Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP): Status and Issues

Megan Stubbs
Analyst in Agricultural Conservation and Natural Resources Policy

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a voluntary program that provides farmers with financial and technical assistance to plan and implement soil and water conservation practices. EQIP is the largest agriculture conservation financial assistance program for working lands. EQIP was first authorized in 1996 and was most recently revised by Section 2501 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-246, the 2008 farm bill). It is a mandatory spending program (i.e., not subject to annual appropriations) and is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Funding is currently authorized to grow to $1.75 billion in FY2012. Eligible land includes cropland, rangeland, pasture, non-industrial private forestland, and other land on which resource concerns related to agricultural production could be addressed through an EQIP contract.

With the 112th Congress’s emphasis on reducing federal spending, EQIP could face tighter budget constraints with a potential reduction in mandatory funding levels and a continuing backlog of unfunded applications. Congress will also likely consider reauthorization of the 2008 farm bill because much of the current law, including EQIP, expires in 2012.


Date of Report: May 9, 2011
Number of Pages: 13
Order Number: R40197
Price: $29.95

Follow us on TWITTER at http://www.twitter.com/alertsPHP or #CRSreports

Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail Penny Hill Press or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.

Bisphenol A (BPA) in Plastics and Possible Human Health Effects

Linda-Jo Schierow
Specialist in Environmental Policy

Sarah A. Lister
Specialist in Public Health and Epidemiology

Bisphenol A (BPA) is used to produce certain types of plastic, in thousands of formulations for myriad products. Products made with these plastics may expose people to small amounts of BPA. The most significant source of public exposure is thought to be through food, although other ubiquitous products such as thermal paper coatings, and for some individuals medical devices, such as feeding and breathing tubes, also may contribute significantly to human exposure. Some studies have found that fetal and infant development may be harmed by very small amounts of BPA, but scientists disagree about the amount of BPA that is likely to harm human health.

In the United States and elsewhere, scientific disagreement about the possibility of human health effects that may result from BPA exposure has led to conflicting regulatory decisions by various advisory bodies and regulatory agencies. Controversy has centered on the safety of food containers, especially those intended for use by infants and children. A conclusion by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that BPA use is safe conflicted with earlier findings by a panel of scientific advisers, but other scientists who reviewed that panel’s conclusions disagreed. These events prompted some to question FDA’s process for the assessment of such health risks, and others to question the agency’s fundamental ability to conduct such assessments competently. More recently, FDA expressed concern about possible health effects from BPA exposure and announced that it was conducting new studies on the matter, pending possible changes in its regulatory approach.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for protecting public health and the environment from unreasonable risks associated with production, interstate commerce, and use of industrial chemicals, including BPA, when they are not specifically regulated under other federal laws. In March 2010, EPA released a “chemical action plan” for BPA that proposed to list BPA as a chemical of concern that may present an unreasonable risk to certain aquatic species at concentrations similar to those found in the environment; to consider rulemaking to gather additional data relevant to environmental effects; and to initiate collaborative alternatives assessment activities under its Design for the Environment (DfE) program to encourage reductions in BPA releases and exposures. EPA is evaluating alternatives to BPA for use in paper for thermal printing.

Some food companies, bottle manufacturers, and paper receipt producers have voluntarily changed to BPA-free products. It is reported that some companies are exploring alternatives to BPA-containing food cans. However, others have said that for some types of canned foods, alternatives that preserve the safety and quality of the food currently may not be available.

In the 112th Congress, companion bills, H.R. 432 and S. 136, would ban the use of BPA in food containers. In the 111th Congress, a number of bills (S. 593/H.R. 1523, S. 753/H.R. 4456, H.R. 4341, H.R. 5820) were introduced that would have curtailed uses of BPA in certain products, required labeling of products containing BPA, or required EPA or FDA to reassess risks. None of these bills was enacted.


Date of Report: May 11, 2011
Number of Pages: 17
Order Number: RS22869
Price: $29.95

Follow us on TWITTER at http://www.twitter.com/alertsPHP or #CRSreports

Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail Penny Hill Press or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.

H.R. 1 Full-Year FY2011 Continuing Resolution: Overview of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Provisions

Robert Esworthy
Specialist in Environmental Policy

P.L. 112-10, the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (H.R. 1473), enacted April 15, 2011, provided $8.70 billion for EPA for FY2011. None of the 12 regular appropriations bills for FY2011, including the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill that includes funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), were enacted before the start of the fiscal year on October 1, 2010. Prior to the enactment of P.L. 112-10, a series of temporary continuing resolutions (CRs) were enacted that sequentially extended funding from October 1, 2010, through April 15, 2011 (P.L. 112-8). Passed by the House on February 19, 2011, Division B of H.R. 1 would have funded 11 of the 12 regular FY2011 appropriations bills in the form of a full-year continuing resolution (CR) (Division A separately would have provided FY2011 appropriations for the Department of Defense, the 12th bill).

Several recent and pending EPA regulatory actions were the focus of considerable attention during committee hearings and floor debate on EPA FY2011 appropriations, and were reflected in a number of provisions and amendments included in House-passed H.R. 1. These EPA actions cut across the various environmental pollution control statutes’ programs and initiatives, such as those that address greenhouse gas emissions, hazardous air pollutants (including mercury), mountaintop mining regulation, management of coal ash, particulate matter emissions, and water quality management including geographical ecosystems (notably Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes). Although Congress did not include the provisions in P.L. 112-10, these environmental regulatory issues remain a prominent topic of debate as Congress deliberates on the FY2012 appropriations and other proposed legislation regarding EPA’s authorities.

Title VII of Division B in H.R. 1, as passed by the House, included specified funding levels for certain EPA accounts. Title VII of Division B, as well as Division D of the House-passed bill, combined contained more than 20 provisions that would have restricted or prohibited the use of appropriated funds to implement various regulatory activities under the EPA’s jurisdiction. On March 9, 2011, the Senate did not pass the House version of H.R. 1 and did not agree to a subsequent Senate substitute amendment (S.Amdt. 149) containing different funding levels and generally omitting the EPA provisions included in the House-passed H.R. 1.

This report provides a summary of funding levels for EPA accounts and program activities specified in P.L. 112-10, H.R. 1 as passed by the House and as proposed in the Senate amendment, compared to the President’s FY2011 Budget Request and the FY2010 enacted levels in P.L. 111-88. The report also briefly highlights a number of the provisions regarding EPA program activities as presented in H.R. 1, as passed by the House. Only those provisions that are clearly identifiable by specific language or references contained in the bill are included. Nearly all of these EPA provisions were omitted from the Senate amendment (S.Amdt. 149) and P.L. 112-10 as enacted. The information presented throughout this report is primarily an extraction of the bill language for purposes of reference and is not intended to provide a comprehensive analysis of all provisions in H.R. 1 that may have directly or indirectly affected EPA programs.


Date of Report: May 10, 2011
Number of Pages: 17
Order Number: R41698
Price: $29.95

Follow us on TWITTER at http://www.twitter.com/alertsPHP or #CRSreports

Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail Penny Hill Press or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.

Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico: CRS Experts

Jonathan L. Ramseur
Specialist in Environmental Policy

The following table provides access to names and contact information for CRS experts on policy concerns relating to oil spills.


Date of Report: May 13, 2011
Number of Pages: 4
Order Number: R40883
Price: $19.95

Follow us on TWITTER at http://www.twitter.com/alertsPHP or #CRSreports

Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail Penny Hill Press or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.

EPA Regulations: Too Much, Too Little, or On Track?

James E. McCarthy
Specialist in Environmental Policy

Claudia Copeland
Specialist in Resources and Environmental Policy

In the two years since Barack Obama was sworn in as President, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed and promulgated numerous regulations implementing the pollution control statutes enacted by Congress. Critics have reacted strongly. Many, both within Congress and outside of it, have accused the agency of reaching beyond the authority given it by Congress and ignoring or underestimating the costs and economic impacts of proposed and promulgated rules. Republican leaders have promised vigorous oversight of the agency in the 112th Congress, and the House has already voted to overturn specific regulations and to limit the agency’s authority. Particular attention is being paid to the Clean Air Act, under which EPA has moved forward with the first federal controls on emissions of greenhouse gases and addressed conventional pollutants from a number of industries.

Environmental groups disagree that the agency has overreached, and EPA itself maintains that its pace of regulation under the Clean Air Act is actually slower than the pace during the first years of the Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations. The agency states that critics’ focus on the cost of controls obscures the benefits of new regulations, which, it estimates, far exceed the costs; and it maintains that pollution control is an important source of economic activity, exports, and American jobs.

This report provides background information on recent EPA rulemaking to help address these issues. It examines 43 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 the rule (including identification of related court or statutory deadlines), and, in general, providing EPA’s estimates of costs and benefits, where available.

The report also discusses factors that affect the timeframe in which regulations take effect, including statutory and judicial deadlines, public comment periods, judicial review, and permitting procedures, the net results of which are that existing facilities are likely to have several years before being required to comply with most of the regulatory actions under discussion. Unable to account for such factors, which will vary from case to case, timelines that show dates for proposal and promulgation of EPA standards effectively underestimate the complexities of the regulatory process and overstate the near-term impact of many of the regulatory actions.


Date of Report: May 2, 2011
Number of Pages: 34
Order Number: R41561
Price: $29.95

Follow us on TWITTER at http://www.twitter.com/alertsPHP or #CRSreports

Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail Penny Hill Press or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.