On June 14th, 1999, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) called for public comment on its current procedures for designating critical habitat. In addition, a proposal is before the Senate (S.1100) to move the time at which critical habitat must be designated for a species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) from being (basically) concurrent with the listing of the species to the time a recovery plan is finalized for that species. This report is written as background for considering the current legislative proposal and the FWS notice and may be updated as circumstances warrant.

Once considered the nation's most regulated industry, the electric utility industry is evolving into a more competitive environment. At the current time, the focus of this development is the generating sector, where the advent of new generating technologies, such as gas-fired combined cycle, has lowered both entry barriers to competitors of traditional utilities and lowered the marginal costs of those competitors below those of some traditional utilities. This technological advance has been combined with legislative initiatives, such as the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT), to encourage the introduction of competitive forces into the electric generating sector. The questions now are whether further legislative action is desirable to encourage competition in the electric utility sector and how the transition between a comprehensive regulatory regime to a more competitive electric utility sector can be made with the least amount of economic and service disruption.

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

Science, technology, and medicine is playing an integral part in many of the policy issues that are coming before this Congress. Legislative action in certain areas directly affects the progress of science, technology, and medicine (STM). And advances in those areas can significantly affect broader public policy issues. This issue brief provides an overview of several of those issues and identifies CRS reports that treat them in more depth.

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A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a municipality which withdraws from a transit authority created under the terms of article 1118y, V.T.C.S., may subsequently levy a sales tax under chapter 321, Tax Code, or under sections 4A or 4B of article 5190.6, V.T.C.S. (RQ-817)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a county investment officer, under the Public Funds Investment Act, Gov't Code ch. 2256 is responsible for investing county and district clerk trust funds, funds collected by the county tax assessor, and the district attorney hot check fund (ID# 38426)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Charitable Immunity and Liability Act of 1987, Civil Practices and Remedies Code chapter 84, applies to a resource conservation and development council established under 16 U.S.C. chapter 54, subchapter V (RQ-881)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Court Reporters Certification Board is subject to article 6252-13f, V.T.C.S., which establishes the State Office of Administrative Hearings (RQ-138)

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the effectiveness of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Weed and Seed Program, focusing on how: (1) the program is managed by DOJ's Executive Office for Weed and Seed (EOWS); (2) EOWS monitors local Weed and Seed sites to ensure that grant requirements are met; (3) EOWS determines when sites have become self-sustaining; and (4) EOWS and selected sites are measuring program results."

Rare earth (RE) modification of automotive catalysts (e.g., ZrO{sub 2}) for exhaust gas treatment results in outstanding improvement of the structural stability, catalytic functions and resistance to sintering at high temperatures. Owing to the low redox potential of nonstoichiometric CeO{sub 2}, oxygen release and intake associated with the conversion between the 3+ and 4+ oxidation states of the Ce ions in Ce-doped ZrO{sub 2} provide the oxygen storage capacity that is essentially to effective catalytic functions under dynamic air-to-fuel ratio cycling. Doping tripositive RE ions such as La and Nd in ZrO{sub 2}, on the other hand, introduces oxygen vacancies that affect the electronic and ionic conductivity. These effects, in conjunction with the nanostructure and surface reactivity of the fine powders, present a challenging problem in the development of better ZrO{sub 2}-containing three-way catalysts. We have carried out in-situ small-to-wide angle neutron diffraction at high temperatures and under controlled atmospheres to study the structural phase transitions, sintering behavior, and Ce{sup 3+} {leftrightarrow} Ce{sup 4+} redox process. We found substantial effects due to RE doping on the nature of aggregation of nanoparticles, defect formation, crystal phase transformation, and metal-support interaction in ZrO{sub 2} catalysts for automotive emission control.

Japanese automakers have introduced hybrid passenger cars in Japan and will soon do so in the US. In this paper, we report how we used early computer simulation model results to compare the commercial viability of a hypothetical near-term (next decade) hybrid mid-size passenger car configuration under varying fuel price and driving patterns. The fuel prices and driving patterns evaluated are designed to span likely values for major OECD nations. Two types of models are used. One allows the ''design'' of a hybrid to a specified set of performance requirements and the prediction of fuel economy under a number of possible driving patterns (called driving cycles). Another provides an estimate of the incremental cost of the hybrid in comparison to a comparably performing conventional vehicle. In this paper, the models are applied to predict the NPV cost of conventional gasoline-fueled vehicles vs. parallel hybrid vehicles. The parallel hybrids are assumed to (1) be produced at high volume, (2) use nickel metal hydride battery packs, and (3) have high-strength steel bodies. The conventional vehicle also is assumed to have a high-strength steel body. The simulated vehicles are held constant in many respects, including 0-60 time, engine type, aerodynamic drag coefficient, tire …

The authors have performed the reaction {sup 248}Cm({sup 4}He, {sup 3}He) using 98.5-MeV alpha particles from the IUCF cyclotron to populate high-j states in {sup 249}Cm. A tentative assignment of the K{sub 17/2} component of the 1/2{sup +}[880] Nilsson state has been made.

We present direct measurements of the neutral weak anomalous magnetic dipole moment, a{sub {tau}}{sup w}, and neutral weak electric dipole moment, d{sub {tau}}{sup w}, of the tau lepton. The dipole moments are measured by analyzing the decays of {tau} leptons produced in the annihilation of positrons and longitudinally polarized electrons on the Z boson resonance at the SLC. Using 6736 Z decays to {tau}{sup +} {tau}{sup {minus}} pairs elected from our 1993-1998 data sample we obtain Re(a{sub {tau}}{sup w}) = (0.26 {+-} 1.24) x 10{sup {minus}3}, Im(a{sub {tau}}{sup w}) = ({minus}0.02 {+-} 0.66) x 10{sup {minus}3}, Re(d{sub {tau}}{sup w}) = (0.18 {+-} 0.67) x 10 {sup {minus}17} e {center_dot} cm, and Im(D{sub {tau}}{sup w}) = ({minus}0.26 {+-} 0.37) x 10{sup {minus}17} e {center_dot} cm.

The capability of the NLC run in the {gamma}e collision mode to probe the CP-conserving {gamma}WW and {gamma}ZZ anomalous couplings through the use of the polarization asymmetry is reviewed. When combined with other measurements, very strong constraints on both varieties of anomalous couplings can be obtained. We show that these bounds are complementary to those that can be extracted from data taken at the LHC.

The effect of shrapnel on target chamber components and experiments at large lasers such as the National Ignition Facility at LLNL and the Megajoule Laser at CESTA in France is an important issue in fielding targets and exposure samples. Modeling calculations are likely to be an important component of this effort. Some work in this area has been performed by French workers, who are collaborating with the LLNL on many issues relating to target chamber, experiment-component, and diagnostics survival. Experiments have been performed at the Phebus laser in France to measure shrapnel produced by laser-driven targets; among these shots were experiments that accelerated spheres of a size characteristic of some of the more damaging shrapnel. These spheres were stopped in polyethylene witness plates. The penetration depth is characteristic of the velocity of the shrapnel. Experimental calibration of steel sphere penetration into polyethylene was performed at the CESTA facility. The penetration depth has been reported (ref. 1) and comparisons with modeling calculations have been made (ref. 2). There was interest in a comparison study of the modeling of these experiments to provide independent checks of the calculations. This work has been approved both by DOE headquarters and by the French Atomic …

We present a direct measurement of the parity-violation parameter A{sub c}. The measurement is based on 550k Z{sup 0} decays collected by the SLD detector. The mean electron-beam polarization is |P{sub e}| = 73%. The tagging of c-quark events was performed using two methods: The exclusive reconstruction of D*{sup +}, D{sup +}, and D{sup 0} mesons, and the inclusive P{sub T} spectrum of soft-pions ({pi}{sub s}) in the decay of D*{sup +} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sub s}{sup +}. The results of these two methods are combined to give A{sub c} = 0.688 {+-} 0.035(stat.) {+-} 0.025(sys.) (preliminary).

During Fiscal Year (FY) 1991 and FY 1992, Sandia National Laboratory and Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory were assigned the responsibility to generate initial Total System Performance Assessments (TSPAs) of the Yucca Mountain site. The analyses performed by these organizations (called TSPA-1991) are reported in Barnard et al(1992) and Eslinger et al. (1993). During this same time period, Golder Associates Inc. was assigned the task of generating a model capable of analyzing the total system performance of a high-level radioactive waste repository. The developed model, called Repository Integration Program (RIP), is documented in Kossik and Hachey (1993), Miller et al. (1993), and Golder Associates Inc. (1993). In FY 1993, the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management System Contractor was assigned the responsibility to plan, coordinate, and contribute to the second iteration of TSPA-2. Prior to initiating the next TSPA iteration, it was decided that it would be valuable to evaluate the applicability of RIP for use in this iteration. Therefore, analyses were conducted to compare the results generated by RIP to those reported in TSPA-1991. In particular, the aim was to generate a RIP input data set as equivalent as possible to that documented in Barnard et al. (1992) and to analyze the …

There has recently been a study of the potential uses of multimode dielectric structures for wakefield acceleration [1]. This technique is based on adjusting the wakefield modes of the structure to constructively interfere at certain delays with respect to the drive bunch, thus providing an accelerating gradient enhancement over single mode devices. In this report we examine and attempt to clarify the issues raised by this work in the light of the present state of the art in wakefield acceleration.