A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The importance and widespread use of federal information makes its accuracy imperative. The Information Quality Act (IQA) required that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issue guidelines to ensure the quality of information disseminated by federal agencies by fiscal year 2003. GAO was asked to (1) assess OMB's role in helping agencies implement IQA; (2) identify the number, type, and source of IQA correction requests agencies received; and (3) examine if IQA has adversely affected agencies' overall operations and, in particular, rulemaking processes. In response, GAO interviewed OMB and agency officials and reviewed agency IQA guidelines, related documents, and Web sites."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) most recent data indicate that 95 percent of all Americans face an increased likelihood of developing cancer as a result of breathing air toxics--pollutants such as benzene and asbestos that may cause cancer or other serious health problems. Sources of air toxics include large industrial facilities, smaller facilities such as dry cleaners, and cars and trucks. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments required EPA to regulate 190 pollutants from these sources through a multifaceted regulatory program. While EPA issues federal standards, state and local agencies generally administer these standards, and some develop their own rules to complement the federal standards. In this context, GAO was asked to assess (1) EPA's progress and challenges in implementing the air toxics program, (2) available information on the program's costs and benefits, and (3) practices of state and local air toxics programs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Decennial census data need to be as accurate as possible because the population counts are used for, among other purposes, allocating federal grants to states and local governments. The U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) used statistical methods to estimate the accuracy of 1990 and 2000 Census data. Because the Bureau considered the estimates unreliable due to methodological uncertainties, they were not used to adjust the census results. Still, a key question is how sensitive are federal formula grants to alternative population estimates, such as those derived from statistical methods? GAO was asked to identify (1) the top 20 formula grant programs based on the amount of funds targeted by any means, and (2) the amount of money allocated for Medicaid and Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), and the prospective impact of estimated population counts from the 1990 and 2000 Censuses on state allocations for these two programs. Importantly, as agreed, GAO's analysis only simulates the formula grant reallocations. We used fiscal year 2004 Medicaid state expenditure and 2005 SSBG state allocation data, the most recent data available."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Dedicated access privilege (DAP) programs are one tool the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) uses to help end overfishing and promote conservation. Under a DAP program, NMFS sets an allowable catch in a fishery and allocates the privilege to harvest a portion of the total to eligible entities, such as fishermen. Because DAP programs can have significant impacts on fishermen and their communities, many believe that effective participation by fishermen and other stakeholders in the development of these programs is critical. GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which the regional fishery management councils are using a framework for effective participation and (2) the methods stakeholders and participation experts suggest for enhancing stakeholder participation in developing DAP programs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent data breaches highlight how identity theft may occur when businesses share individuals' personal information, including Social Security Numbers (SSNs), with contractors. Because private sector entities are more likely to share consumers' personal information via contractors, members of Congress raised concerns about the protection of this information in contractual relationships. In response, GAO examined (1) how entities within certain industries share SSNs with contractors; (2) the safeguards and notable industry standards in place to ensure the protection of SSNs when shared with contractors; and (3) how federal agencies regulate and monitor the sharing and safeguarding of SSNs between private entities and their contractors."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Coast Guard has been pursing a replacement vessel for its aging and deteriorating patrol boats as part of the Integrated Deepwater System (or Deepwater) acquisition. Originally, all 49 of the Coast Guard's 110-foot patrol boats were to be converted into 123-foot patrol boats as a bridging strategy until a replacement vessel, the 140-foot Fast Response Cutter (FRC) came on line beginning in 2018. The initial conversions of the 110-foot patrol boats proved unsuccessful, though, and this prompted the Coast Guard to cancel further patrol boat conversions and accelerate the design and delivery of the FRC from 2018 to 2007. Early design efforts called for the FRC's hull, decks, and bulkheads to be made from composite materials rather than steel. Recently, design problems with the FRC's hull shape and weight have raised questions about the viability of the FRC design and use of composite materials. This report examines (1) the factors that went into the decision to use composite materials for the FRC hull, (2) the types of composite materials that have been selected for the FRC hull, (3) the extent of contingency plans developed for …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2004, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)--the federal regulator of national banks--issued rules concerning the extent to which federal law preempts state and local banking laws. Some state officials and consumer groups expressed concerns about a perceived loss of consumer protection. GAO identified (1) how OCC's complaint process compares with that of other federal bank regulators, (2) how complaint information informs OCC's supervision of national banks, and (3) issues that consumer advocates and state officials have raised about OCC's consumer protection efforts and OCC's responses to the issues."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to one report, at the end of 2004, some 70 million U.S. adults logged on to access the Internet during a typical day. As public use of the Internet grew from the mid-1990s onward, Internet access became a potential target for state and local taxation. In 1998, Congress imposed a moratorium temporarily preventing state and local governments from imposing new taxes on Internet access. Existing state and local taxes were grandfathered. In amending the moratorium in 2004, Congress required GAO to study its impact on state and local government revenues. This report's objectives are to determine the scope of the moratorium and its impact, if any, on state and local revenues. For this report, GAO reviewed the moratorium's language, its legislative history, and associated legal issues; examined studies of revenue impact; interviewed people knowledgeable about access services; and collected information about eight case study states not intended to be representative of other states. GAO chose the states considering such factors as whether they had taxes grandfathered for different forms of access services and covered different urban and rural parts of the country."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a demanding responsibility in collecting taxes, processing tax returns, and enforcing the nation's tax laws. It relies extensively on computerized systems to support its financial and mission-related operations. Effective information security controls are essential for ensuring that information is adequately protected from inadvertent or deliberate misuse, disruption, or destruction. As part of its audit of IRS's fiscal year 2005 financial statements, GAO assessed (1) the status of IRS's actions to correct or mitigate previously reported information security weaknesses at two sites and (2) whether controls over key financial and tax processing systems located at the facilities are effective in ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of financial and sensitive taxpayer data."

The purpose of this work is to examine the environmental, safety, health and operational aspects of detonating a confined explosive test apparatus that has been designed to maximize the dynamics of impact on beryllium metal components for Contained Firing Facility (CFF) applications. A combination of experimental collection and evaluation methods were designed and implemented to provide an evaluation of immediately postdetonation by-products reflecting a potential worst-case scenario beryllium aerosolization explosive event. The collective Material Evaluation Test Series (METS) 04 - 06 provided explosive devices designed to scale for the dedicated METS firing tank that would provide a post-detonation internal environment comparable to the CFF. The experimental results provided appropriate information to develop operational parameters to be considered for conducting full-scale beryllium-containing experimental tests with similar designs within CFF and B801A. These operational procedures include the inclusion of chelating agents in pre-shot CFF cardboard containers with a minimum of 600 gallons content, an extended time period post-test before purging the CFF chamber, and an adaptation of approaches toward applications of the scrubber and HEPA systems during the post-shot sequence for an integrated environmental, safety, and health approach. In addition, re-entry and film retrieval procedures will be adapted, in line with abatement …

The 1607-D4 Septic System was a septic tank and tile field that received sanitary sewage from the 115-D/DR Gas Recirculation Facility. This septic system operated from 1944 to 1968. Decommissioning took place in 1985 and 1986 when all above-grade features were demolished and the tank backfilled. The results of verification sampling demonstrated that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also showed that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.

A two-stage gas release model was examined to determine if it could provide a physically realistic and accurate model for fission gas release under Prometheus conditions. The single-stage Booth model [1], which is often used to calculate fission gas release, is considered to be oversimplified and not representative of the mechanisms that occur during fission gas release. Two-stage gas release models require saturation at the grain boundaries before gas is release, leading to a time delay in release of gases generated in the fuel. Two versions of a two-stage model developed by Forsberg and Massih [2] were implemented using Mathcad [3]. The original Forsbers and Massih model [2] and a modified version of the Forsberg and Massih model that is used in a commercially available fuel performance code (FRAPCON-3) [4] were examined. After an examination of these models, it is apparent that without further development and validation neither of these models should be used to calculate fission gas release under Prometheus-type conditions. There is too much uncertainty in the input parameters used in the models. In addition. the data used to tune the modified Forsberg and Massih model (FRAPCON-3) was collected under commercial reactor conditions, which will have higher fission …

The use of multi-coupled electrode arrays in various corrosion applications is discussed with the main goal of advancing the understanding of various corrosion phenomena. Both close packed and far spaced electrode configurations are discussed. Far spaced electrode arrays are optimized for high throughput experiments capable of elucidating the effects of various variables on corrosion properties. For instance the effects of a statistical distribution of flaws on corrosion properties can be examined. Close packed arrays enable unprecedented spatial and temporal information on the behavior of local anodes and cathodes. Interactions between corrosion sites can trigger or inhibit corrosion phenomena and affect corrosion damage evolution.

The major objectives of the proposed study are to 1) determine the leaching characteristics of Cr(VI) from contaminated sediments collected from 100 area spill sites, 2) elucidate possible Cr(VI) mineral and/or chemical associations that may be responsible for Cr(VI) retention in the Hanford site 100 areas through the use of i) macroscopic solubility studies and ii) microscale characterization of contaminated sediments, and 3) from these data construct a conceptual model of Cr(VI) geochemistry in the Hanford 100 area vadose zone. These objectives are based on locating and obtaining contaminated sediment with depth and at varying Cr(VI) concentrations as we hypothesize that mineral/chemical-Cr(VI) associations should be related to the total Cr concentration and other master geochemical variables (e.g., pH, counter-cation type and concentration, and water content). In addressing these objectives, additional benefits accrued will be (1) a fuller understanding of Cr(VI) entrained in the vadose zone that will that can be utilized in modeling potential Cr(VI) source terms, and 2) accelerating the Columbia River 100 area corridor cleanup by developing remedial action based on a fundamental understanding of Cr(VI) vadose zone geochemistry.

The 132-F-1 site is the former location of the 141-F Chronic Feeding Sheep Barn that was part of the experimental animal farm at the 100-F Area. It was an L-shaped concrete block building with a concrete floor and concrete animal pens located both inside and outside the building. The 141-F Building was demolished in 1977 following relocation of animal research to the 300 Area. The results of verification sampling demonstrated that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also showed that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.

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This report discusses federal authority over water, and federal "reserved" and non-reserved water rights.

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This report discusses the President's fiscal year (FY) 2007 budget (February 2006) included a revised FY2006 deficit estimate of $423 billion, $72 billion larger than its previous estimate (July 2005) and $53 billion larger than its original deficit estimate in February 2005.

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This report lists civil suits filed by federal regulatory agencies charging individuals and corporations with violations related to these scandals.

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This report describes regulating political communications on the Internet related to Campaign Finance Reform.