This report evaluates the damage cause by Hurricane Rita to the benthic habitats of four banks: Sonnier, McGrail, Geyer, and Bright. They measured the damage to bank caps the community structure, and used SCUBA to video record the evidence.

The Liquid Waste Organization (LWO) provided the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) with a Sludge Batch 6 (SB6) composition projection in March 2009. Based on this projection, frit development efforts were undertaken to gain insight into compositional effects on the predicted and measured properties of the glass waste form and to gain insight into frit components that may lead to improved melt rate for SB6-like compositions. A series of Sludge Batch 6 (SB6) based glasses was selected, fabricated and characterized in this study to better understand the ability of frit compositions to accommodate uncertainty in the projected SB6 composition. Acceptable glasses (compositions where the Product Composition Control System (PCCS) Measurement Acceptability Region (MAR) predicted acceptable properties, good chemical durability was measured, and no detrimental nepheline crystallization was observed) can be made using Frit 418 with SB6 over a range of Na{sub 2}O and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} concentrations. However, the ability to accommodate variation in the sludge composition limits the ability to utilize alternative frits for potential improvements in melt rate. Frit 535, which may offer improvements in melt rate due to its increased B2O3 concentration, produced acceptable glasses with the baseline SB6 composition at waste loadings of 34 and 42%. …

Proposed development of domestic energy resources, including wind energy, is expected to impact the sagebrush steppe ecosystem in the western United States. The greater sage-grouse relies on habitats within this ecosystem for survival, yet very little is known about how wind energy development may affect sage-grouse. The purpose of this report is to inform organizations of the impacts wind energy development could have on greater sage-grouse populations and identify information needed to fill gaps in knowledge.

Significant progress has been made in the past two years in improving the understanding of acid consumption and catalytic hydrogen generation during the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) processing of waste sludges in the Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) and Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME). This report reviews issues listed in prior internal reviews, describes progress with respect to the recommendations made by the December 2006 external review panel, and presents a summary of the current understanding of catalytic hydrogen generation in the DWPF Chemical Process Cell (CPC). Noble metals, such as Pd, Rh, and Ru, are historically known catalysts for the conversion of formic acid into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Rh, Ru, and Pd are present in the DWPF SRAT feed as by-products of thermal neutron fission of {sup 235}U in the original waste. Rhodium appears to become most active for hydrogen as the nitrite ion concentration becomes low (within a factor of ten of the Rh concentration). Prior to hydrogen generation, Rh is definitely active for nitrite destruction to N{sub 2}O and potentially active for nitrite to NO formation. These reactions are all consistent with the presence of a nitro-Rh complex catalyst, although definite proof for the existence …

This report contains the awards of attorneys' fees by federal courts and federal agencies. Most Supreme Court decisions involves attorney's fees that have interpreted civil right statutes and this report focuses on these statutes.