This report will focus on some of the federal regulatory programs overseeing storage of ammonium nitrate and anhydrous ammonia by retailers. The report will not address federal regulation of material in transport. It will discuss federal occupational safety, environmental, and security statutes and regulations applicable to each chemical. Select policy issues regarding these federal regulatory programs will be highlighted. It does not address various law enforcement activities related to tracking of anhydrous ammonia used for illegal drug synthesis (e.g., methamphetamine).

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Coast Guard, a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has made progress in developing its Common Operational Picture (COP) by increasing the information in the COP and increasing user access to this information. The Coast Guard has made progress by adding internal and external data sources that allow for better understanding of anything associated with the global maritime domain that could affect the United States. The COP has made information from these sources available to more COP users and decision makers throughout the Coast Guard. For example, in 2006, the ability to track the location of Coast Guard assets, including small boats and cutters, was added to the COP. This capability--also known as blue force tracking--allows COP users to locate Coast Guard vessels in real time and establish which vessels are in the best position to respond to mission needs. In addition to adding information to the COP, the Coast Guard has also made the information contained in the COP available on more computers and on more systems, which, in turn, has increased the number of users with access to the COP."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found that numerous claims for damage have been addressed through legal settlements partly paid by commercial insurance reimbursements. Three of the four insurers with whom GAO spoke contributed to legal settlements by paying for CGL claims stemming from lawsuits against their policyholders, and one of these insurers also made payments for CGL claims separate from legal settlements. The legal settlements from defective drywall lawsuits involve hundreds of companies in the drywall supply chain (including importers, suppliers, and builders), and most of the lawsuits have been consolidated under multidistrict litigation in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. One of the legal settlements involves one of the two primary manufacturers of defective drywall and provides an uncapped amount of funds to address damage to affected homes, as well as $30 million for other expenses. This manufacturer's settlement is part of a group of settlements that guarantees more than $350 million to assist affected home owners, with the potential to increase."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) allocated funding for various DNA and other forensic science activities, with the majority of the available $691 million from fiscal years 2008 through 2012 going to state and local governments to reduce the DNA backlog. Specifically, over this 5-year period, 64 percent was allocated through initiatives that directly benefit state and local efforts to reduce DNA backlogs and build DNA analysis capacity. The largest initiative was NIJ's DNA Backlog Reduction Program, and other DNA backlog initiatives included DNA analysis of cold cases, among others. A smaller portion (31 percent) went to other forensic sciences initiatives, such as research and development and training, although NIJ officials stated that funding these initiatives may have long-term benefits for reducing the DNA backlog. The remainder of the funding went toward other activities, such as management and administration."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In July 2013, GAO reported that TSA investigated and adjudicated approximately 9,600 cases of employee misconduct from fiscal years 2010 through 2012, according to TSA employee misconduct data that we analyzed. Two offense categories accounted for about half of all cases--(1) attendance and leave, which accounted for 32 percent; and (2) screening and security, which accounted for 20 percent. Charges for screening and security-related incidents pertain to violating standard operating procedures, including not conducting security or equipment checks, and allowing patrons or baggage to bypass screening. TSA developed a Table of Offenses and Penalties that delineates common employee charges, along with a suggested range of penalties. Of the cases that we analyzed, 47 percent resulted in letters of reprimand, which describe unacceptable conduct that is the basis for a disciplinary action; 31 percent resulted in suspensions of a definite duration; and 17 percent resulted in the employee's removal from TSA. The remaining cases covered a variety of outcomes, including suspensions of an indefinite duration."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Army’s requirements for container handling equipment have changed since 1998 from focusing on "break bulk" to focusing on containerized distribution, and the Army has awarded contracts and issued delivery orders to reflect those changing requirements."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO identified three leading practices for fleet management and found that selected federal agencies--the Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Homeland Security (DHS), the Interior (Interior), and Veterans Affairs (VA); the U.S. Air Force (Air Force); and the Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps)--follow these practices to varying degrees. These practices are 1) maintaining a well-designed fleet-management information system (FMIS), 2) analyzing life-cycle costs to inform investment decisions, and 3) optimizing fleet size and composition. GAO identified these practices based on views provided by recognized fleet experts and determined that the practices align with legal requirements and General Services Administration (GSA) recommendations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "An open systems approach, which includes a modular design and standard interfaces, allows components of a product (like a computer) to be replaced easily. This allows the product to be refreshed with new, improved components made by a variety of suppliers. Designing weapons as open systems offers significant repair, upgrade, and competition benefits that could translate to millions of dollars in savings as the weapons age."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to oversee drug compounding is unclear. Two federal circuit court decisions have resulted in differing FDA authority in different parts of the country. According to FDA officials, these inconsistent decisions and the agency's limited inspection authority over pharmacies have created challenges in FDA's ability to inspect and take enforcement action against entities engaging in drug compounding. For example, from 2002 through 2012, in order to inspect some facilities engaged in drug compounding, FDA officials said they had to obtain 11 warrants to gain access to drug compounders' facilities that had challenged FDA's inspection authority. GAO also found that while FDA and national pharmacy organization officials generally agreed that states regulate the practice of pharmacy and FDA regulates drug manufacturing, there was no consensus on whether compounding drugs in large quantities--in anticipation of individual prescriptions or without prescriptions--and selling those drugs across state lines falls within the practice of pharmacy or is a type of drug manufacturing that should be overseen by FDA. This lack of consensus …

This report discusses the reasons that Iran is considered a threat to U.S. security, including Iran's nuclear program, involvement with terrorist organizations, and involvement with neighboring countries' local governments. The report also discusses ways which the U.S. hopes to modify Iran's behavior with sanctions, and the effectiveness of these sanctions.

Report on the timeline and implementation of the four objects of the Phase Two Action Plan for Resource Discovery Systems at the UNT Libraries.

This addendum to the Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 547: Miscellaneous Contaminated Waste Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, DOE/NV--1480, dated July 2012, documents repairs of erosion and construction of engineered erosion protection features at Corrective Action Site (CAS) 02-37-02 (MULLET) and CAS 09-99-06 (PLAYER). The final as-built drawings are included in Appendix A, and photographs of field work are included in Appendix B. Field work was completed on March 11, 2013.

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Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was tasked with identifying and developing at least one, but preferably two methods for quantifying the suppressor in the Next Generation Solvent (NGS) system. The suppressor is a guanidine derivative, N,N',N"-tris(3,7-dimethyloctyl)guanidine (TiDG). A list of 10 possible methods was generated, and screening experiments were performed for 8 of the 10 methods. After completion of the screening experiments, the non-aqueous acid-base titration was determined to be the most promising, and was selected for further development as the primary method. {sup 1}H NMR also showed promising results from the screening experiments, and this method was selected for further development as the secondary method. Other methods, including {sup 36}Cl radiocounting and ion chromatography, also showed promise; however, due to the similarity to the primary method (titration) and the inability to differentiate between TiDG and TOA (tri-n-ocytlamine) in the blended solvent, {sup 1}H NMR was selected over these methods. Analysis of radioactive samples obtained from real waste ESS (extraction, scrub, strip) testing using the titration method showed good results. Based on these results, the titration method was selected as the method of choice for TiDG measurement. {sup 1}H NMR has been selected as the secondary (back-up) method, and additional …

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The Savannah River National Laboratory performed measurements of the rheology of suspensions and settled layers of treated material applicable to the Savannah River Site Salt Waste Processing Facility. Suspended solids mixtures included monosodium titanate (MST) or modified MST (mMST) at various solid concentrations and soluble ion concentrations with and without the inclusion of kaolin clay or simulated sludge. Layers of settled solids were MST/sludge or mMST/sludge mixtures, either with or without sorbed strontium, over a range of initial solids concentrations, soluble ion concentrations, and settling times.

The multi-year research study was initiated to find solutions to improve packaged equipment operating efficiency in the field. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Technologies Office (BTO) and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) conducted this research, development and demonstration (RD&D) study. Packaged equipment with constant speed supply fans is designed to provide ventilation at the design rate at all times when the fan is operating as required by building code. Although there are a number of hours during the day when a building may not be fully occupied or the need for ventilation is lower than designed, the ventilation rate cannot be adjusted easily with a constant speed fan. Therefore, modulating the supply fan in conjunction with demand controlled ventilation (DCV) will not only reduce the coil energy but also reduce the fan energy. The objective of this multi-year research, development and demonstration project was to determine the magnitude of energy savings achievable by retrofitting existing packaged rooftop air conditioners with advanced control strategies not ordinarily used for packaged units. First, through detailed simulation analysis, it was shown that significant energy (between 24% and 35%) and cost savings (38%) from fan, cooling …

The Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) Unit (MCU) facility is actively pursuing the transition from the current BOBCalixC6 based solvent to the Next Generation Solvent (NGS)-MCU solvent. To support this integration of NGS into the MCU facilities, Savannah River Remediation (SRR) requested that Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) perform testing of a blend of the NGS (MaxCalix based solvent) with the current solvent (BOBCalixC6 based solvent) for the removal of cesium (Cs) from the liquid salt waste stream. This testing differs from prior testing by utilizing a blend of BOBCalixC6 based solvent and the NGS with the full (0.05 M) concentration of the MaxCalix as well as a new suppressor, tris(3,7dimethyloctyl) guanidine. Single stage tests were conducted using the full size V-05 and V-10 centrifugal contactors installed at SRNL. These tests were designed to determine the mass transfer and hydraulic characteristics with the NGS solvent blended with the projected heel of the BOBCalixC6 based solvent that will exist in MCU at time of transition. The test program evaluated the amount of organic carryover and the droplet size of the organic carryover phases using several analytical methods. Stage efficiency and mass distribution ratios were determined by measuring Cs concentration in …

Semiweekly newspaper from Seminole, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Palacios, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

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Weekly newspaper from Brownwood, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.