

Description: This report discusses several options Congress had in order to respond to controversy caused by the May 27th, 2015 rule that was finalized by the Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This finalized rule revised regulations that defined the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Congress' legislative options are reflected in bills in the 114th Congress.
Date: January 20, 2016
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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EPA's Vessel General Permit: Background and Issues

Description: This report is an overview of the revised Vessel General Permit (VGP) from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and two key issues: inclusion of numeric performance standards to limit ballast water discharges from vessels, and controversies about the role of states in regulating vessel discharges.
Date: January 8, 2014
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Mountaintop Mining: Background on Current Controversies

Description: This report provides background on regulatory requirements, controversies, and legal challenges to Clean Water Act regulation of mountaintop mining. Congressional attention to these issues also is discussed.
Date: January 24, 2007
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Ocean Dumping Act: A Summary of the Law

Description: The Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act has two basic aims: to regulate international ocean disposal of materials, into authorized related research. Permit and enforcement provisions of the law are often referred to as the Ocean Dumping Act. The basic provisions of the act have remained virtually unchanged since 1972, when it was enacted to establish a comprehensive waste management system to regulate disposal or dumping of all materials into marine waters that are within U.S. juris… more
Date: January 22, 1999
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
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
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Water Infrastructure Financing: History of EPA Appropriations

Description: This report summarizes, in chronological order, congressional activity to fund items in the State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG) account since 1987. In appropriations legislation, funding for EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) wastewater assistance is contained in the measure providing funds for the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.
Date: January 19, 2006
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Water Infrastructure Financing: History of EPA Appropriations

Description: The principal federal program to aid municipal wastewater treatment plant construction is authorized in the Clean Water Act (CWA). In appropriations legislation, funding for EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) wastewater assistance is contained in the measure providing funds for the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. This report summarizes, in chronological order, congressional activity to fund items in the State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG) account since 19… more
Date: January 30, 2012
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Water Quality Issues in the 113th Congress: An Overview

Description: This report discusses the legislative and oversight issues regarding water quality, as well as wastewater treatment funding issues.
Date: January 8, 2015
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Water Quality Issues in the 114th Congress: An Overview

Description: This report discusses the legislative and oversight issues regarding water quality, as well as wastewater treatment funding issues.
Date: January 5, 2016
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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EPA Regulations: Too Much, Too Little, or On Track?

Description: This report provides background information on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory activity during the Obama Administration. It examines major or controversial regulatory actions taken by or under development at EPA since January 2009, providing details on the regulatory action itself, presenting an estimated timeline for completion of rules not yet promulgated (including identification of related court or statutory deadlines), and, in general, providing EPA's estimates of costs an… more
Date: January 8, 2015
Creator: McCarthy, James E. & Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Oil Spills in U.S. Coastal Waters: Background and Governance

Description: This report provides background information regarding oil spills in U.S. coastal waters and identifies the legal authorities governing oil spill prevention, response, and cleanup. Based on data between 1973 and 2009, the annual number and volume of oil spills have shown declines- in some cases, dramatic declines.
Date: January 11, 2012
Creator: Ramseur, Jonathan L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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