Electronic Democracy and Environmental Governance: A Survey of the States

Just as information technology is rapidly changing how we work, shop, and play, it is changing how we practice democracy. This paper focuses on one area where the Internet is broadening public participation in governance: the administration of environmental laws and regulations. It describes a survey of how each of the 50 states is using the Internet to provide citizens with environmental information, gather public input on agency decisions, and foster networks of interested citizens. As "laboratories for democracy," the states may be the source of ideas and experience that anticipate how environmental governance at all levels of government will change over the next decade. The survey results suggest that electronic democracy in state-level environmental decisionmaking is in an early and experimental phase. All state environmental agencies have Web sites and most provide substantial amounts of information on-line. However, opportunities for active on-line interaction between citizens and government, as well as among citizens themselves, are quite limited. Relatively few states, for example, allow citizens to comment on proposed rules electronically. Overall, the survey suggests that it is a good time for states to learn from each other as more innovative states push the envelope of what technology allows and more cautious states continue to adopt basic features as decision-makers become convinced of their efficacy.

Subsurface Sequence Stratigraphy and Reservoir Characterization of the Mississippian Limestone (Kinderhookian to Meramecian), South Central Kansas and North Central Oklahoma

Both conventional and unconventional Mississippian reservoirs in the mid-continent are largely comprised of chert-rich carbonates of Osagean and Meramecan age. The conventional reservoir target is the Mississippian chat, a high porosity, chert residuum interval found immediately beneath the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian unconformity. The unconventional reservoir target occurs in the lower porosity, cherty, mud-rich intervals that occur in the lower portion of the Mississippian succession. There has been considerable debate surrounding the sequence stratigraphic interpretations, depositional models, and formation names applied to the reservoir intervals within the subsurface. Another major issue with regard to the subsurface is the stratigraphic position and origin of tripolitic chert development. Previous outcrop studies within the Mississippian outcrop belt, mud logs, and well log correlations have been utilized to facilitate the application of sequence stratigraphy to the subsurface succession. Reservoir intervals appear to be preferentially developed beneath the Osagean-Meramecian and Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundaries. The proposed depositional model challenges previous assignments of tripolitic chert development to what has been called the Reeds Spring Formation in the subsurface

Lunar laser-ranging detection of light-speed anisotropy and gravitational waves

The Apache Point Lunar Laser-ranging Operation (APOLLO), in New Mexico, can detect photon bounces from retro-reflectors on the moon surface to 0.1ns timing resolution. This facility enables not only the detection of light speed anisotropy, which defines a local preferred frame of reference — only in that frame is the speed of light isotropic — but also fluctuations/turbulence (gravitational waves) in the flow of the dynamical 3-space relative to local systems/observers. So the APOLLO facility can act as an effective “gravitational wave” detector. A recently published small data set from November 5, 2007 is analysed to characterise both the average anisotropy velocity and the wave/turbulence effects. The results are consistent with some 13 previous detections, with the last and most accurate being from the spacecraft earth-flyby Doppler-shift NASA data

Dynamical 3-Space: Supernovae and the Hubble Expansion - the Older Universe without Dark Energy

We apply the new dynamics of 3-space to cosmology by deriving a Hubble expansion solution. This dynamics involves two constants G and α- the fine structure constant. This solution gives an excellent parameter free fit to the recent supernova data without the need for ‘dark energy ’ or ‘dark matter’. The data and theory together imply an older age for the universe of some 18Gyrs. Various problems such as fine tuning, the event horizon problem etc are now resolved. A brief review discusses the origin of the 3-space dynamics and how that dynamics explained the bore anomaly, spiral galaxy flat rotation speeds, the masses of black holes in spherical galaxies, gravitational light bending and lensing, all without invoking ‘dark matter ’ or ‘dark energy’. These developments imply that a new understanding of the universe is now available

Dynamical Fractal 3-Space and the Generalised Schrodinger Equation: Equivalence Principle and Vorticity Effects

The new dynamical `quantum foam' theory of 3-space is described at the classical level by a velocity field. This has been repeatedly detected and for which the dynamical equations are now established. These equations predict 3-space `gravitational wave' effects, and these have been observed, and the 1991 DeWitte data is analysed to reveal the fractal structure of these `gravitational waves'. This velocity field describes the differential motion of 3-space, and the various equations of physics must be generalised to incorporate this 3-space dynamics. Here a new generalised Schrodinger equation is given and analysed. It is shown that from this equation the equivalence principle may be derived as a quantum effect, and that as well this generalised Schr\"{o}dinger equation determines the effects of vorticity of the 3-space flow, or `frame-dragging', on matter, and which is being studied by the Gravity Probe B (GP-B) satellite gyroscope experiment

Optical-Fiber Gravitational Wave Detector: Dynamical 3-Space Turbulence Detected

Preliminary results from an optical-fiber gravitational wave interferometric detector are reported. The detector is very small, cheap and simple to build and operate. It is assembled from readily available opto-electronic components. A parts list is given. The detector can operate in two modes: one in which only instrument noise is detected, and data from a 24 hour period is reported for this mode, and in a 2nd mode in which the gravitational waves are detected as well, and data from a 24 hour period is analysed. Comparison shows that the instrument has a high S/N ratio. The frequency spectrum of the gravitational waves shows a pink noise spectrum, from 0 to 0.1 Hz