Congressional Research Service Reports - 31 Matching Results
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- Permitting for Pesticide Discharges into Navigable Waters: Issues and Legislation in the 115th Congress
- This report discusses the pesticide general permit (PGP), which is required for discharges of biological pesticides and chemical pesticides that leave a residue in navigable waters. Possible actions from the 115th Congress are also discussed.
- Climate Change: Frequently Asked Questions About the 2015 Paris Agreement
- This report discusses the frequently asked questions about the 2015 Paris Agreement (PA). The PA opened for signature by Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on April 22, 2016, at U.N. headquarters in New York City.
- Army Corps of Engineers: Water Resource Authorizations, Appropriations, and Activities
- This report summarizes congressional authorization and appropriations processes for the Army Corps of Engineers and agency activities under general authorities. Congress directs the Corps through authorizations, appropriations, and oversight of its studies, construction projects, and other activities.
- Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report provides background information and issues for Congress on sustaining and modernizing the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions.
- 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 relevant topics.
- 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 relevant topics.
- Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the sustainment and modernization of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions. The report is written in response to the Coast Guard's budget request for a new polar ice breaker (none are currently in operation).
- Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present, and Future
- This report discusses climate change and surveys existing law for legal issues that have arisen, or may arise in the future, on account of climate change and government responses thereto.
- Water Infrastructure Projects Designated in EPA Appropriations: Trends and Policy Implications
- 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 drinking water projects also is provided in two appendixes.
- Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress
- This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the modernization of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions.
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Appropriations for FY2011
- This document provides the appropriations for FY2011. A comparison is shown in the amount of funding given throughout the years and how the President is wanting to decrease the funding presently (2011). The document continues to describe in detail the funding given for clean water and drinking water along with its changes. The appropriations for prominent issues such as, climate change, hazardous waste clean-up, and the restoration of The Great Lakes are also described.
- The D.C. Circuit Rejects EPA’s Mercury Rules: New Jersey v. EPA
- No Description Available.
- Climate Change: Federal Laws and Policies Related to Greenhouse Gas Reductions
- This report provides background on the evolution of U.S. climate change policy, from ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to the George W. Bush Administration's 2001 rejection of the Kyoto Protocol to the present. The report focuses on major regulatory programs that monitor or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, along with their estimated effect on emissions levels.
- U.S. Global Climate Change Policy: Evolving Views on Cost, Competitiveness, and Comprehensiveness
- This report discusses U.S. policy toward global climate change, which evolved from a "study only" to a more "study and action" orientation in 1992 with ratification of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
- Environmental Laws: Summaries of Major Statutes Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- No Description Available.
- Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR): Controversies for the 109th Congress
- This report discusses the ongoing debate about whether or not to approve energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Current law forbids energy leasing in the Refuge. This report addresses several legislative options on the issue, as well as policymakers' arguments for and against development, especially in the wake of increasing terrorism since 2000-2001.
- Implementing International Agreements on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Proposed Amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act
- The focus of this report is on proposed amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This report does not constitute a legal analysis of the bills or of existing law. Instead, it begins by describing the three international agreements and relevant provisions of TSCA. The report then summarizes selected provisions of H.R. 4591 and H.R. 4800, as introduced, and compares them in a brief narrative and more detailed table.
- Clean Water Act Issues in the 109th Congress
- Congress has recently focused legislative attention on narrow bills to extend or modify selected Clean Water Act (CWA) programs, rather than taking up comprehensive proposals. In the 109th Congress, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has approved S. 1400, a bill authorizing $20 billion in federal grants to capitalize state clean water infrastructure loan programs. Also, a House committee has approved bills to reauthorize several Clean Water Act programs: H.R. 624 would provide $1.5 billion in grants over six years for sewer overflow projects; H.R. 1359 would extend a pilot program for alternative water source projects; H.R. 1721 would reauthorize coastal water quality programs; and H.R. 3963 would extend the Long Island Sound Program.
- NEPA and Hurricane Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding Efforts
- No Description Available.
- Clean Air Act Issues in the 109th Congress
- Major amendments to the Clean Air Act were among the first items on the agenda of the 109th Congress, with S. 131 (the Clear Skies Act) scheduled for markup by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee March 9. The most prominent air quality issues discussed in this report are; Clear Skies / Multi-Pollutant Legislation, Mercury from Power Plants, New Source Review (NSR), MTBE and Ethanol, Ozone Nonattainment Area Deadlines, and Conformity of Transportation Plans and SIPs.
- Mining on Federal Lands
- This report includes background, analysis, and legislative activity regarding mining on federal lands. The claim-patent system, fair market value, and reform proposals are among topics discussed in this report.
- Environmental Protection Issues in the 108th Congress
- The 108th Congress has acted on a variety of disparate environmental measures; some of these represent proposals or issues that had been under consideration in the 107th Congress and earlier. Environmental issues considered by Congress tend to fall into several major categories: (1) funding issues — whether funding levels are adequate and focused on appropriate priorities; (2) expanding, renewing, or refocusing specific environment programs; (3) environmental issues that are important “subsets” of other major areas of concern, such as energy, defense, or transportation programs; and more recently, (4) terrorism and infrastructure protection in areas such as wastewater and chemical facilities.
- Environmental Protection Issues in the 108th Congress
- This report provides a brief overview of some of the key environmental protection issues that have been and are likely to continue to be the focus of public and congressional attention.
- Federal/State Relations Under the Clean Air Act: The Supreme Court Takes Two Cases
- No Description Available.
- Clean Air Act Issues in the 108th Congress
- Clean air issues were discussed at length in the 107th Congress, but legislation was not enacted, leaving the same issues for possible consideration in the 108th. The most prominent air quality issues discussed in this report are; the controversy over EPA’s proposed changes to the New Source Review (NSR) requirements, Clear Skies / Multi-Pollutant Legislation, gasoline additive MTBE, Conformity of Transportation Plans and SIPs Deadlines for Achieving the Ozone Air Quality Standard.
- Clean Air Act Issues in the 108th Congress
- Clean air issues were discussed at length in the 107th Congress, but legislation was not enacted, leaving the same issues for possible consideration in the 108th. The most prominent air quality issues discussed in this report are; the controversy over EPA’s proposed changes to the New Source Review (NSR) requirements, Clear Skies / Multi-Pollutant Legislation, gasoline additive MTBE, Conformity of Transportation Plans and SIPs Deadlines for Achieving the Ozone Air Quality Standard.
- Clean Water Act Issues in the 107th Congress
- 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, consideration of specific issues will depend in part on the CWA policy agenda of the new Bush Administration and on priorities of the key committees that have major jurisdiction over the Act.
- The Role of Risk Analysis and Risk Management in Environmental Protection
- No Description Available.
- Water Quality: Implementing the Clean Water Act
- No Description Available.
- Environmental Protection: Defense-Related Programs
- The Department of Defense (DOD) operates six environmental programs that address cleanup of past contamination at military facilities, compliance with environmental laws and regulations that apply to current activities, cleanup at military bases being closed, pollution prevention, natural resource conservation, and environmental technology. In addition, the Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for managing defense nuclear waste generated from the past production of atomic materials used to construct nuclear weapons and for remediating contaminated sites. For FY1999, the Administration has requested a total of $10. 14 billion for DOD and DOE's defense-related environmental activities, which represents about 3.7% of the total request of $271.6 billion for national defense and is roughly 1.6% below the FY1998 funding level of $l0.30 billion.
- Superfund: A Brief Comparison of the Chairmen's Bills
- No Description Available.