On January 19-21, 2011, The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) successfully convened its 11th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Our Changing Oceans in Washington, DC at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Over 1,247 participants attended the conference, representing federal, state and local governments, university and colleges across the US, civil society organizations, the business community, and international entities. In addition, the conference was webcast to an audience across several states. The conference provided a forum to examine the profound changes our ocean will undergo over the next 25-50 years and share various perspectives on the new research, tools, and policy initiatives to protect and sustain our ocean. Conference highlights and recommendations are available to the public on NCSE's conference website, www.OurChangingOceans.org.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 mandated that GAO examine the costs and benefits of an increased Department of Defense (DOD) role to help secure the southwest land border. This mandate directed that GAO report on, among other things, the potential deployment of additional units, increased use of ground-based mobile surveillance systems, use of mobile patrols by military personnel, and an increased deployment of unmanned aerial systems and manned aircraft in national airspace. In September 2011, GAO reported that DOD estimated a total cost of about $1.35 billion for two separate border operations—Operation Jump Start and Operation Phalanx—conducted by National Guard forces in Title 32 status from June 2006 to July 2008 and from June 2010 through September 30, 2011, respectively. Further, DOD estimated that it has cost about $10 million each year since 1989 to use active duty Title 10 forces nationwide, through its Joint Task Force-North, in support of drug law enforcement agencies with some additional operational costs borne by the military services. Agency officials stated multiple benefits from DOD’s increased border role, such as assistance to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) …

None

This report documents the laboratory testing and analyses as directed under the test plan, LAB-PLN-11-00010, Evaluation of Technetium Ion Exchange Material against Hanford Double Shell Tank Supernate Simulate with Pertechnetate. Technetium (Tc-99) is a major fission product from nuclear reactors, and because it has few applications outside of scientific research, most of the technetium will ultimately be disposed of as nuclear waste. The radioactive decay of Tc-99 to ruthenium 99 (Ru-99) produces a low energy {beta}{sup -} particle (0.1 MeV max). However, due to its fairly long half-life (t{sub 1/2} = 2.13E05 years), Tc-99 is a major source of radiation in low-level waste (UCRL-JRNL-212334, Current Status of the Thermodynamic Data for Technetium and its Compounds and Aqueous Species). Technetium forms the soluble oxy anion, TcO{sub 4}{sup -} under aerobic conditions. This anion is very mobile in groundwater and poses a health risk (ANL, Radiological and Chemical Fact Sheets to Support Health Risk Analyses for Contaminated Areas). It has been demonstrated that Purolite{reg_sign} A530E is highly effective in removing TcO{sub 4}{sup -} from a water matrix (RPP-RPT-23199, The Removal of Technetium-99 from the Effluent Treatment Facility Basin 44 Waste Using Purolite A-530E, Reillex HPQ, and Sybron IONAC SR-7 Ion Exchange Resins). …

A number of tax provisions either expired in 2011 or are scheduled to expire at the end of this 2012. As Congress decides whether to extend these provisions, it may consider the estimated revenue losses associated with their extension as well as other factors when evaluating tax policy. In the 112th Congress, Members have yet to consider legislation that would extend all of the provisions discussed in this report, although legislation to extend certain provisions has been considered.

None

The effect of guide field on magnetic reconnection is quantitatively studied by systematically varying an applied guide field in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX). The quadrupole field, a signature of two-fluid reconnection at zero guide field, is significantly altered by a finite guide field. It is shown that the reconnection rate is significantly reduced with increasing guide field, and this dependence is explained by a combination of local and global physics: locally, the in-plane Hall currents are reduced, while globally guide field compression produces an increased pressure both within and downstream of the reconnection region. __________________________________________________

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past 5 years, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has taken several actions to restructure its retail network through reducing its workforce and its footprint while expanding retail alternatives. USPS officials estimated that it had saved about $800 million from reducing the number of work hours dedicated to retail operations. USPS also closed 631 of its post offices, but it did not have cost-savings estimates for these closures. Most of the facilities closed (500) were in response to a postmaster vacancy or the suspension of operations due to an expired lease or irreparable damage following a natural disaster. Fewer closures (131) have resulted from nationwide reviews that USPS initiated in 2009 and 2011. USPS has also restructured its retail network by expanding alternatives through self-service options as well as partnerships with other retailers."