Congressional Research Service Reports - 25 Matching Results
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- Aging Infrastructure: Dam Safety
- To help inform discussions on the federal role in dam safety, this report provides background information on the nation’s dam safety activities and funding mechanisms.
- Airport Improvement Program
- This issue brief discusses the Airport Improvement Program and its complement, the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC). After a brief history of federal support for airport construction and improvement, the report describes AIP funding, its source of revenues, funding distribution, the types of projects the program funds, AIP and PFC policy issues, and the allowable use of AIP funds for airport security purposes.
- The Army Corps of Engineers' Nationwide Permits Program: Issues and Regulatory Developments
- Permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorize various types of development projects in wetlands and other waters of the United States. The Corps' regulatory process involves two types of permits: general permits for actions for private landowners that will likely have a minor effect on wetlands, and individual permits for more significant actions. Interest groups have a number of specific criticisms of the permits. For some time, there has been a stalemate in Congress over legislation related to this issue.
- Army Corps of Engineers Water Resource Projects: Authorization and Appropriations
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers attracts congressional attention because its projects can have significant local and regional economic benefits and environmental effects, in addition to their water resource development purposes. This report provides an overview of the Corps civil works program. It covers the congressional authorization and appropriation process, the standard project development process, and other Corps activities and authorities. It also includes an Appendix on the evolution of Corps civil works missions and authorities and a description of the limits on the Corps' role in levee accreditation and improvements for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
- Critical Infrastructure Information Disclosure and Homeland Security
- This report discusses the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that was passed to ensure by statute citizen access to government information. Nine categories of information may be exempted from disclosure. Three of the nine exemptions provide possible protection against the release of critical infrastructure information: exemption 1 (national security information); exemption 3 (information exempted by statute); and exemption 4 (confidential business information). Congress has considered several proposals to exempt critical infrastructure information from the FOIA.
- Critical Infrastructure Protections: The 9/11 Commission Report
- No Description Available.
- Critical Infrastructure Resilience: The Evolution of Policy and Programs and Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the concept of resilience in the context of critical infrastructure and homeland security. It also identifies and discusses issues related to the evolution of policy and programs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that are meant to, or could, promote the resiliency of the nation's critical infrastructure. The purpose of the report is to aid Congress in its oversight of critical infrastructure programs and activities at DHS.
- Critical Infrastructure: The National Asset Database
- The purpose of this report is to discuss the National Asset Database: what is in it, how it is populated, what the Database apparently is, what is not, and how it is intended to be used. The report also discusses some of the issues on which Congress could focus its oversight.
- Critical Infrastructures: A Primer
- No Description Available.
- Critical Infrastructures: A Primer
- The nation’s health, wealth, and security rely on the supply and distribution of certain goods and services. The array of physical assets, processes and organizations across which these goods and services move are called critical infrastructures. Computers and communications, themselves critical infrastructures, are increasingly tying these infrastructures together.
- Critical Infrastructures: Background, Policy, and Implementation
- The nation’s health, wealth, and security rely on the production and distribution of certain goods and services. The array of physical assets, processes and organizations across which these goods and services move are called critical infrastructures (e.g. electricity, the power plants that generate it, and the electric grid upon which it is distributed). Computers and communications, themselves critical infrastructures, are increasingly tying these infrastructures together. This report aims to address the concern that this reliance on computers and computer networks raises the vulnerability of the nation’s critical infrastructures to “cyber” attacks.
- Critical Infrastructures: What Makes an Infrastructure Critical?
- A fluid definition of what constitutes a critical infrastructure could complicate policymaking and actions. At the very least, a growing list of infrastructures in need of protection will require the federal government to prioritize its efforts. Essentially the federal government will have to try to minimize the impact on the nation’s critical infrastructure of any future terrorist attack, taking into account what those impacts might be and the likelihood of their occurring.
- High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) and High Power Microwave (HPM) Devices: Threat Assessments
- This report provides information about the Threat Assessments on High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) and High Power Microwave (HPM) Devices that can overload at distant numerous systems.
- How to Find Information in a Library
- This report "includes background information (encyclopedias, almanacs, and business, statistical, and biographical directories), current information (books and magazines), sources such as organizations and foundations and sources for government, politics, and legislation. It lists a number of Internet search engines, which can be used at many public libraries." (from Summary)
- Libraries and the USA PATRIOT Act
- This report discusses how and when the USA PATRIOT ACT P.L. 107-56 applies to libraries and bookstores under Section 215 of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act. Includes legislative changes and amendments made in relation to Section 215. Updated August 19, 2005.
- Marine Security of Hazardouse Chemical Cargo
- Report on the security of hazardous chemical marine transportation, including cargo, accidents, health effects, ports, and more.
- Rising Costs and Delays Doom New Nuclear Reactors in South Carolina
- This report discusses the cancellation of building two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsonville, South Carolina due to budget shortfalls, the bankruptcy of the construction company Westinghouse, delays, and rising costs.
- Rural Water Supply and Sewer Systems: Background Information
- This report discusses the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act, which 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.
- Safeguarding the Nation's Drinking Water: EPA and Congressional Actions
- No Description Available.
- Spinning the Web: The History and Infrastructure of the Internet
- The Internet is an international, cooperative computer "network of networks" that links many types of users, such as governments, schools, libraries, corporations, hospitals, individuals, and others. No single organization owns, manages, or controls the Internet. However, the Internet is not free. The major costs of running the network are shared by its primary users: universities, national laboratories, high-tech corporations, and governments.
- Terrorist Nuclear Attacks on Seaports: Threat and Response
- No Description Available.
- Terrorist Nuclear Attacks on Seaports: Threat and Response
- No Description Available.
- Water Infrastructure Financing: History of EPA Appropriations
- 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 1987.
- Western Water Resource Issues
- For more than a century, the federal government has constructed water resource projects for a variety of purposes, including flood control, navigation, power generation, and irrigation. While most municipal and industrial water supplies have been built by non-federal entities, most of the large, federal water supply projects in the West, including Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, were constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation (Department of the Interior) to provide water for irrigation.
- Western Water Resource Issues
- For more than a century, the federal government has constructed water resource projects for a variety of purposes including flood control, navigation, power generation, and irrigation. While most municipal and industrial water supplies have been built by non-federal entities, most of the large, federal water supply projects in the West, including Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, were constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation (Department of the Interior) to provide water for irrigation.