Spills Of National Significance And State Nullification

In May 2010, at President Obama’s request, outgoing Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen delayed his retirement and became National Incident Commander for the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, serving until the conclusion of the emergency at the end of September 2010. From that experience, Admiral Allen observed what he called “social and political nullification” of the National Contingency Plan (NCP) arising from public hostility to the responsible party and demands of state and local political officials for more active roles in the response. The NCP is the federal regulation governing oil and hazardous substance response under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), popularly known as Superfund, and section 311 of the federal Clean Water Act. If that rule works poorly in practice, as Admiral Allen’s comments suggest, then addressing “nullification” issues will be important for responding better to future large-scale oil spills and avoiding or reducing environmental damage and economic losses. Admiral Allen was uniquely situated to comment on such disaster response and problems with the NCP. Before his service as incident commander, he led the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and oversaw a 2002 simulation of government capacities to respond to a spill of national significance off the Louisiana coast. He made his “nullification” comments in September 2010 testimony before the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling (National Commission). He explained that demands by state and local officials and the public resulted in substantial changes in the actual response from the approach dictated by the NCP. Some of these changes, the National Commission claims, resulted in costly and ineffective responses, overlapping and conflicting efforts, and diversion of response equipment and personnel from locations which needed the equipment most urgently. This article uses Admiral Allen’s observations and subsequent reporting by the National Commission to highlight “nullification” and other problems with the spill response, to identify correctible sources of these problems, and to suggest changes to the NCP and related authority recommended to help resolve nullification and related problems. I leave to other authors the discussion of environmental impact reviews of offshore leasing decisions and drilling permits. The NCP and disaster response issues addressed here include • assigning the lead cleanup role to the responsible party for a spill of national significance raised serious questions about the party’s competence, credibility, and culpability. These questions were further reinforced by the absence of significant in-house federal spill response capability; • elected state and local officials were poorly integrated into the spill response, and they initially understood the response procedures poorly. These elected officials demanded and eventually played a much more active role than initially assigned them. A similar political dynamic should be expected in future spills, requiring much greater inclusion of state and local elected officials in planning, practicing, and implementing future spill responses; • outside government, academic, and industry technical experts were poorly integrated into response efforts. Similarly, the federal government initially lacked an independent source of information about the volume and flow rate of the discharge. Far more robust federal technical expertise, independent sources of key information, and capable outside oversight contractors will be needed to maintain public confidence in future responses to spills of national significance

Nurses\u27 Alumnae Association Bulletin - Volume 2 Number 3

The Jefferson Nurse Letter from the President Delegates to Biennial Convention Attention Blood Transfusion - Plasma Unit Life in the Army Nurse Corps Secretary\u27s Report Elected to New Office 1892-1942 Progress or Alumnae Association 1892-1942 Report of the School of Nursing Staff News Please Change My Address Air Cooled Red Cross Report Fingerprinting Graduates in the U.S. Army and Navy Degrees Received Promotions Jubilee Report Engagements Marriages Births New Positions - 1941-1942 New Positions on the Nursing Staff of the Hospita

26-hour Storage of a Declined Liver Before Successful Transplantation Using Ex Vivo Normothermic Perfusion.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/SLA.000000000000183

Influence of Grain Boundary Character on Creep Void Formation in Alloy 617

Alloy 617, a high temperature creep-resistant, nickel-based alloy, is being considered for the primary heat exchanger for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) which will operate at temperatures exceeding 760oC. Orientation imaging microscopy (OIM) is used to characterize the grain boundaries in the vicinity of creep voids that develop during high temperature creep tests (800-1000oC at creep stresses ranging from 20-85 MPa) terminated at creep strains ranging from 5-40%. Observations using optical microscopy indicate creep rate does not significantly influence the creep void fraction at a given creep strain. Preliminary analysis of the OIM data indicates voids tend to form on grain boundaries parallel, perpendicular or 45o to the tensile axis, while few voids are found at intermediate inclinations to the tensile axis. Random grain boundaries intersect most voids while CSL-related grain boundaries did not appear to be consistently associated with void development

The atomic structure of large-angle grain boundaries Σ5\Sigma 5 and Σ13\Sigma 13 in YBa2Cu3O7−δ{\rm YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}} and their transport properties

We present the results of a computer simulation of the atomic structures of large-angle symmetrical tilt grain boundaries (GBs) $\Sigma 5$ (misorientation angles \q{36.87}{^{\circ}} and \q{53.13}{^{\circ}}), $\Sigma 13$ (misorientation angles \q{22.62}{^{\circ}} and \q{67.38}{^{\circ}}). The critical strain level $\epsilon_{crit}$ criterion (phenomenological criterion) of Chisholm and Pennycook is applied to the computer simulation data to estimate the thickness of the nonsuperconducting layer ${\rm h_n}$ enveloping the grain boundaries. The ${\rm h_n}$ is estimated also by a bond-valence-sum analysis. We propose that the phenomenological criterion is caused by the change of the bond lengths and valence of atoms in the GB structure on the atomic level. The macro- and micro- approaches become consistent if the $\epsilon_{crit}$ is greater than in earlier papers. It is predicted that the symmetrical tilt GB $\Sigma5$ \theta = \q{53.13}{^{\circ}} should demonstrate a largest critical current across the boundary.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Prospects for local co-governance

British local authorities and their partners are increasingly developing new ways of working together with local communities. The nature of this co-working, however, is complex, multi-faceted and little understood. This article argues for greater clarity of thinking on the topic, by analysing this co-working as a form of political co-governance, and drawing attention in particular to issues of scale and democracy. Using evidence from a study of 43 local authority areas, 16 authorities are identified where co-governance is practised, following three main types of approach: service-influencing, service-delivering and parish council developing. It is concluded that strengthening political co-governance is essential for a healthy democracy

The Growth of Eimeria tenella: Characterization and Application of Quantitative Methods to Assess Sporozoite Invasion and Endogenous Development in Cell Culture

In vitro development of the complete life cycle of Eimeria species has been achieved in primary cultures of avian epithelial cells with low efficiency. The use of immortalized cell lines simplifies procedures but only allows partial development through one round of parasite invasion and intracellular replication. We have assessed the suitability of Madin-Darby Bovine Kidney (MDBK) cells to support qualitative and quantitative studies on sporozoite invasion and intracellular development of Eimeria tenella. Analysis of parasite ultrastructure by transmission electron microscopy and serial block face—scanning electron microscopy proved the suitability of the system to generate good quality schizonts and first-generation merozoites. Parasite protein expression profiles elucidated by mass spectrometry corroborated previous findings occurring during the development of the parasite such as the presence of alternative types of surface antigen at different stages and increased abundance of proteins from secretory organelles during invasion and endogenous development. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) allowed the tracking of development by detecting DNA division, whereas reverse transcription qPCR of sporozoite- and merozoite-specific genes could detect early changes before cell division and after merozoite formation, respectively. These results correlated with the analysis of development using ImageJ semi-automated image analysis of fluorescent parasites, demonstrating the suitability and reproducibility of the MDBK culture system. This systems also allowed the evaluation of the effects on invasion and development when sporozoites were pre-incubated with anticoccidial drugs, showing similar effects to those reported before. We have described through this study a series of methods and assays for the further application of this in vitro culture model to more complex studies of Eimeria including basic research on parasite cell biology and host-parasite interactions and for screening anticoccidial drugs