Environmental Protection Issues in the 109th Congress

Publication Date: December 2006

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Environment

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Abstract:

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, disaster relief and cleanup, and defense. This report provides an overview of key environmental issues that received attention in the 109th Congress.

A number of environmental measures were 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 important 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. Congress attached to the FY2007 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act (P.L. 109-295) authority for DHS to regulate chemical facilities that present high-security risks. This authority expires three years after enactment (i.e., on October 4, 2009).

Appropriations for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) affect many of the programs and issues discussed in this report, which have been of perennial interest to Congress. The 109th Congress adjourned without finalizing FY2007 appropriations for EPA and many other federal agencies. A continuing resolution (P.L. 109-383) provided funding through February 15, 2007. Earlier in the second session, the House had included $7.58 billion for EPA when it passed the FY2007 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill (H.R. 5386). The Senate Appropriations Committee included $7.53 billion when it reported its version of this bill. Both amounts were more than the President's request of $7.32 billion, but less than the $7.72 billion appropriated for FY2006.

The second session enacted FY2007 defense authorization legislation (P.L. 109364), including authorization of funding for cleanup and other environmental activities on military lands and nuclear weapons sites. Appropriations for these activities were not enacted, but were funded through February 15, 2007, under the above continuing resolution. Although the Department of Defense sought exemptions from certain environmental requirements, the 109th Congress did not include them in either defense authorization or appropriations legislation.

Bills that received floor action by one or both chambers, or that were enacted into law, are listed and briefly described in Table 1. (Note: This report treats mainly pollution-related matters; for natural resource management issues, see CRS Report RL32699, Natural Resources: Selected Issues for the 109th Congress, coordinated by Nicole Carter and Carol Hardy Vincent.) This report replaces CRS Issue Brief IB10146, Environmental Protection Issues in the 109th Congress.