This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, intended to produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.

This report describes the provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, the Superfund law) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), and enforcement actions under these laws that have increasingly been receiving attention. Congressional scrutiny in the form of legislative proposals and two House hearings are discussed. Bills intended to exempt animal manure from the requirements of Superfund and EPCRA were introduced in the 109th Congress. Similar bills were introduced in the 110th Congress (H.R. 1398 and S. 807), but no legislation has been enacted. Issues raised by the legislation are analyzed.

The new reaction 208Pb(59Co,n)266Mt was studied using the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 88-Inch Cyclotron. A cross section of 7.7+5.2-3.3 pb was measured at a compound nucleus excitation energy of 14.9 MeV. The measured decay properties of 266Mt and its daughters correspond well with existing data. We compare this experimental result to transactinide compound nucleus formation model predictions, and the previously studied 209Bi(58Fe,n)266Mt reaction.

This report provides information about the Federal Funding facts and status of Corporation for Public Broadcasting which receives funding through federal appropriations.

This report covers the contentious travel restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba from the 1960s to the present time. It includes background on the restrictions, enforcement of restrictions, and arguments for or against maintaining travel restrictions. It also provides background on relevant legislative initiatives during the 106th through the 111th Congresses.

This report addresses issues related to the potential scope of duties and authorities of a CTO, as well as other issues Congress may choose to consider if it opts to exert oversight or to develop legislation to create the position and/or office of a CTO.

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.

The fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, which is scheduled to be held April 17-19, 2009, will be the first hemispheric forum for President Barack Obama to engage with leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean. The Port of Spain Summit will also be the first meeting of all 34 democratic heads of government from Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, and the United States since the contentious 2005 Summit in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Taking place less than four months after the U.S. presidential inauguration, the Summit could set the tone for hemispheric relations during the early stages of the Obama Administration. This report will be updated following the Summit.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses GAO's January 8, 2009, report that provides a framework for modernizing the outdated U.S. financial regulatory system. GAO prepared this work under the authority of the Comptroller General to help policymakers weigh various regulatory reform proposals and consider ways in which the current regulatory system could be made more effective and efficient. This testimony (1) describes how regulation has evolved in banking, securities, thrifts, credit unions, futures, insurance, secondary mortgage markets and other important areas; (2) describes several key changes in financial markets and products in recent decades that have highlighted significant limitations and gaps in the existing regulatory system; and (3) presents an evaluation framework that can be used by Congress and others to shape potential regulatory reform efforts."

The program has been concerned with gas-phase carbon 1s photoelectron spectroscopy of a number of molecules of potential chemical interest. The primary goals have been to determine carbon 1s ionization energies with a view of relating these to other chemical properties such as electronegativity, acidity, basicity, and reactivity, in order to provide a better understanding of these fundamental properties. The role of electron-donating (methyl) and electron-withdrawing (fluoro) substituents on the carbon 1s ionization energies of substituted benzenes has been studied., and these results have been related to measurements of the reactivities of the same molecule as well as to their affinities for protons (basicity). Opportunities for investigation in unplanned areas have arisen, and the program has been modified to take advantage of these. One has been the realization that, under certain circumstances, inner-shell ionization energies may depend on the molecular conformation. Several examples of this phenomenon have been investigated and it has been shown that this technique provides a tool for the measurement of the energy differences between different conformers of the same substance. The other has been the demonstration that photoelectron recoil can lead to the excitation of vibrational modes that are forbidden in the normal view of photoemission …

This report provides an overview of Lebanese politics, recent events in Lebanon, and current issues in U.S.-Lebanon relations and will be updated to reflect major developments.

This report discusses how successive U.S. governments have urged the creation of an anti-missile system to protect against long-range ballistic missile threats from adversary states. The proposed U.S. system has encountered resistance in some European countries and beyond.

This report discusses how successive U.S. governments have urged the creation of an anti-missile system to protect against long-range ballistic missile threats from adversary states. The proposed U.S. system has encountered resistance in some European countries and beyond.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is on target to demonstrate 'breakeven' - creating as much fusion-energy output as laser-energy input. NIF will compress a tiny sphere of hydrogen isotopes with 1.8 MJ of laser light in a 20-ns pulse, packing the isotopes so tightly that they fuse together, producing helium nuclei and releasing energy in the form of energetic particles. The achievement of breakeven will culminate an enormous effort by thousands of scientists and engineers, not only at Livermore but around the world, during the past several decades. But what about the day after NIF achieves breakeven? NIF is a world-class engineering research facility, but if laser fusion is ever to generate power for civilian consumption, the laser will have to deliver pulses nearly 100,000 times faster than NIF - a rate of perhaps 10 shots per second as opposed to NIF's several shots a day. The Mercury laser (named after the Roman messenger god) is intended to lead the way to a 10-shots-per-second, electrically-efficient, driver laser for commercial laser fusion. While the Mercury laser will generate only a small fraction of the peak power of NIF (1/30,000), Mercury operates at higher average power. The design …

his report examines federal law regarding obscenity and indecency. The First Amendment provides: “Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” In general, the First Amendment protects pornography, with this term being used to mean any erotic material. The Supreme Court, however, has held that the First Amendment does not protect two types of pornography: obscenity and child pornography. Consequently, they may be banned on the basis of their content, and federal law prohibits the mailing of obscenity, as well as its transport or receipt in interstate or foreign commerce.

The photodissociation of perdeuterated propargyl (D{sub 2}CCCD) and propynyl (D{sub 3}CCC) radicals was investigated using fast beam photofragment translational spectroscopy. Radicals were produced from their respective anions by photodetachment at 540 nm and 450 nm (below and above the electron affinity of propynyl). The radicals were then photodissociated by 248 nm or 193 nm light. The recoiling photofragments were detected in coincidence with a time- and position-sensitive detector. Three channels were observed: D{sub 2} loss, CD + C{sub 2}D{sub 2}, and CD{sub 3} + C{sub 2}. Obervation of the D loss channel was incompatible with this experiment and was not attempted. Our translational energy distributions for D{sub 2} loss peaked at nonzero translational energy, consistent with ground state dissociation over small (< 1 eV) exit barriers with respect to separated products. Translational energy distributions for the two heavy channels peaked near zero kinetic energy, indicating dissociation on the ground state in the absence of exit barriers.

This paper summarizes the current state of art of sampling, characterizing, retrieving, transferring and treating the incidental waste and stabilizing the void space in tank ancillary systems and the needs involved with closure of these systems. The overall effort for closing tank and ancillary systems is very large and is in the initial stages of being addressed in a systematic manner. It was recognized in doing this effort, that gaps in both technology and material application for characterization and removal of residual waste and closure of ancillary systems would be identified. Great efficiencies are to be gained by defining the technology need areas early in the closure process and providing recommendations for technical programs to improve the closure strategies. Therefore, this paper will not only summarize the state of closure of ancillary systems but also provide recommendations to address the technology gaps identified in this assessment.

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This report discusses the background and potential effects of the DTV Delay Act, which directs that all over-the-air full-power television broadcasts will become digital only.

This report discusses the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), which requires signatory parties to take measures to end torture within their territorial jurisdictions.

This report reviews unilateral preference programs for the Caribbean, discusses how they have been affected by FTAs in the region, and considers trade policy options for dealing with countries still relying on trade preferences and that may be considering whether to negotiate an FTA with the United States.

This report answers frequently asked questions about the geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2). The questions are broadly representative of typical inquiries regarding the process and mechanics of storing CO2 underground, how much might be stored, and what might happen to CO2 once it is injected underground.

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