Environmental protection concerns span a wide variety of issues, including clean air, water quality, chemical security, and environmental aspects of other major issue areas such as energy, transportation, and defense. This issue brief provides an overview of key environmental issues receiving attention in the 109th Congress. Most recently, the attention to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita involved a number of environmental concerns, and legislative proposals on matters such as emergency waivers of environmental requirements are before Congress. A number of environmental measures have been the subject of congressional activity, some of them as part of comprehensive bills and laws on broader subjects such as energy and transportation. On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed P.L. 109-58 (H.R. 6), the Energy Policy Act of 2005, an omnibus energy package that contains numerous environmentally related provisions. Perhaps the most controversial include a renewable fuel standard and streamlined environmental permitting. On August 10, 2005, the President signed the transportation reauthorization bill, P.L. 109-59. This law, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), contains various environmental provisions. Appropriations for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) affect many of the programs and issues discussed in this issue brief, and the ...

Environmental protection concerns span a wide variety of issues, including clean air, water quality, chemical security, and environmental aspects of other major issue areas such as energy, transportation, and defense. This issue brief provides an overview of key environmental issues receiving attention in the 109th Congress. The attention to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita involved a number of environmental concerns, including legislative proposals on matters such as emergency waivers of environmental requirements. A number of environmental measures have been the subject of congressional activity, some of them as part of comprehensive bills and laws on broader subjects such as energy and transportation. On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed P.L. 109-58 (H.R. 6), the Energy Policy Act of 2005, an omnibus energy package that contains numerous environmentally related provisions. Perhaps the most controversial include a renewable fuel standard and streamlined environmental permitting. On August 10, 2005, the President signed the transportation reauthorization bill, P.L. 109-59. This law, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), contains various environmental provisions. Appropriations for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) affect many of the programs and issues discussed in this issue brief, and the adequacy of EPAâ€TMs funding has been of perennial interest in Congress. In the second session, the House passed on May 18, 2006, the FY2007 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill (H.R. 5386). This bill would provide $7.58 billion for EPA, an increase above the request of $7.32 billion but less than the FY2006 appropriation of $7.71 billion. The second session also has begun consideration of FY2007 defense authorization (H.R. 5122 and S. 2766) and appropriations legislation (H.R. 5385), which include funding for cleanup and other environmental activities on military lands. None of these bills include exemptions from air quality and environmental cleanup requirements that DOD requested. Early in 2005, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held hearings and scheduled markup of S.131, the Clear Skies Act. However, the bill failed on a tie vote on March 9, 2005, owing to the contentious nature of the debate over whether clean air regulation would be made more effective or weakened by the legislation and whether it should include the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. The Administration continues to advocate passage of the clear skies bill. As bills receive floor action, they will be listed at the end of this report in Table 1, which briefly describes each bill and its current status. The sections on specific issues contain references to more detailed CRS reports. [Note: This issue brief treats mainly pollution-related matters; for natural resource management issues, see CRS Report RL32699, Natural Resources: Selected Issues for the 109th Congress.]

In the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-58, H.R. 6), Congress established a requirement for the use of renewable fuels and revised Clean Air Act and underground storage tank regulatory requirements to address public health and environmental concerns associated with the use of fuels and fuel additives, especially methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). Much contentious debate centered on the issue of how to address water quality problems associated with MTBE use while preserving air quality benefits of reformulated gasoline and, at the same time, promoting the use of renewable fuels (especially ethanol). This report compares the renewable fuel and MTBE provisions in the House and Senate versions of H.R. 6 with the provisions Congress ultimately agreed to in Title XV of P.L. 109-58. Among the key fuel-related provisions, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 repealed the Clean Air Act requirement that reformulated gasoline (RFG) contain at least 2% oxygen -- a requirement that led refiners and importers to use MTBE and, to a lesser extent, ethanol in their RFG. This provision was advanced by both the House and Senate, largely in response to drinking water contamination problems associated with the use of MTBE. In place of this requirement, the Act established a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requiring the use of 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2012. This requirement is being met primarily through the use of ethanol. Also consistent with the House and Senate bills, P.L. 109-58 requires that the reductions in emissions of toxic substances achieved by RFG be maintained and allows ethanol credit trading among refiners and importers of fuels. Major issues that the various versions of the bill treated differently include whether to grant MTBE producers a safe harbor from product liability lawsuits (the House version did so, whereas the Senate version and the enacted version did not); whether to phase out continued use of MTBE in motor fuels (both the House and Senate versions would have done so, with exceptions, whereas the enacted bill does not); and whether to require manufacturers of fuels and fuel additives to evaluate their impacts on public health and the environment (the Senate version and the enacted version did so, the House version did not). The Energy Policy Act also amends the underground storage tank (UST) regulatory program to specifically authorize EPA and states to use funds appropriated from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund to address fuel leaks involving MTBE and other oxygenated fuel additives. The law also expands the leak prevention provisions of the UST program and imposes new requirements on states, EPA, and tank owners.

This report reviews the status of energy efficiency and renewable energy legislation introduced during the 109th Congress. Action in the second session has focused on appropriations bills; the first session focused on omnibus energy policy bill H.R. 6 (P.L. 109-58), H.R. 3 (P.L. 109-59), and several appropriations bills. The enacted version of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-58, H.R. 6) authorizes or reauthorizes several energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. It also establishes several new commercial and consumer product efficiency standards, sets new goals for energy efficiency and renewable energy in federal facilities and fleets, broadens the Energy Star products program, expands programs for hydrogen fuel cell buses, extends daylight savings time, and sets a renewable fuels standard for increased use of ethanol and biodiesel. Further, it extends the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) for two years, but it does not include Senate-proposed provisions for oil conservation, a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), or a broader range of legislated equipment efficiency standards. The enacted version of the Transportation Equity Act (P.L. 109-59, H.R. 3) has provisions for clean (renewable) fuels, energy conservation, and advanced vehicle technologies. Specific sections include 1113, volumetric excise tax credit for alternative fuels; 1121, high occupancy vehicle (HOV) facilities; 1307, magnetic levitation transportation; 1807, nonmotorized transportation pilot program; 1808, additions to congestion mitigation and air quality (CMAQ); 1952, congestion relief; 1954, bicycle transportation and pedestrian walkways; 3005, metropolitan transportation planning; 3010, clean fuels grant program; 3016, national research and technology programs; 3044, clean fuels grants; 3045, national fuel cell bus technology development program; 4149, office of intermodalism; 5301, intelligent transportation systems; 5502, congestion relief research initiative; 6001, transportation planning; 6015, clean school buses; and 9002, study of high-speed rail. Appropriations bills have also been a focus, including P.L. 109-54 (H.R. 2361, Environmental Protection Agency energy efficiency programs for climate protection); P.L. 109-103 (H.R. 2419, Department of Energy programs for energy efficiency and renewable energy); P.L. 109-97 (H.R. 2744, Department of Agriculture program for renewable energy grants and loans); P.L. 109-108 (H.R. 2862, telecommuting program at several agencies); P.L. 109-102 (H.R. 3057, Department of State funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy in developing nations); and H.R. 2863 (Department of Defense wind energy project for an Air Force base). More than 290 energy efficiency and renewable energy bills have been introduced thus far, including more than 140 that were introduced after the conference report on H.R. 6 was filed on July 27, 2005. For each bill listed in this report, a brief description and a summary of action are given, including references to committee hearings and reports. Also, a selected list of hearings on renewable energy is included. This report will be updated periodically. It supplements the tracking of issues that appear in CRS Report RL33588 and CRS Report RL33599.

"While the energy sector is a primary target of efforts to arrest and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and lower the carbon footprint of development, it is also expected to be increasingly affected by unavoidable climate consequences from the damage already induced in the biosphere. Energy services and resources, as well as seasonal demand, will be increasingly affected by changing trends, increasing variability, greater extremes and large inter-annual variations in climate parameters in some regions. All evidence suggests that adaptation is not an optional add-on but an essential reckoning on par with other business risks. Existing energy infrastructure, new infrastructure and future planning need to consider emerging climate conditions and impacts on design, construction, operation, and maintenance. Integrated risk-based planning processes will be critical to address the climate change impacts and harmonize actions within and across sectors. Also, awareness, knowledge, and capacity impede mainstreaming of climate adaptation into the energy sector. However, the formal knowledge base is still nascent?information needs are complex and to a certain extent regionally and sector specific. This report provides an up-to-date compendium of what is known about weather variability and projected climate trends and their impacts on energy service provision and demand. It discusses emerging practices and tools for managing these impacts and integrating climate considerations into planning processes and operational practices in an environment of uncertainty. It focuses on energy sector adaptation, rather than mitigation which is not discussed in this report. This report draws largely on available scientific and peer-reviewed literature in the public domain and takes the perspective of the developing world to the extent possible."