Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2002, the Congress passed the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA). The major objective of the legislation was to enhance the accuracy and integrity of federal payments. This legislation, in conjunction with implementing guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), requires executive branch agency heads to review their programs and activities annually, identify those that may be susceptible to significant improper payments, estimate amounts improperly paid, and report on the amounts of improper payments and actions to reduce them. Since passage of IPIA, the Department of Defense (DOD) has continued to expand its annual disclosures in its performance and accountability reports (PAR) and currently discloses some detail of improper payment estimates for six programs or activities, including civilian pay, commercial pay, travel pay, military retirement, military health benefits, and military pay. DOD has reported improper payment information since 2003. The Congress mandated that we consider one facet of this reporting related to DOD--travel pay. The DOD Office of the Inspector General (OIG) first reported on whether the department complied with IPIA in fiscal year 2006 and identified several significant flaws in DOD's efforts …

Biogenic methane is a common constituent in deep subsurface environments such as coalbeds and oil shale beds. Coalbed methane (CBM) makes significant contributions to world natural gas industry and CBM production continues to increase. With increasing CBM production, the production of CBM co-produced water increases, which is an environmental concern. This study investigated the feasibility in re-using CBM co-produced water and other high sodic/saline water to enhance biogenic methane production from coal and other unconventional sources, such as oil shale. Microcosms were established with the selected carbon sources which included coal, oil shale, lignite, peat, and diesel-contaminated soil. Each microcosm contained either CBM coproduced water or groundwater with various enhancement and inhibitor combinations. Results indicated that the addition of nutrients and nutrients with additional carbon can enhance biogenic methane production from coal and oil shale. Methane production from oil shale was much greater than that from coal, which is possibly due to the greater amount of available Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) from oil shale. Inconclusive results were observed from the other sources since the incubation period was too low. WRI is continuing studies with biogenic methane production from oil shale.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frank Herzog. Herzog joined the Army in April of 1943. He trained in the Signal Corps to work as a lineman. In October of 1943 he traveled to England. He provides details of his travels and accommodations overseas, aboard the troop ship Alexandria. In October Herzog was assigned to an Army Air Forces B-26 unit and prepared for the Normandy landings scheduled for June of 1944. They traveled to a chateau in Northern France, where he worked with the Red Cross as a baker. He shares his experiences at the base in France, watching the B-26s, hearing the machine guns and witnessing bombings by the Germans. He completed infantry training in England, though Germany surrendered before he went to the front lines. Herzog served as a POW guard after the war ended. He remained a Private throughout his service and was discharged 1 January 1946.