Oil and Gas Issues Involved in CERCLA Reauthorization.

After several decades of environmental legislation, the regulated community faces an extremely complex and costly matrix of obligations and responsibilities. For industry in general, the most expensive environmental statute enacted has been the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). CERCLA created the Hazardous Substances Superfund (Superfund) and established retroactive liability for remediation of hazardous substance contamination. President Clinton admitted CERCLA does not work and even labelled the Superfund a “disaster.” Even though public and private entities have already spent twenty billion dollars on the CERCLA program since its inception, only around ten or twenty percent of the sites designated for cleanup have been remediated. Because of the often-disastrous effects of falling under the web of CERCLA regulation, most industries closely monitor any legislative action which might open the door for CERCLA liability. One such industry is the oil and gas industry. Some of the proposed Congressional amendments will have a profound impact on the oil and gas industry, because many of the basic premises of CERCLA need clarification. With many of the basic premises of CERCLA open to question, Congress and the industry should be able to develop a more workable alternative which protects the environment, while being fair to owners and operators of private facilities. More specifically, Congress should consider eliminating retroactive liability. Congress should be cognizant of the corresponding impact on the rest of the CERCLA structure. For the oil and gas industry, the elimination of retroactive liability will be a hollow victory if Congress expands the scope of CERCLA to include formerly exempted oil and gas wastes. Therefore, Congress should clarify the definition of a hazardous substance to continue excluding oil and gas wastes from CERCLA liability

The influence of aerobic fitness on the recovery of peak power output

Purpose The aims of this study were to evaluate the recovery kinetics of peak power output (PPO) following a maximal sprint, and to evaluate the influence of aerobic fitness on that recovery process. Methods On separate occasions, 16 well-trained men (age: 21 ± 3 years; height: 1.84 ± 0.05 m; and body mass: 78.8 ± 7.8 kg) performed a 30 s maximal sprint on a cycle ergometer, followed by a predetermined stationary rest period (5, 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160 s) and a subsequent 5 s sprint to determine PPO recovery kinetics. On another occasion, V ˙ O 2 was monitored during recovery from a 30 s sprint to provide a comparison with the recovery of PPO. Finally, subjects completed a V ˙ O 2max test to evaluate the influence of aerobic fitness on the recovery of PPO. Results Despite following similar time courses (F = 0.36, p = 0.558), and being well described by double-exponential models, the kinetic parameters of PPO and V ˙ O 2 in recovery were significantly different (p < 0.05). There was no significant relationship (r = 0.15; p = 0.578) between V ˙ O 2max and the time to achieve 50 % recovery of PPO. Moreover, there was no difference (p = 0.61) between the recovery kinetics of participants classified according to their V ˙ O 2max (59.4 ± 1.3 vs 48.5 ± 2.2 ml·kg−1·min−1). Conclusion Despite similar overall recovery kinetics, V ˙ O 2 and PPO show differences in key model parameters. Moreover, the recovery of PPO does not appear to be affected by aerobic fitness

Perceptual and Physiological Responses to Recovery from a Maximal 30-Second Sprint

The aims of this study were to evaluate perceptions of post-exercise recovery and to compare patterns of perceived recovery with those of several potential mediating physiological variables. Seventeen well-trained men (age: 22 ± 4 years; height: 1.83 ± 0.05 m; body mass: 78.9 ± 7.6 kg; and body fat: 11.1 ± 2.2%) completed 10 sprint trials on an electromagnetically braked cycle ergometer. Trial 1 evaluated peak power via a 5-second sprint. The remaining trials evaluated (a) the recovery of peak power after a maximal 30-second sprint using rest intervals of 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160 seconds; (b) perceived recovery via visual analog scales; and (c) physiological responses during recovery. The time point in recovery at which individuals perceived they had fully recovered was 163.3 ± 57.5 seconds. Power output at that same time point was 83.6 ± 5.2% of peak power. There were no significant differences between perceived recovery and the recovery processes of VO2 or minute ventilation (VE). Despite differences in the time courses of perceived recovery and the recovery of power output, individuals were able to closely predict full recovery without the need for external timepieces. Moreover, the time course of perceived recovery is similar to that of VO2 and VE

The Effect of Psychomotor Performance, Cerebral and Arterial Blood Saturation Between African-American and Caucasian Males Before, During and After Normobaric Hypoxic Exercise

International Journal of Exercise Science 10(5): 655-665, 2017. To further elucidate physiological and cognitive performance differences between African-American (AA) and Caucasian individuals (CAU) before, during or after hypoxic and normoxic exercise. Twelve college aged (18-25) apparently healthy African-American (six volunteers) and Caucasian (six subjects) males took part in two trials consisting of normobaric normoxia and normobaric hypoxia (12% oxygen). Each subject cycled at 50% of their altitude adjusted VO2max (-26% of normoxia VO2max) for one hour after a two-hour baseline. Subjects were monitored for cerebral and arterial O2 saturation, as well as the Trail Making Test A and B (TMT) psychomotor performance. Arterial saturation proved to be significantly higher in AA (86.0±4.7) compared to CAU (79.5±4.8) during the first 60 minutes of exposure to hypoxia at rest (p=0.039), but not during exercise. However, cerebral oxygenation to the left frontal lobe was decreased near the conclusion and in 30 minutes after normoxic exercise. TMT B data revealed that CAU (79±12.7) had faster scores than the AA subjects (98±25.1) at all time points and was significantly different at the 115-minute time point of the hypoxic trial (p=0.024). The data suggests that before, during and after normobaric normoxia and hypoxia trial there is a differential response between AA and CAU in regards to arterial and cerebral oxygenation, as well as psychomotor tests

An argument for the use of Aristotelian method in bioethics

The main claim of this paper is that the method outlined and used in Aristotle's Ethics is an appropriate and credible one to use in bioethics. Here “appropriate” means that the method is capable of establishing claims and developing concepts in bioethics and “credible” that the method has some plausibility, it is not open to obvious and immediate objection. It begins by suggesting why this claim matters and then gives a brief outline of Aristotle's method. The main argument is made in three stages. First, it is argued that Aristotelian method is credible because it compares favourably with alternatives. In this section it is shown that Aristotelian method is not vulnerable to criticisms that are made both of methods that give a primary place to moral theory (such as utilitarianism) and those that eschew moral theory (such as casuistry and social science approaches). As such, it compares favourably with these other approaches that are vulnerable to at least some of these criticisms. Second, the appropriateness of Aristotelian method is indicated through outlining how it would deal with a particular case. Finally, it is argued that the success of Aristotle's philosophy is suggestive of both the credibility and appropriateness of his method.</p