Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from utility boilers, combustion turbines, and combined-cycle units. The current NOx NSPS, set in 1979, does not reflect subsequent advancements in Nox control technology. As a part of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments,

This report discusses the regulatory issues regarding cattle disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and a rare, fatal human illness, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

On June 20, a group of state attorneys general, plaintiffs' lawyers, public health advocates, and lawyers representing cigarette manufacturers announced an historic settlement that would restructure the tobacco industry and revolutionize the nation's tobacco control efforts. The proposed settlement is currently under congressional consideration, and would require legislation and the President's approval before taking effect

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Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty does not guarantee the use of force to assist an ally under attack. Nonetheless, the U.S. pledge to assist an ally under attack has been the core of the alliance. Despite growing political functions, the NATO views collective defense, and not collective security, as its core function.

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This report provides an overview of free and reduced-rate TV time and discusses the policy, constitutional, and legal issues it raises.

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This report gives an overview of Forest Roads construction and Financing. It discusses the current road system, statistics over the years.

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In an effort to reduce the costs of its military systems and gain greater access to state-of-the-art technologies, the Department of Defense is pursuing what is being called a "dual-use" strategy. This strategy seeks to make greater use of the commercial sector in developing and manufacturing military goods. This report discusses issues raised over the implementation of this strategy.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to useful information to community colleges regarding the reporting of contact hours, including relevant rules and regulations, statements of opinion, current funding rates, audit programs, and other general information.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to reviewing and commenting on the financial audits of the Dallas, Corpus Christi, Houston, and Austin mass transit authorities for fiscal years 1994 through 1996 and performance audit reports issued during the most current period.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether recommendations made in the previous management control audit at the Texas Funeral Service Commission were fully implemented, partially implemented, or not implemented.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to weaknesses in controls over contracts, budgeting, and licensing, which prevent the Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (Commission) from ensuring that its mission is achieved.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to providing boards, commissions, and agency managements with definitions and explanations of management controls.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to assessing whether adequate management controls exist for right-of-way purchases, and whether the Department of Transportation's retooling process for the Right-of-Way Division has affected the effectiveness of current acquisition controls.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to evaluating the effectiveness of the State's internal audit departments, and determining whether internal audit departments were meeting the key objectives of internal auditing and assisting agency administrators in carrying out their assigned responsibilities.

Report providing summaries of significant legislative actions conducted by the 75th Texas Legislature, broken down by topical categories.

Coal cleaning is a technology that can solve a broad array of environmental problems associated with older, state-of-the-art, and future electric generating stations. Coal cleaning provides many environmental benefits. It reduces the concentration of inorganic minerals and elements found in association with coal, some of which are potentially toxic even though they are found in coal in only trace amounts. Currently, more sulfur and related S0{sub 2}, is removed by coal cleaning than by all post-combustion technologies combined. By increasing thermal efficiency and reducing parasitic power requirements, coal cleaning reduces all power plant emissions per unit of electricity produced, including S0{sub 2}, NO{sub x} C0{sub 2}, and hazardous air pollutant precursors (HAPs). While coal cleaning is a mature technology, in the past coal cleaning has only been used for the comparatively simple purposes of removing ash-forming and sulfur-bearing minerals. The application of this technology to H APs control will require a more sophisticated approach, based on a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of trace element removal. The trace elements named as HAPs in the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act can occur in coal in numerous forms. For example, antimony is believed to be present in pyrite, accessory sulfides …

The mathematical models and numerical methods employed by the FEHM application, a finite-element heat- and mass-transfer computer code that can simulate nonisothermal multiphase multi-component flow in porous media, are described. The use of this code is applicable to natural-state studies of geothermal systems and groundwater flow. A primary use of the FEHM application will be to assist in the understanding of flow fields and mass transport in the saturated and unsaturated zones below the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The component models of FEHM are discussed. The first major component, Flow- and Energy-Transport Equations, deals with heat conduction; heat and mass transfer with pressure- and temperature-dependent properties, relative permeabilities and capillary pressures; isothermal air-water transport; and heat and mass transfer with noncondensible gas. The second component, Dual-Porosity and Double-Porosity/Double-Permeability Formulation, is designed for problems dominated by fracture flow. Another component, The Solute-Transport Models, includes both a reactive-transport model that simulates transport of multiple solutes with chemical reaction and a particle-tracking model. Finally, the component, Constitutive Relationships, deals with pressure- and temperature-dependent fluid/air/gas properties, relative permeabilities and capillary pressures, stress dependencies, and reactive and sorbing solutes. Each of these components is discussed in detail, including purpose, assumptions and …

This project reactivates ARCO�s idle Pru Fee property in the Midway-Sunset field, California and conducts a continuous steamflood enhanced oil recovery demonstration aided by an integration of modern reservoir characterization and simulation methods. Cyclic steaming was used to reestablish baseline production within the reservoir characterization phase of the project. During the demonstration phase begun in January 1997, a continuous steamflood enhanced oil recovery was initiated to test the incremental value of this method as an alternative to cyclic steaming. Other economically marginal Class III reservoirs having similar producibility problems will benefit from insight gained in this project. The objectives of the project are: (1) to return the shut-in portion of the reservoir to optimal commercial production; (2) to accurately describe the reservoir and the recovery process; and (3) to convey the details of this activity to the domestic petroleum industry, especially to other producers in California, through an aggressive technology transfer program.

Ash behavior in power systems can have a significant impact on the design and performance of advanced power systems. The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has focused significant effort on ash behavior in conventional power systems that can be applied to advanced power systems. This initiative focuses on filling gaps in the understanding of fundamental mechanisms of ash behavior that has relevance to commercial application and marketable products. This program develops methods and means to better understand and mitigate adverse coal ash behavior in power systems and can act to relieve the U.S. reliance on diminishing recoverable oil resources, especially those resources that are not domestically available and are fairly uncertain.

This document presents a compilation of chemical and isotopic data for groundwater samples analyzed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in support of the Hydrology and Radionuclide Migration Program (HRMP) and the Underground Test Area Program (UGTA) for the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office. Included are data for 107 samples collected from wells and springs located on and around the Nevada Test Site (NTS), within an area approximately bounded by latitudes 36{sup o} to 38{sup o}15'N and longitudes 115{sup o} to 117{sup o}15'W. The samples were collected during the time period 1992 to early 1997. The data represents one of the largest internally consistent geochemical data sets to be gathered for groundwater in southern Nevada. This database is available in electronic or hardcopy formats to interested parties upon request. In addition to the LLNL data we have included a table of selected isotopic data summarized from a larger database compiled by GeoTrans, Inc. (1994). This data is included for comparative purposes as a means of placing the LLNL data in the context of other data for the same geographic region.