The primary objectives of the tracer infiltration test were to 1) determine whether field-scale hydraulic properties for the compacted roadbed materials and underlying Hanford fm. sediments comprising the zone of water table fluctuation beneath the site are consistent with estimates based laboratory-scale measurements on core samples and 2) characterize wetting front advancement and distribution of soil moisture achieved for the selected application rate. These primary objectives were met. The test successfully demonstrated that 1) the remaining 2 to 3 ft of compacted roadbed material below the infiltration gallery does not limit infiltration rates to levels that would be expected to eliminate near surface application as a viable amendment delivery approach and 2) the combined aqueous and geophysical monitoring approaches employed at this site, with some operational adjustments based on lessons learned, provides an effective means of assessing wetting front advancement and the distribution of soil moisture achieved for a given solution application. Reasonably good agreement between predicted and observed tracer and moisture front advancement rates was observed. During the first tracer infiltration test, which used a solution application rate of 0.7 cm/hr, tracer arrivals were observed at the water table (10 to 12 ft below the bottom of the infiltration …

This report discusses the Congress-enacted legislation (2001 AUMF; P.L. 107-40; 50 U.S.C. §1541) to authorize the use of military force against those who perpetrated or provided support for the attacks on September 11, 2001.

During the 2009 calendar year, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) provided health physics support for the Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Transparency Program for external and internal radiation protection. LLNL also provided technical expertise related to BDMS radioactive sources and Russian radiation safety regulatory compliance. For the calendar year 2009, there were 159 person-trips that required dose monitoring of the U.S. monitors. Of the 159 person-trips, 149 person-trips were SMVs and 10 person-trips were Transparency Monitoring Office (TMO) trips. There were 4 monitoring visits by TMO monitors to facilities other than UEIE and 10 to UEIE itself. LLNL's Hazard Control Department laboratories provided the dosimetry services for the HEU Transparency monitors. In 2009, the HEU Transparency activities in Russia were conducted in a radiologically safe manner for the HEU Transparency monitors in accordance with the expectations of the HEU Transparency staff, NNSA and DOE. The HEU Transparency Program now has over fifteen years of successful experience in developing and providing health and safety support in meeting its technical objectives.

This report discusses the current debate over "net neutrality." While there is no single accepted definition of "net neutrality," most agree that any such definition should include the general principles that owners of the networks that compose and provide access to the Internet should not control how consumers lawfully use that network, and they should not be able to discriminate against content provider access to that network.

This report discusses several programs offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help farmers recover financially from natural disasters, including drought and floods. Most programs receive funding amounts that are "such sums as necessary" and are not subject to annual discretionary appropriations.

This report discusses the development of the new long-range bomber aircraft, the B-21 (previously known as LRS-B), and proposes to acquire 100 of them.

This report outlines the various aspects of the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), including significant dates and modifications. The ATPA extends special duty treatment to certain U.S. imports from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru that meet domestic content and other requirements. The purpose of ATPA is to promote economic growth in the Andean region and to encourage a shift away from dependence on illegal drugs by supporting legitimate economic activities.

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), under the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM), is modifying and testing the SpinTek{trademark} rotary microfilter (RMF) for radioactive filtration service in the Department of Energy (DOE) complex. The RMF has been shown to improve filtration throughput when compared to other conventional methods such as cross-flow filtration. A concern with the RMF was that backpressure, or reverse flow through the disk, would damage the filter membranes. Reverse flow might happen as a result of an inadvertent valve alignment during flushing. Testing was completed in the Engineering Development Laboratory (EDL) located in SRNL to study the physical effects of backpressure as well as to determine the maximum allowable back-pressure for RMF disks. The RMF disks tested at the EDL were manufactured by SpinTek{trademark} Filtration and used a Pall Corporation PMM050 filter membrane (0.5 micron nominal pore size) made from 316L stainless steel. Early versions of the RMF disks were made from synthetic materials that were incompatible with caustic solutions and radioactive service as well as being susceptible to delaminating when subjected to backpressure. Figure 1-1 shows the essential components of the RMF; 3 rotating disks and 3 stationary turbulence promoters (or shear …

This study investigates nitrate contamination of a deep municipal drinking water production well in Ripon, CA to demonstrate the utility of natural groundwater tracers in constraining the sources and transport of nitrate to deep aquifers in the Central Valley. The goal of the study was to investigate the origin (source) of elevated nitrate and the potential for the deep aquifer to attenuate anthropogenic nitrate. The site is ideal for such an investigation. The production well is screened from 165-325 feet below ground surface and a number of nearby shallow and deep monitoring wells were available for sampling. Furthermore, potential sources of nitrate contamination to the well had been identified, including a fertilizer supply plant located approximately 1000 feet to the east and local almond groves. A variety of natural isotopic and dissolved gas tracers including {sup 3}H-{sup 3}He groundwater age and the isotopic composition of nitrate are applied to identify nitrate sources and to characterize nitrate transport. An advanced method for sampling production wells is employed to help identify contaminant contributions from specific screen intervals. Nitrate transport: Groundwater nitrate at this field site is not being actively denitrified. Groundwater parameters indicate oxic conditions, the dissolved gas data shows no evidence …

This report provides background information and oversight issues for Congress on the Coast Guard's Deepwater acquisition programs for replacing and modernizing the service's aging fleet of deepwater-capable ships and aircraft. The Coast Guard's FY2012 budget appears to request $957.2 million in acquisition funding for Deepwater programs, including $271.6 million for aircraft, $512.0 million for surface ships and boats, and $173.6 million for other items. Congress's decisions on Deepwater acquisition programs could substantially affect Coast Guard capabilities and funding requirements, as well as contractors involved in these programs.

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the modernization of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions.

The Community Assessment Tool (CAT) for Public Health Emergencies Including Pandemic Influenza (hereafter referred to as the CAT) was developed as a result of feedback received from several communities. These communities participated in workshops focused on influenza pandemic planning and response. The 2008 through 2011 workshops were sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Feedback during those workshops indicated the need for a tool that a community can use to assess its readiness for a disaster - readiness from a total healthcare perspective, not just hospitals, but the whole healthcare system. The CAT intends to do just that - help strengthen existing preparedness plans by allowing the healthcare system and other agencies to work together during an influenza pandemic. It helps reveal each core agency partners (sectors) capabilities and resources, and highlights cases of the same vendors being used for resource supplies (e.g., personal protective equipment [PPE] and oxygen) by the partners (e.g., public health departments, clinics, or hospitals). The CAT also addresses gaps in the community's capabilities or potential shortages in resources. This tool has been reviewed by a variety of key subject matter experts from federal, state, and local agencies and organizations. It also has …

The Community Assessment Tool (CAT) for Public Health Emergencies Including Pandemic Influenza (hereafter referred to as the CAT) was developed as a result of feedback received from several communities. These communities participated in workshops focused on influenza pandemic planning and response. The 2008 through 2011 workshops were sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Feedback during those workshops indicated the need for a tool that a community can use to assess its readiness for a disaster—readiness from a total healthcare perspective, not just hospitals, but the whole healthcare system. The CAT intends to do just that—help strengthen existing preparedness plans by allowing the healthcare system and other agencies to work together during an influenza pandemic. It helps reveal each core agency partners' (sectors) capabilities and resources, and highlights cases of the same vendors being used for resource supplies (e.g., personal protective equipment [PPE] and oxygen) by the partners (e.g., public health departments, clinics, or hospitals). The CAT also addresses gaps in the community's capabilities or potential shortages in resources. While the purpose of the CAT is to further prepare the community for an influenza pandemic, its framework is an extension of the traditional all-hazards approach to planning …

This list of about 150 congressional liaison offices is intended to help congressional offices in placing telephone calls and addressing correspondence to government agencies. In each case, the information was supplied by the agency itself and is current as of the date of publication. Entries are arranged alphabetically in four sections: legislative branch; judicial branch; executive branch; and agencies, boards, and commissions.

This report discusses the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) enacted in 1985, which provides payments to farmers to take highly erodible or environmentally-sensitive cropland out of production for ten years or more to conserve soil and water resources.

This report is divided into five sections that cover the following: major economic concepts underlying consumer food behavior; descriptions how U.S. food price inflation rates have evolved since 1915, when federal price data collection for inflation-measuring purposes began; information on recent history and projections for U.S. food expenditure shares relative to total household budget; an examination of retail food price inflation; and a discussion on the impact that rapid food price inflation can have on government food programs and the more vulnerable consumer groups.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Department of Labor's (Labor) procedures for determining prevailing wage rates under the Davis-Bacon Act. Davis-Bacon wages must be paid to workers on certain federally funded construction projects, and their vulnerability to the use of inaccurate data has long been an issue for Congress, employers, and workers. More recently, the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, focused attention on the need for accurate and timely wage determinations, with more than $300 billion estimated to provide substantial funding for, among other things, federally funded building and infrastructure work potentially subject to Davis-Bacon wage rates. In the 1990s, we issued two reports that found process changes were needed to increase confidence that wage rates were based on accurate data. A third report found that changes then planned by Labor, if successfully implemented, had the potential to improve the wage determination process. However, in 2004, Labor's Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that wage data errors and the timeliness of surveys used to gather wage information from contractors and others, continued to be issues. The testimony will discuss (1) the extent to which Labor …

This report provides a brief overview of the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate's mission, organization, and budgetary structure; a discussion of selected critiques of the S&T Directorate; and an analysis of selected issues facing congressional policymakers.

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Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the E-Verify program, which provides employers a tool for verifying an employee's authorization to work in the United States. The opportunity for employment is one of the most powerful magnets attracting immigrants to the United States. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, as of March 2010, approximately 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the country, and an estimated 8 million of them, or about 70 percent, were in the labor force. Congress, the administration, and some states have taken various actions to better ensure that those who work here have appropriate work authorization and to safeguard jobs for authorized employees. Nonetheless, opportunities remain for unauthorized workers to fraudulently obtain employment by using borrowed or stolen documents and for unscrupulous employers to hire unauthorized workers. Immigration experts have noted that deterring illegal immigration requires, among other things, a more reliable employment eligibility verification process and a more robust worksite enforcement capacity. E-Verify is a free, largely voluntary, Internet-based system operated by the Verification Division of the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). The goals of …

The economic rationale for interventions in energy markets helps inform the debate surrounding energy tax policy. This report begins by providing background on the economic rationale for energy market interventions, highlighting various market failures. After identifying possible market failures in the production and consumption of energy, possible interventions are discussed. The report concludes with an analysis of energy tax policy as it stands at the start of the 112th Congress.

The economic rationale for interventions in energy markets helps inform the debate surrounding energy tax policy. This report begins by providing background on the economic rationale for energy market interventions, highlighting various market failures. After identifying possible market failures in the production and consumption of energy, possible interventions are discussed. The report concludes with an analysis of energy tax policy as it stands at the start of the 112th Congress.

Closing the nuclear fuel cycle requires reprocessing spent fuel to recover the long-lived components that still have useful energy content while immobilizing the remnant waste fission products in stable forms. At the genesis of this project, next generation spent fuel reprocessing methods were being developed as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative. One of these processes was focused on solvent extraction schemes to isolate cesium (Cs) and strontium (Sr) from spent nuclear fuel. Isolating these isotopes for short-term decay storage eases the design requirements for long-term repository disposal; a significant amount of the radiation and decay heat in fission product waste comes from Cs-137 and Sr-90. For the purposes of this project, the Fission Product Extraction (FPEX) process is being considered to be the baseline extraction method. The objective of this project was to evaluate the nature and behavior of candidate materials for cesium and strontium immobilization; this will include assessments with minor additions of yttrium, barium, and rubidium in these materials. More specifically, the proposed research achieved the following objectives (as stated in the original proposal): (1) Synthesize simulated storage ceramics for Cs and Sr using an existing labscale steam reformer at Purdue University. …

April report of the U.S. Congressional Oversight Panel describing their activities and findings regarding the state of the U.S. Treasury's mitigation programs in addition to an overview of the economy and housing markets.