Number: RL32873
Title: Key Environmental Issues in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-58, H.R. 6)
Authors: Brent D. Yacobucci, Resources, Science, and Industry Division 
Abstract: Over the past several Congresses, there have been ongoing efforts to develop comprehensive energy legislation. Energy bills were debated in the 107th and 108th Congresses, but final agreement was not reached in either Congress. The debate over omnibus energy legislation (H.R. 6) continued in the 109th Congress. On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-58). The final version of H.R. 6 was enacted with some significant differences from the House- and Senate-passed bills. In many cases, the enacted law and the House and Senate versions treat environmental issues in a similar manner. However, there are several environmental provisions that were addressed by an earlier version of the bill but not the enacted law, or that were treated differently by different versions of the bill. The H.R. 6 environmental provisions addressed in this report are the following: limits on the use of MTBE; a renewable fuel mandate for gasoline; stricter regulation of underground storage tanks; climate change; Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act exemptions for oil and gas exploration and production (related to stormwater runoff and hydraulic fracturing); incentives and R&D funding for alternative fuels and vehicles; hydroelectric relicensing; ozone compliance deadlines; streamlining of environmental regulations; and a renewable portfolio standard. A short discussion of each of the above provisions is included in this report. It should be noted that not all environment-related provisions of H.R. 6 are discussed in this report; it focuses on the major environmental issues in the debate.
Pages: 17
Date: September 15, 2005