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The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Act) provides in 21 U.S.C. 346 that when the addition of any poisonous or deleterious substance to food is required in the production thereof or cannot be avoided by good manufacturing practice, the Secretary of Health and Human Services "shall promulgate regulations limiting the quantity therein or thereon to such extent as he finds necessary for the protection of public health." The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Secretary's designee for enforcing the Act, has long interpreted the phrase beginning "to such extent" to modify the word "shall" rather than "the quantity therein or thereon," and therefore views the decision whether to promulgate a 346 regulation (tolerance level) as a determination to be made by the FDA. Rather than setting a tolerance level for aflatoxin, a potent carcinogen that is unavoidably present in some foods, the FDA set an action level of 20 parts per billion (ppb) (an action level assures food producers that the FDA ordinarily will not enforce the Act's general adulteration provisions against them if the quantity of the harmful substance in food is less than a specified quantity). But in 1980, the FDA published a notice in the Federal Register that the Act would not be enforced as to a certain harvest of corn to be used for livestock and poultry feed where it contained no more than 100 ppb. Respondents, two public-interest groups and a consumer, brought suit against petitioner Commissioner of Food and Drugs in Federal District Court, alleging that the Act requires the FDA to set a tolerance level for aflatoxin before allowing the shipment of food containing the substance, that in this case the FDA had employed insufficient procedures to set the aflatoxin action level even if a tolerance level was not required, and that the FDA's decision to grant the exemption from the action level violated the Act and the FDA's own regulations. Adopting the FDA's longstanding interpretation of 346 as giving it discretion whether to promulgate a tolerance level, the District Court, on a motion for summary judgment, ruled that the FDA need not establish a tolerance level for aflatoxin before allowing the shipment of the aflatoxin-tainted corn. The Court of [476 U.S. 974, 975] Appeals reversed, holding that the FDA's interpretation of 346 conflicted with its plain language.
In light of 346's inherent ambiguity, the FDA's interpretation of the provision is sufficiently rational to preclude a court from substituting its judgment for that of the FDA. The legislative history is equally ambiguous and provides no support for assertions that the FDA's interpretation is insufficiently rational to warrant this Court's deference. Pp. 979-983.
244 U.S. App. D.C. 279, 757 F.2d 354, reversed and remanded.
O'CONNOR, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C. J., and BRENNAN, WHITE, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, POWELL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined. STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 984.
Paul J. Larkin, Jr., argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Solicitor General Fried, Assistant Attorney General Willard, Deputy Solicitor General Geller, Leonard Schaitman, Marleigh D. Dover, and Thomas Scarlett.
William B. Schultz argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Alan B. Morrison and Katherine A. Meyer. *
[ Footnote * ] Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the State of South Carolina by Philip C. Olsson, T. Travis Medlock, Attorney General, and Brooks Shealy, Assistant Attorney General; for the American Feed Industry Association by David F. Weeda; for the Grocery Manufacturers of America, Inc., by Peter Barton Hutt; for the National Food Processors Association by H. Edward Dunkelberger, Jr.; and for the National Peanut Council, Inc., by James M. Goldberg.
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
We granted certiorari in this case to determine whether the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit correctly concluded that the Food and Drug Administration's longstanding interpretation of 21 U.S.C. 346 was in conflict with the plain language of that provision. 474 U.S. 1018 (1985). We hold that, in light of the inherent ambiguity of the statutory provision and the reasonableness of the Food [476 U.S. 974, 976] and Drug Administration's interpretation thereof, the Court of Appeals erred. We therefore reverse.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enforces the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Act) as the designee of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 21 U.S.C. 371(a). See also 21 CFR 5.10 (1986). The Act seeks to ensure the purity of the Nation's food supply, and accordingly bans "adulterated" food from interstate commerce. 21 U.S.C. 331(a). Title 21 U.S.C. 342(a) deems food to be "adulterated"
Section 346 states:
The parties do not dispute that, since the enactment of the Act in 1938, the FDA has interpreted this provision to give it the discretion to decide whether to promulgate a 346 regulation, which is known in the administrative vernacular as a "tolerance level." Tolerance levels are set through a fairly elaborate process, similar to formal rulemaking, with evidentiary hearings. See 21 U.S.C. 371(e). On some occasions, the FDA has instead set "action levels" through a less formal process. In setting an action level, the FDA essentially assures food producers that it ordinarily will not enforce the general adulteration provisions of the Act against them if the quantity of the harmful added substance in their food is less than the quantity specified by the action level.
The substance at issue in this case is aflatoxin, which is produced by a fungal mold that grows in some foods. Aflatoxin, a potent carcinogen, is indisputedly "poisonous" or [476 U.S. 974, 978] "deleterious" under 342 and 346. The parties also agree that, although aflatoxin is naturally and unavoidably present in some foods, it is to be treated as "added" to food under 346. As a "poisonous or deleterious substance added to any food," then, aflatoxin is a substance falling under the aegis of 346, and therefore is at least potentially the subject of a tolerance level.
The FDA has not, however, set a 346 tolerance level for aflatoxin. It has instead established an action level for aflatoxin of 20 parts per billion (ppb). In 1980, however, the FDA stated in a notice published in the Federal Register:
In connection with this notice, two public-interest groups and a consumer (respondents here) brought suit against the Commissioner of the FDA (petitioner here) in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Respondents alleged that the Act requires the FDA to set a tolerance level for aflatoxin before allowing the shipment in interstate commerce of food containing aflatoxin; that the FDA had employed insufficiently elaborate procedures to set its aflatoxin action level even if a tolerance level was not required; and that the FDA's decision to grant the 1980 exemption from the action level independently violated the Act and the FDA's own regulations.
On a motion for summary judgment, the District Court deferred to the FDA's interpretation of 346, and therefore ruled that the FDA need not establish a tolerance level for [476 U.S. 974, 979] aflatoxin before allowing the shipment of aflatoxin-tainted corn in interstate commerce. The District Court also ruled against respondents on their other claims.
The Court of Appeals reversed the District Court's conclusion as to the proper interpretation of 346. 244 U.S. App. D.C. 279, 757 F.2d 354 (1985). The Court of Appeals determined that Congress had spoken directly and unambiguously to the precise question at issue:
The Court of Appeals considered none of the other issues before the District Court, and therefore only the 346 issue is before this Court.
The FDA's longstanding interpretation of the statute that it administers is that the phrase "to such extent as he finds necessary for the protection of public health" in 346 modifies the word "shall." The FDA therefore interprets the statute to state that the FDA shall promulgate regulations to the extent that it believes the regulations necessary to protect the public health. Whether regulations are necessary to protect the public health is, under this interpretation, a determination to be made by the FDA. [476 U.S. 974, 980]
Respondents, in contrast, argue that the phrase "to such extent" modifies the phrase "the quantity therein or thereon" in 346, not the word "shall." Since respondents therefore view the word "shall" as unqualified, they interpret 346 to require the promulgation of tolerance levels for added, but unavoidable, harmful substances. The FDA under this interpretation of 346 has discretion in setting the particular tolerance level, but not in deciding whether to set a tolerance level at all.
Our analysis must begin with Chevron U.S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984). We there stated:
The FDA has therefore advanced an interpretation of an ambiguous statutory provision.
To read 346 as does the FDA is hardly to endorse an absurd result. Like any other administrative agency, the FDA has been delegated broad discretion by Congress in any number of areas. To interpret Congress' statutory language to give the FDA discretion to decide whether tolerance [476 U.S. 974, 982] levels are necessary to protect the public health is therefore sensible.
Nor does any other portion of 346 prohibit the FDA from allowing the shipment of aflatoxin-tainted food without a tolerance level, despite the Court of Appeals' conclusion to the contrary. The Court of Appeals stated:
The legislative history of the Act provides no single view about whether Congress intended 346 to be mandatory or permissive with respect to tolerance levels. Compare, e. g., Confidential House Committee Print 2, on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 75th Cong., 1st Sess., S. 5, 406(a), reprinted in 5 Legislative History of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and its Amendments 767, 792 (Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare 1979) (changing, without explanation, words "is authorized to" to "shall" in relevant provision), with H. R. Rep. No. 2139, 75th Cong., 3d Sess. 6 (1938) (stating that, under the Act, "the establishment of tolerances is authorized") (emphasis added). A clearer indication of Congress' intentions with regard to tolerance levels occurred in 1954, when Congress condemned the cumbersomeness of the tolerance-level procedure as applied to pesticides. Congress fashioned a more streamlined procedure for those and other deliberately added substances. See 21 U.S.C. 346a. But in revisiting 346, Congress did not change the procedures governing unintentionally added substances like aflatoxin. This failure to change the scheme under which the FDA operated is significant, for a "congressional failure to revise or repeal the agency's interpretation is persuasive evidence that the interpretation is the one intended by Congress." NLRB v. Bell Aerospace, Co., 416 U.S. 267, 275 (1974). See FDIC v. Philadelphia Gear Corp., ante, at 437; Zenith Radio Corp. v. United States, 437 U.S. 443, 457 (1978). In sum, although the legislative history is not unambiguous, it certainly is no support for assertions that the FDA's interpretation of 346 is insufficiently rational to warrant our deference.
Finally, we note that our interpretation of 346 does not render that provision superfluous, even in light of Congress' decision to authorize the FDA to "promulgate regulations for the efficient enforcement of [the] Act." 21 U.S.C. 371(a). [476 U.S. 974, 984] Section 346 gives the FDA the authority to choose whatever tolerance level is deemed "necessary for the protection of public health," and food containing a quantity of a required or unavoidable substance less than the tolerance level "shall not, by reason of bearing or containing any added amount of such substance, be considered to be adulterated." Section 346 thereby creates a specific exception to 342(a)'s general definition of adulterated food as that containing a quantity of a substance that renders the food "ordinarily . . . injurious to health." Simply because the FDA is given the choice between employing the standard of 346 and the standard of 342(a) does not render 346 superfluous.
For the reasons set forth, the judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
The parties agree that aflatoxins are added, unavoidable contaminants of food and as such are governed by the following provision of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act:
The Court's contrary conclusion reflects an absence of judgment and of judging. Before exploring either infirmity, it is worthwhile to summarize the Court's reason for reading the section to authorize, but not require, the promulgation of regulations. First, the Court declares that the qualifying language - "to such extent as he finds necessary for protection of the public health" - is a "dangling participle" that might or might not modify the words "shall promulgate regulations." Ante, at 981. Second, as between the two readings of this "ambiguous statutory provision," ibid., deference dictates that the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (to whom enforcement of the Act has been delegated) may take his pick.
The Court's finding of ambiguity is simply untenable. The antecedent of the qualifying language is quite clearly the phrase "limiting the quantity therein or thereon," which immediately precedes it, rather than the word "shall," which appears eight words before it. Thus, the Commissioner is to "limi[t] the quantity [of an added, unavoidable poisonous or deleterious substance] therein or thereon to such extent as he finds necessary for the protection of public health." 1 By instead [476 U.S. 974, 986] reading the section to mean that "the Secretary shall promulgate regulations . . . to such extent as he finds necessary," the Court ignores the import of the words immediately following, which specify the effect of the "limits so fixed" - i. e., fixed by "limiting the quantity [of the poisonous substance] therein or thereon to such extent as he finds necessary for the protection of public health" - which can only mean that the qualification modifies the limits set by regulation rather than the duty to regulate. In addition, the Court's construction, by skipping over the words "limiting the quantity therein or thereon," renders them superfluous and of no operative force or effect. Indeed, the Court renders the very language it construes superfluous, because reading the provision to authorize (rather than mandate) the promulgation of regulations assigns it an office already filled by the general rulemaking authority conferred later in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. See 21 U.S.C. 371(a). 2 If Congress intended the Secretary to have unbridled authority to proceed with action levels, instead of with formal regulations, there was no need to enact this part of 346 at all. This is plainly a case in which "the intent of Congress is clear [and] the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the [476 U.S. 974, 987] unambiguously expressed intent of Congress." Chevron U.S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842 -843 (1984). 3 [476 U.S. 974, 988]
The task of interpreting a statute requires more than merely inventing an ambiguity and invoking administrative deference. A statute is not "unclear unless we think there are decent arguments for each of two competing interpretations of it." R. Dworkin, Law's Empire 352 (1986). Thus, to say that the statute is susceptible of two meanings, as does the Court, is not to say that either is acceptable. Furthermore, to say that the Commissioner's interpretation of the statute merits deference, as does the Court, is not to say that the singularly judicial role of marking the boundaries of agency choice is at an end. As Justice Frankfurter reminds us, "[t]he purpose of construction being the ascertainment of meaning, every consideration brought to bear for the solution of that problem must be devoted to that end alone." Frankfurter, Some Reflections on the Reading of Statutes, 47 Colum. L. Rev. 527, 529 (1947). It is not "a ritual to be observed by unimaginative adherence to well-worn professional phrases." Ibid. "Nor can canons of construction save us from the anguish of judgment." Id., at 544. The Court, correctly self-conscious of the limits of the judicial role, employs a reasoning so formulaic that it trivializes the art of judging.
I respectfully dissent.
[ Footnote 2 ] The Court does not deny that the specific language which it construes - the clause providing that "the Secretary shall promulgate regulations" setting tolerance levels - is superfluous under its view of the Act. See ante, at 983-984. It instead emphasizes that a later sentence in 346 which prescribes the legal effect of tolerance-setting regulations remains effective. But since tolerances may be promulgated pursuant to 371(a) as well as 346, the Court's response merely underscores the fact that its construction of the "shall promulgate" clause to authorize rather than to require such rulemaking renders it redundant to the general rulemaking authority conferred by 371(a).
[ Footnote 3 ] Because Congress explicitly required the Commissioner to promulgate regulations for added, unavoidable contaminants, that should be "the end of the matter." Chevron U.S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S., at 842 . The Commissioner's "longstanding" practice to the contrary does not help his legal position. For even if it were true that the Commissioner has from time to time announced an "action level" to advise the industry when he intended to institute enforcement proceedings concerning certain deleterious substances, the fact that the FDA had never actually addressed in any detail the statutory authorization under which it took such action means that its plea for deference should fail for the reasons carefully stated in SEC v. Sloan, 436 U.S. 103, 117 -118 (1978):
The Sloan case also provides an adequate answer to the argument that Congress has revisited the statute from time to time without condemning the FDA's "action level" practice: [476 U.S. 974, 988]
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Citation: 476 U.S. 974
Docket No: No. 85-664
Argued: April 30, 1986
Decided: June 17, 1986
Court: United States Supreme Court
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During 2006, 723 Severe Weather Events were Recorded by the National Weather Service's office in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. This was more than any other National Weather Service office in the United States. There were also 102 tornadoes in Missouri during 2006, which set a new record. For AmerenUE (St. Louis), this volatile weather resulted in outage events for its Missouri electric customers that were unprecedented in its century-long history.
In fact, in the four years beginning in 2004, AmerenUE and its 1.2 million electric customers endured a litany of continually record-breaking severe weather events — record-breaking from the aspect of the number of customers out of service, the number of substations and distribution circuits out concurrently, and the number of outside resources (contractors, mutual assistance partners and electric cooperatives) called to assist in restoration efforts. This culminated in the second half of 2006 and early 2007, when back-to-back summer storms on July 19 and July 21 left a total 645,000 customers out of service, and back-to-back ice storms on Nov. 30 and Jan. 13 (the first severe ice events in 30 years) left 290,000 and 350,000 customers out, respectively.
Most of these events triggered investigations by the Missouri Public Service Commission that together carried dozens of recommendations in their wake. Customer-satisfaction ratings reached their lowest levels in years. The outcry was fueled by persistent negative press and pressure from elected officials at all levels of government. In hindsight, AmerenUE's rate-case submittal, filed just before the July 2006 storm (its first rate-increase proposal in 20 years), came at an unfortunate time and didn't help matters.
Along the way, AmerenUE conducted focus groups involving more than 500 people across every imaginable cross section of its customer base. The intent was to get back in touch with what its customers consider important and what they want from their local utility. In addition, the company reached out to a wide range of elected and appointed officials and community leaders. The two major issues that emerged from these discussions were a customer demand for improved service reliability and a renewed focus on environmental stewardship.
There was a time in recent history when AmerenUE management believed the low cost of service was most important to Missouri customers, and the company responded with a consistent strategy of providing just that. For many years, AmerenUE's electric rates have remained among the lowest in the nation among major metropolitan areas. However, AmerenUE's focus group discussions have shown that today, especially in light of the Midwest's recent weather volatility, the major factor driving customer satisfaction is reliable electric service.
With this realization has come a fundamental shift in AmerenUE's energy-delivery strategy, one recognizing that previously conventional practices in distribution system maintenance, vegetation management and reliability engineering would never be sufficient again. It was on this premise that Project Power On was conceptualized and ultimately announced to Missouri customers.
Improving overall service reliability
Proactively upgrading the power-delivery system to stand up against future severe weather
Enhancing the environmental performance of Missouri's fossil-fueled generating stations.
Project Power On is comprised of four basic elements, including a $300 million commitment to the application of under-grounding solutions to a number of reliability problems throughout the Missouri service territory. [The other three initiatives are detailed in the sidebar above.]
From a traditional perspective, the $300 million undergrounding program represents a dramatic departure from convention, both for AmerenUE and most of the electric utility industry. It is the single-largest distribution project ever undertaken in AmerenUE's history, and it is intended, above all else, to underground some of its most troublesome and outage-prone overhead power lines. There is no model in the industry today for a project of this nature and scale, but AmerenUE envisions it should be able to build 750 to 1000 individual projects of various sizes and to convert up to 200 miles (322 km) of its poorest-performing overhead circuitry — particularly those shown to be most susceptible to damage by trees during severe weather.
One of the earliest decisions made was how to apportion the $300 million investment across the Missouri service territory. For accountability reasons, it was important that capital investments be made in as many different areas of the state as possible.
After investigating several options, AmerenUE decided to apportion the investment across its service territory according to customer population. At first, the hope was that there would be beneficial work to do in each of the 57 Missouri counties AmerenUE is tariffed to serve, but this was finally deemed impractical, especially in counties with very small customer numbers. Funding allocations were bubbled up instead (based on customer population) to each of AmerenUE's nine Missouri construction divisions. In the end, a higher percentage of the undergrounding program investment was slated for the St. Louis metropolitan area and immediate surrounding counties. This makes sense, as this was the epicenter for most of the severe weather events of the past five years.
At the core of the undergrounding program is the conversion of overhead lines. Medium-voltage circuits are being targeted from the three-phase 34-kV line traversing rough terrain down to the single-phase 2400-V line running through residential subdivision rear lots. If overhead secondary (below 600 V) is on the pole, it also is converted. The underground facilities are installed following the same guidelines currently in place for new line extensions: medium-voltage cable routes along front lot lines and all padmount equipment accessible by boom truck from a paved or otherwise "improved" surface.
Funds are also set aside for the replacement of poor performing direct-buried underground residential distribution (URD) cable. Today, thousands of miles of direct-buried solid-dielectric cable operate below 15 kV in Missouri, half of which was installed to serve residential subdivisions in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of this is single-phase high-molecular-weight-polyethylene or cross-linked-polyethylene cable with exposed concentric neutrals. Replacements of these laterals with ethylene-propylene-rubber cable in conduit (the current standard) are justified based on excessive failures and substantiated cases of neutral corrosion, which in turn can result in stray-voltage conditions and other operational problems.
Rounding out Project Power On's suite of undergrounding solutions is the looping of single-sourced URD cable laterals. In many parts of the state, there exist legacy URD laterals that, unlike new installations today, aren't fed from two sources with a "normal open" in the middle. These improvement projects involve the installation of new cable sections in conduit in order to "loop" previously unlooped URD laterals. The reliability proposition associated with this type of solution is one of reduced outage duration as opposed to reduced outage frequency.
It's anticipated that the undergrounding program will allow for the conversion of up to 200 miles of medium-voltage overhead circuitry. However, AmerenUE has more than 27,000 miles (43,452 km) of such circuitry in Missouri. As a result, the utility is employing a heavily targeted approach to identify and prioritize the work to be performed. And while there are many considerations that go into the decision to build a particular conversion project, three of them stand out: the project's cost, the performance of the section being converted and the number of customers electrically benefiting from the conversion.
As a means of getting the biggest reliability improvement possible for the investment made, AmerenUE designed a metric called Cost per Annual Avoided Customer Interruption (CAACI) to help screen the hundreds of jobs initially under consideration. Those jobs that are most economical to build, convert circuit sections with poorest outage histories and electrically affect the most customers downstream of the nearest protective device will have CAACI values small enough to warrant the greatest consideration. To prioritize URD loop completion jobs, AmerenUE designed the Cost per Annual Avoided Customer Minute Out metric.
The magnitude of the underground program's investment prohibits accomplishing anything but a small portion of the work with internal resources. Using the company's strategic sourcing process, AmerenUE competitively bid the program as a turnkey operation, outsourcing every conceivable discipline: design, engineering, real estate, public relations, customer communication, warehousing, material delivery, construction and property restoration.
Contracts were signed in early November 2007 with three primary partners: J.F. Electric Inc. (Edwardsville, Illinois, U.S.), Henkels & McCoy Inc. (Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, U.S.) and PAR Electrical Contractors Inc. (Kansas City, Missouri). PAR is responsible for project controls and pre-construction services, which includes everything except construction and property restoration. The construction and restoration disciplines are split between J.F. Electric and Henkels & McCoy.
Altogether, AmerenUE's partners and their subcontractors have grown to nearly 400 full-time equivalents in the program's first 11 months. Overall management of the program and the contractors involved is the responsibility of a small department at AmerenUE (15 full-time equivalents) called Reliability Improvement.
In order to have the biggest possible impact on reliability, AmerenUE has chosen to concentrate efforts on the conversion of overhead spans of wire (from pole to pole) and not the individual services to customer premises. There is a private investment involved for the Missouri customer in the conversion of overhead service wires to a home or building. AmerenUE did not want to force customers to make this investment nor did it want to have a customer's reluctance to do so stand in the way of the rest of the conversion project.
As a work-around to this, a secondary pedestal is being installed within 10 ft (3 m) of each service pole on a conversion job, usually in the rear of the lot involved. Secondary cables are brought in to the pedestal from the new padmount transformer in front of the lot. An additional cable is brought out of the pedestal and up the service pole (a "reverse riser") to feed whatever overhead services remain on it. This pedestal also becomes the utility "point of attachment" for whenever those services are placed underground in the future.
However, it did appear to make sense to provide an incentive for residential customers to participate in the undergrounding of overhead service wires at the same time AmerenUE is converting the rest of the subdivision. Consequently, AmerenUE pursued and obtained approval from the Missouri Public Service Commission for a "promotional practice" that provides a $750 rebate check to eligible residential customers who make the investment to convert their overhead service wires within six months of AmerenUE's completing the conversion in their area.
A whirlwind of activity is underway at AmerenUE, even in addition to what's going on with Project Power On, intended to show Missouri customers that AmerenUE is committed to responding to what it is they've told the company is important to them. The motto above is reflective of an energy-delivery strategy that is focused on exceptional customer service and improved service reliability. It's fully intended that Project Power On will help deliver on this commitment.
Power plant scrubbers. AmerenUE is spending US$500 million on the installation of scrubbers at its Sioux power plant. This capital project reinforces for Missouri customers the continued sense of AmerenUE's priority for environmental stewardship. Scrubbers are being installed for both of the plant's units, and should reduce mercury (Hg) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions to within 10% of current levels. Reductions in the airborne emissions of Hg and SO2 have held the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's interest for several years. The Sioux project makes the single-largest reduction possible in the company's Hg and SO2 footprints, and the investment is being made several years ahead of when EPA regulations would have otherwise mandated.
Expanded vegetation management. AmerenUE is spending another $150 million over the next three years on a vastly expanded tree-trimming program. St. Louis is one of most heavily tree-canopied metropolitan areas in the United States. It's been determined that 60% of all customer interruptions that occurred as a result of the recent storms were caused by uprooted trees or broken tree limbs. AmerenUE's vegetation management program had followed industry standards with respect to clearances and had varying self-imposed cycle lengths throughout its service territory. In 2004, AmerenUE reached an agreement with the Missouri Public Service Commission to reduce cycle lengths based on customer density to four years in urban areas and six years in rural areas.
Under Project Power On, budget appropriations for vegetation management have nearly doubled to $50 million annually, allowing AmerenUE to:
- "Trim to the sky" and remove all overhang within utility easements on feeder backbones.
- Show more aggression in the removal of danger trees and trees directly beneath wires both on and off utility easements.
- Maintain trimming cycles on a consistent basis.
- Work more broadly with local townships, municipalities and customers on "Right Tree in Right Place" education.
Circuit and pole inspections. The utility plans to spend another $85 million over the next three years on a comprehensive circuit and pole inspection and repair program. All 900,000 structures in Missouri carrying energized distribution facilities 69 kV or below (save for dusk-to-dawn and streetlight poles) are visually inspected on a four-year cycle for problems that could cause future outages. Inspection data are recorded on hand-held devices and uploaded to a database, with all deficiencies and NESC violations sent to respective AmerenUE construction divisions for repairs. Prior to this, AmerenUE had a program that began in 1998 involving the 10-year cyclical inspections of roughly 200,000 Missouri structures carrying 34 kV and select 12-kV distribution facilities.
Under the current program, every third visual inspection of a wood pole also includes a full strength assessment of the structure (that is, every 12 years). The battery of tests includes a sounding test, a boring test and a ground-line excavation test. Based on the pole's remaining mechanical integrity, as determined using NESC and ANSI strength tables, it could be identified for replacement or C-truss-reinforcing. Any pole left in service receives an internal preservative treatment for extending its useful life.
Mark Nealon ([email protected]) has worked for AmerenUE for 24 years and has experience in distribution planning, systems development, construction and operations. He is the manager of Reliability Improvement and is responsible for the execution of Project Power On's undergrounding program. He is a registered professional engineer in Missouri and Illinois.


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Finally I can post about this jacket! This is my favorite jacket at the moment, I've been wearing it everyday and loving every moment of it. The pattern is the newly-released Minoru jacket by the talented Tasia from Sewaholic. I was fortunate to be one of the pattern testers who can have a try-out weeks before its release.
When I saw the pattern for the first time, I was very excited! It is definitely created with a woman's figure in mind. The jacket has gathered neckline and raglan sleeves, front zipper, and an optional secret hood hidden inside the wide collar. The waist is elasticized, making the overall look slim and comfortable. There are also a couple of patch pockets on the lining side with velcro closure for small tidbits.
Other than my usual shortening the bodice and sleeves about 3-4 cm, I didn't make any alterations. The instructions are very clear with helpful diagrams, so it came up pretty quickly.Actually I spent longer time on fabrics and notions than the the actual sewing. The outer fabric is navy blue cotton canvas found in local store and the lining is Indonesian batik from my stash. I thought they would be perfect teamed with gold rust-colored zipper and topstitching. The problem was I couldn't find the zippers in that color! I spent a week procrastinating because I had to find gold rust-colored zippers for my jacket.
Tired of my whining about gold rust-colored zipper, my husband offered to drop by Okadaya to hunt for the zippers after office. It is a huge craft store in Shinjuku. 'I want zippers with metal teeth in this exact color, one is 70 cm separating zipper and the other is 50 cm non-separating zipper' (as if he knew what's the difference between separating and non-separating zipper). With this instruction, he went to the zipper section in Okadaya and got overwhelmed by the choices. But after several back and forth phone consultations, he emerged from the store with the perfect zippers! I love him (♥_♥)
Although the pattern is rated for intermediate, I think it is suitable for anyone who want to try sewing their first jacket. The step by step instructions are very clear. The most challenging part might be sewing the zipper on the collar for the hidden hood, but it can easily be omitted if preferable.
It is too bad that one can not have too many jackets in the same pattern, because I really love this jacket. But I would like to make it again in water resistant fabric for rainy season next year. Tasia is planning a sew-along in January that will also cover sewing with water-resistant fabric, so I'm going to join in. I would add side seam pockets to my next jacket though, because I love walking around with hands buried in pockets!
Pattern is Minoru jacket by Sewaholic, size 2.


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UNCTAD is calling for collective efforts to assess options for reform of the current system of investor-State dispute settlement.
UNCTAD's paper, entitled Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement: In Search of a Roadmap, which is part of the IIA Issues Notes series, comes out at a time when the number of new claims has reached a new peak, and debate about the pros and cons of the investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism has been gaining momentum.
Concerns with the current ISDS system relate, among others things, to a perceived deficit of legitimacy and transparency; contradictions between arbitral awards; difficulties in correcting erroneous arbitral decisions; questions about the independence and impartiality of arbitrators; and the length and the costs of arbitral procedures.
These challenges have given rise to a broad discussion about the need to reform the current system of investment arbitration. To give shape to this debate, the Note puts forward five main reform paths:
Promoting alternative dispute resolution.
Tailoring the existing system through individual IIAs.
Limiting investor access to ISDS.
Introducing an appeals facility.
Creating a standing investment court.
Each of the five proposed reform options comes with its specific advantages and disadvantages and responds to the main concerns in a distinctive way.
Some of the options can be implemented via actions by individual governments, while others require joint action by a larger group. The options that require collective action would go further in addressing the existing problems, but would also face more difficulties in implementation.
The Note calls for a multilateral policy dialogue on ISDS to search for a consensus about the preferred course for reform and ways to put it into action.


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Wyoming Supreme Court Justice William Hill will discuss "Selecting Judges under the U.S. and Wyoming Constitutions: A Study in Contrast" Friday, Sept. 14, at 11:30 a.m. in the University of Wyoming American Heritage Center's Wyoming Stock Growers' Room. His talk is part of UW's observance of Constitution Day.
The event recognizes the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention ratified the United States Constitution in 1787. Previously, the day had been known as Citizenship Day. Every educational institution receiving federal funds needs to provide educational programming about the Constitution on that day. UW's goal for Constitution Day is to serve as the catalyst for discussion about the U.S. Constitution on campus and around the state.
Hill was appointed to the Wyoming Supreme Court in 1998, after serving as Wyoming attorney general since March 1995. He was born in Montgomery, Ala., and was raised and educated in Riverton. He received his B.A. from UW in 1970 and graduated from UW College of Law in 1974.
Earlier in his career, Hill served as both an assistant United States attorney and an assistant attorney general for Wyoming, and was in private practice in Riverton, Seattle and Cheyenne. He also served as chief of staff-chief counsel for Sen. Malcolm Wallop in Washington, D.C. Hill served as chief justice until June 30, 2006.
For more information about Constitution Day and resources on the Constitution, go to www.uwyo.edu/constitutionday.


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The ultimate hybrid
Water Volume:
1347 US Gallons / 5100 litres
Length: 436cm / 172″ / 14′
Width: 236cm / 93″ / 8′
Height: 129cm / 51″ / 4′
Seats: 2
Lounger: 2
Capacity: 12
The Wolverine is uncompromising in every way. With both a full length swim zone and two therapy seats, it is a perfect blend of performance and therapy.
Both the Niagara Counter Current Swim System and the maximum number of therapeutic jets possible solidify the Wolverine as the best All Weather Pool available.
Designers Corner
Check out the technical specifications of this model:
Standard Features
Arctic Spa® come with a range of features as standard!
Click any of the features below to find out more about them!
High Efficiency Pumps
Optional Features
The ability to customize an Arctic Spas® is one of the best features of the brand.
Choose exactly what you want and need.
Hot Tub Cover (5" - 4")


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Product details
Darlings, my Luxury Palette eyeshadow palette in The Rock Chick features a quartet of shimmering greys, charcoals, dark grey glitter and silver eyeshadows for an enviable nonchalant makeup look!
- Get desk to dusk to disco eyeshadow in minutes!
- Highly pigmented shades mean you get long-lasting colour that is buildable throughout the day.
- Shades are all colour-coded so its artistry made effortless.
- Ideal if you want a timeless eye makeup look for any occasion!
Charlotte Tilbury Luxury Palette, the #1 Eye Shadow in the UK Luxury Makeup Market*
*Source: The NPD Group Inc.™ UK. Prestige Eye Shadow by product, Jan'20-Dec'20, total value sales. For verification, visit charlottetilbury.com/uk/content/the-npd-group-claim-letters
Fill: 5.2g
Talc, Mica, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Dimethicone, Zinc Stearate, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Diisostearyl Malate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Silica, Hydrogenated Castor Oil Hydroxystearate, Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Potassium Sorbate, Chlorphenesin, Polyethylene, Isononyl Isononanoate, 1,2-Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol, Tin Oxide, Caprylyl Methicone, Tetrasodium EDTA, Zeolite, Dimethiconol, Sorbic Acid, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylparaben, BHT, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, [May Contain: Ultramarines CI 77007, Carmine CI 75470, Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide CI 77510, Ferric Ferrocyanide CI 77510, Blue 1 Lake CI 42090, Titanium Dioxide CI 77891, Manganese Violet CI 77742, Iron Oxides CI 77492, Iron Oxides CI 77499, Iron Oxides CI 77491]
How to apply
For a softer daytime look, apply the Prime shade all over your eyelid, using a blender brush. Pop a little in the inner corners to open up your eyes.
Blend the Enhance shade from the outer corner across the crease of your eyelid. Finish off with a daytime mascara for a quick, easy application suitable for work or a day date.
To amp it up for evening, repeat the first steps, then blend the Smoke shade from the outer corner of the eye using a smudger brush. Apply across the upper and lower lash line for a more intense gaze.
For a night time look, apply the sophisticated Pop shade to the centre of your eyelid using your ring finger.
Charlotte's Tip: Use this eyeshadow palette with a gorgeous skincare routine, starting with Charlotte's Magic Cream Moisturiser for a flawless complexion.


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SLR 154 » released October 2011
DIGITAL » Apple Music | Amazon | eMusicBad Penny is the Richard Formby-produced debut album from Spectrals aka 21 year old Louis Jones. Mixing ingredients of pop, soul, doo wop, and a garage rock ballad, it sounds vintage but current, while the Yorkshire lilt in his voice (a result of his hometown, Heckmondwike) places him firmly in the UK, rather than Detroit. Inspired by the music he grew up listening to as a child, from the Rolling Stones (the only CD's his mum ever has in her car) to The Style Council, Elvis Costello and The Ronettes (artists he regularly shares on mix tapes) it's all "just about love really."
Spectrals has always been a small operation. Now in its third year of existence, Louis started by recording in a friend's knocked-together studio and posting the songs on MySpace. Despite originally only being for his closest friends, his Myspace soon attracted the attention of discerning labels all over the world: from Brooklyn label Captured Tracks (Dum Dum Girls, Wild Nothing) to Brighton's Sex Is Disgusting (Mazes, Human Hair) to Slumberland (we released his excellent 7th Date single last year) to Underground Peoples, where he eventually released last year's Extended Play.
"Get A Grip" is the first single from Bad Penny, and an excellent slice of swinging, soulful pop it is. Says Louis: "I thought I'd try and do more upbeat, "slick" material, like a lot of the 70's soul I'm into, just to see if I could. I did it quite a lot on Bad Penny. "Get A Grip" is that, but in the lyrics, I'm just going on at myself. I make myself miserable and I can't help it, all my songs are about a girl but I can't whinge about her and not point the finger closer to home." From the shining guitar chords to the lazy melody, this is simply a perfectly-crafted tune and a superb taster for the deep, immaculately-conceived and executed album this is Bad Penny.
see also » 7th Date 7"


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China Takes on the Global 500
Fortune just released the list of the 500 largest firms in the world.[1] To us the most interesting feature of the list is the presence of 73 Chinese companies, up from only 11 companies just ten years ago. This performance is an example of the incredible strides that companies in China have made, as the Chinese economy has transitioned from a backwards and closed country to global power.
It was only twenty years ago that Deng Xiaoping's tour of southern China announced the replacement of a planned, centrally dictated economy by a market economy. His heavy criticism of those who doubted reform was combined with a statement that China could reconcile socialism with a market economy. With the reform message taken to heart by the nation, China was off to the races and two decades of remarkable growth and change has followed[2].
How China has followed his model, combining socialism and market forces, is seen vividly in the Global 500 list. At the risk of oversimplification, we can see that there are two types of companies in that list. There are "mostly socialist" companies, largely the government enterprises, and "mostly market" companies, the smaller, fast moving companies who win in tough competitive settings (some of which are also government owned, which but behave quite differently from those in the first cluster).[3]
We will look at the differences, but would first be quick to emphasize that the driving force propelling growth for both groups of companies and enabling their position on the Global 500 list is that they serve a population of 1.3 billion people whose average incomes have increased nearly six-fold in twenty years. In some cases, maintaining a market position over time in a huge market that is growing that fast has alone been sufficient to allow them to move rapidly up the list.
Traditional State-Owned Enterprises
The Chinese companies at the top end of the Global 500 might in fact be in the same position if reform had never happened but the Chinese economy had somehow managed to achieve the growth it did. While that outcome might have never happened without reform, it was the growth in the economy that has driven the growth of most of these top-tier firms. In the top ten are two state-owned oil industry giants and the state electrical grid. In the top 100, Fortune includes the four main state banks plus China Mobile and State Construction Engineering.
In the next 100 are also mainly traditional state-owned enterprises who owe their growth largely to the same factor as those at the very top, by having been given the mission by the government to serve the Chinese population in banking, energy, resources, insurance, and telecom. The government has ensured that they can do so without much competition being allowed, locally or from abroad. These companies are widely viewed by the public as bureaucratic, political, and often customer-unfriendly. They are not necessarily innovative, fast, or even particularly well-run, but they have a captive market that is huge and booming.
Despite their shortcomings (at least from a western point of view), these companies have succeeded in becoming employers-of-choice for some of the brightest young Chinese these days. Their managements, while politically motivated, should over time be capable of responding to a changing China with more modern and increasingly market-oriented practices.
These companies also have government support to move outside of China to extract minerals, do construction projects linked to Chinese government investments, and acquire new technology. Many are linked to the priorities defined by the current (and previous) five-year plans.
Market-Focused Companies
In the bottom half of the Global 500 list (and even more frequently in the roster of the next 500), we see some Chinese companies that are very different. While they owe their size to China's growth performance, they have won their market positions in tough competition with Chinese and foreign competitors.
Some of our examples from the Fortune list, like Lenovo in computers are state-owned (more accurately "state-controlled", although traded publicly). But it is in the mission and attitudes of these companies that differences are found and it is their competitiveness that has placed them among the top 500 global companies.
When asked by Fortune to comment on the remarkable rise of Chinese companies, we noted the presence of new companies like Lenovo and Geely that grew up by first selling "good enough" products to the large mid-tier market in China and later expanded to become global players (by acquisition of the Thinkpad division and Volvo, respectively).
These are companies that haven't simply ridden the wave of China's growth, but have thrived in the new environment of the market economy and in the process have created what we believe is a distinctive Chinese business model, defined by the way they compete and win.
We have described them as Second Mouse companies, from the saying "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."[4] As we have studied these companies, we have become convinced of the viability of their skills in the mid-tier markets across the globe. They have mastered fast-follower competencies, learning world-class manufacturing and sourcing practices, being quick to market, borrowing the best features from global products, and focusing innovation on cost reduction rather than adding features to which the mid-market is largely indifferent.
The Second Mouse manufacturing companies on the list succeeded because they figured out a way to serve the booming middle-class Chinese population better than their competitors. They are moving outside of China, sometimes with government support, but always based on offering products with a price-performance ratio that attracts consumers outside of China. A number of Second Mouse companies now accrue more than half of their revenues outside China. To some extent, their position on the Global 500 list is more like that of large companies from small countries; they are on the list because they've become successful in global markets, not simply because of their leadership in their home market.
In hundreds of interviews with modern competitive Chinese companies, "a better price-performance ratio" is stated as almost a national motto when it comes to company market strategy and also choices among suppliers. Huawei is a poster child for this philosophy and has used it to rise from a private startup in a country just starting to build its telecommunications infrastructure to #2 behind Ericsson globally by offering belter value to customers. While government support was no doubt quite important in selling into China's state-owned telecom industry, Huawei didn't become a supplier to 45 of the 50 largest service providers in the world or to the #2 position in its industry without competitive strengths.
Sinomach is an example to show that even a large state-owned enterprise can behave in a way that puts it on our Second Mouse list. It boasts a global engineering and construction division that is visible winning competitive projects around the world. It is also the parent company of agricultural machine company YTO, which grew out of the monopoly First Tractor to become the largest participant in a now-competitive agricultural equipment market. YTO is also developing a significant global presence, especially with last year's acquisition of McCormick, France. This company certainly gets its share of government support, but it wins most of its business the old fashioned way.
The Outlook
Fortune's Global 500 is taking on a very new look with 73 Chinese companies on the list, second only to the U.S. with 143 companies represented. Chinese companies have edged out Japan's in numbers among the countries spawning the world's largest firms. The numbers of Chinese companies on the list will continue to increase in future years, as many of those now in the second 500 continue to grow in China and abroad.
In this article, we have attempted to describe the diversity of the Chinese participants on this list. All are on the list in part (or in some cases, only) because their home market has been booming for so many years, allowing them to achieve this necessary level of scale, mainly at home. For some of China's Global 500 firms, with government support and monopoly or near-monopoly positions in their home market, that will be the end of their story. They probably won't drop off the list, but they will largely remain China-centered companies.
Others that are already on the list (and many who will challenge for positions over the next decade) have found a way to deliver value to customers in a hotly competitive market, not only in China, but increasingly around the world. The end of their story will be more like Huawei's, the telecommunications equipment supplier that has joined Ericsson on the Global 500 list while long-term industry leaders like Alcatel-Lucent have fallen to the next tier. Such firms will become world leaders, with significant shares of their revenues earned outside China. For western firms thinking about the future competitive environment or looking for acquisitions that can bring new competencies into their corporate portfolio, it is these latter firms that must remain in the spotlight.
Authors: George F. Brown, Jr. and David G. Hartman
[1] Fortune Magazine, July 2012. Also on-line at http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/09/global-500-intro/.
[2] Some of the changes have profound implications for western businesses and China's own firms alike. See David G. Hartman, Two Decades of Change in China, Blue Canyon Partners, Inc., © 2012.
[3] We are sure that the Chinese government would not support our characterization, believing that all Chinese firms reflect both market and socialist characteristics, but we see a useful distinction here.
[4] See George F. Brown, Jr., and David G. Hartman, Are You Ready to Take on China's Next-Generation Competition, Chief Executive, September 2011, and Second Mouse Tales from China, iP Frontline, February 2012.


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Dinar Daily :: DINAR/IRAQ -- NEWS -- GURUS and DISCUSSIONS :: IRAQ and DINAR -- ARTICLE BASED INFORMATION and DISCUSSIONS
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Dear Investors:
Welcome to Iraq
We have embarked on a mission of rebuilding Iraq by attracting Iraqi, Arab, and foreign capital investment. Such investment will contribute to the transfer of knowledge and technology in all Iraqi economic sectors currently being transformed from centralized economy to a market economy based on free competition, equal opportunity and the development of the private sector. NIC witnessed receiving many official delegations, businessmen and international companies and holding various forums with signing several agreements that facilitate the smooth entrance of investors into Iraq and guaranty them lots of privileges and incentives.
– The One Stop Shop in the National and Provincial Investment Commissions which facilitate the processing of the investment licenses applications, issuing the license, allocating the land, securing tax exemptions, and facilitating the entry and exit of investors and their employees.
– Providing potential investors with the updated Investment Map for each year which lists the investment opportunities with a geographic description at the different provinces as well as a product and service sectoral description.
– The Investor Guide, which provides the necessary information to facilitate entry and exit procedures to and from Iraq and how to enjoy the many benefits of the investment law, in addition to explaining the investment environment and the procedures followed in registering companies to work in Iraq.
– Amendment of Investment Law 13 of 2006 which guarantees the ownership of land by local, Arab and foreign investors for housing projects based on law No. 2 of 2010 and the amendment of the Statute (7) which organizes the lease rates for lands invested in the various fields.
We are happy to address any questions, concerns, or suggestions you may have. Please email us or visit our headquarters in Baghdad. We are committed to providing all necessary services to achieve a mutually beneficial relationship.
National Investment Commission
Baghdad- Iraq
Go to: https://investpromo.gov.iq/
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text: SWIM MEET — Roman (Matt Lanter) is furious when the sector guards ransack his family's pod looking for restricted technology. However, he is taken aback when his mother (guest star Susan Walters) shows him a secret cell phone she found hidden in his late father's things. Roman takes the phone to school in hopes of retrieving the data and finding out what his father was hiding. Turning to a friend he trusts, Roman asks Julia (Malese Jow) for help and she introduces him to Lukas (Titus Makin, Jr.), a tech genius. Emery (Aimee Teegarden) notices Roman's newfound closeness to Julia, but since Julia had promised to keep Roman's secret, she deflects Emery's questions, causing tensions between the friends. Grayson (Grey Damon) asks Emery to forgive him for the incident at the sector, but she's not sure she can trust him. Meanwhile, with Emery's encouragement, and under Teri's (Chelsea Gilligan) watchful eye, Sophia (guest star Brina Palencia) decides to join the swim team and blows everyone away with her speed. Unfortunately, not everyone is thrilled to have Brina on the team and when she is poisoned by rivals, an all-out brawl ensues. The Trags give Drake (Greg Finley) a mission. Harry Sinclair directed the episode written by Robert Hewitt Wolfe (#104).


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Guest Commentary by Frank Zeman
One of the central challenges of controlling anthropogenic climate change is developing technologies that deal with emissions from small, dispersed sources such as automobiles and residential houses. Capturing these emissions is more difficult as they are too small to support infrastructure, such as pipelines, and may be mobile, as with cars. For these reasons, proposed solutions, such as switching to using hydrogen or electricity as a fuel, rely on the carbon-free generation of electricity or hydrogen. That implies that the fuel must be made either by renewable generation (wind, solar, geothermal etc.), nuclear or by facilities that capture the carbon dioxide and store it (CCS).
There is however an alternative that gets some occasional attention: Air Capture (for instance, here or here). The idea would be to let people emit the carbon dioxide at the source but then capture it directly from the atmosphere at a separate facility.
The removal of carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the surface ocean or during photosynthesis. Ocean absorption is a result of both the higher concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere and the alkaline nature of seawater (Note that this absorption that is leading to the "other" CO2 problem, ocean acidification – which may prove detrimental to coral reefs and other organisms that use carbonate). Land-based air capture is an effort to enhance this mechanism at an industrial scale so that CO2 can be removed from the atmosphere under controlled conditions. Given that it is performed under controlled conditions, we can use more alkaline solutions to improve the rate of capture without adversely affecting the biosphere.
Industrial air capture is based on the absorption of CO2 using alkali earth metals such as sodium or potassium. The process is a variant of the Kraft Process used in most pulp and paper mills and as such, benefits from a long industrial history. The CO2 is absorbed into solution, transferred to lime via a process called causticization and released in a kiln. With some modifications to the existing processes, mainly an oxygen-fired kiln, the end result is a concentrated stream of CO2 ready for storage or use in fuels. An alternative to this thermo-chemical process is an electrical one in which an electrical voltage is applied across the carbonate solution to release the CO2. While simpler, the electrical process consumes more energy as it splits water at the same time. It also depends on electricity and so unless the electricity is renewable or nuclear, will result in the storage of more CO2 than the chemical process.
If the technology is well established and, aside from the oxygen combustion of lime, dates back over 50 years, what stops it from being used and what might change in the future?
The main barrier is the efficiency of the energy requirements during the reducing process. Air capture requires energy to move the air, manufacture the absorbing solutions and solids as well as to produce the oxygen, fuel and make up chemicals. All of these items will result in additional CO2 emissions, which reduce the efficiency and therefore the benefits. The second important consideration, and maybe the dominant one, is cost. Air capture has to be more economical than the proposed alternatives (hydrogen, electricity, renewables, greater efficiency etc.). It should be stated clearly that air capture is not a viable alternative to capture at large, point source emitters such as power plants since it will always be more efficient to capture and store carbon dioxide from more concentrated streams. So while there are any non-CCS fossil fuel plants, Air Capture is a non-starter.
But recent suugestions have re-thought air capture as a thermal process. The early incarnations of air capture used electricity as the energy source and therefore depended on carbon-free sources. A thermal Air Capture system uses heat that can be generated on-site, reducing the inefficiencies associated with producing electricity, but of course it still needs a source of (carbon-free) heat. Notably, this implies that air capture could reduce greenhouse gas emissions independently of developments in the power generation or transportation sector. Preliminary experimentation has shown that causticization can occur at ambient temperatures and that conventional vacuum filtration is sufficient to avoid large evaporation penalties. These developments reduce the total energy required for the process by about half compared to the conventional method and thereby reduce the amount of CO2 that would need to be sent to storage.
However, the cost of air capture is still basically unknown. Estimates have varied wildly and real numbers will only come from pilot projects over the next few years. In some sense, that puts this technology on par with the hydrogen economy with expansion potentially starting sometime after 2015. For now there are far easier (efficiency) and cheaper (power plants) ways of reducing emissions of CO2 and so air capture is not a replacement for other efforts to reduce emissions. But in the long run, all carbon sources will require mitigation – including the transportation sector – and at that time air capture could be the most cost effective option for some sources. It is not any kind of panacea though.


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Flood Watch Issued for Pettis County Until Tuesday Morning
The National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill has issued a flood watch for portions of east central Kansas and Missouri, including Pettis County, through Tuesday morning.
Rainfall amounts on 1-3" may be possible overnight tonight. Although the area has received little rain in the past month, rainfall rates within thunderstorms may lead to excessive rainfall runoff across the watch area. This runoff may lead to rapid rises on area streams, creeks and rivers.
A flood watch means there is a potential for flooding based on the current forecast.
Residents should monitor the forecast and stay alert for possible flood warnings. Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop.
This press release was provided by the Pettis County Sheriff's Department.


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CPL Aromas has appointed Akram Khadr as the company's sales manager for Egypt. He will be based in Cairo.
The company said this appointment is part of a wider investment strategy to expand its operations throughout Africa and the Middle East, where it is a key supplier to many companies, by delivering improved customer service and introducing new technologies such as its recently launched encapsulation technology Aromacore now being presented to customers throughout the region.
Khadr has experience in the Egyptian market; he worked in both the FMCG sector and the fragrance industry. His background includes work with Delta Aromatics; Gillette, working both in the U.S. and later in Egypt where he became brand manager; and Johnson & Johnson, where he ultimately became marketing manager. In addition, Khadr has experience of the household sector working for Colgate Palmolive in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia.


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It's Elf on the Shelf time and so you know what that means, don't you? It's time to plan all of your Elfin' antics and this year our helpful overachieving friends have some up with a bunch of handy dandy calendars to help us less achieving souls get in on the fun too.
- Decorate tree with socks and underwear.
- "Wrap" kids' bedroom doors with paper while they sleep.
- Elf writes the lyrics to "Jingle Bells" on toilet paper.
These are all great ideas - if I had any desire to make a garland out of my children's underwear. Since underwear garland and setting up ice hockey games with candy cane hockey sticks sound like a lot of work, I decided I'd rather come up with my own calendar for myself and the other underachievers out there. After all, the Elf on the Shelf doesn't need to be this hard, he's a doll who sits on a shelf.
I give to you, my Elf on the Shelf Calendar for Underachievers!
Here's the breakdown:
December 1: Elfie makes his appearance. Ta-da! No red carpet necessary, just put him on a shelf (preferably close to a second shelf, the mantle, and the Christmas tree - this will cut down on the number of steps you'll need to take over the next few days).
December 2: Move him to a shelf either above or below the first shelf. (If you want to get wild, go ahead and move him across the room to a different set of shelves, but pace yourself, it's a long month.)
December 3: Put him on the mantle.
December 4: Put him back on the ORIGINAL shelf.
December 5: Hide him in the Christmas tree.
December 6: Put him on the mantle.
December 7: Phew! You made it through the first week. It's time for a little break. Pour yourself a much deserved drink and then accuse your youngest child of secretly touching the Elf and making him lose his magic. (Come on, you know she's done it at some point and this way you're just keeping the "magic" and "wonder" of the season alive.) Now that Elfie has lost his magic, he must go to the North Pole hospital for three days to recover. Buh-bye, Elfie.
December 8-10: Take a break while Elfie recovers in a junk drawer somewhere - just don't forget which drawer you shoved him in.
December 11: He's baaaack. Just put him on the original shelf and he has a note that simply says, "I'm back and better than ever and I'm watching you. Closely." The kids are wigging out by this point in the month. They are hopped up on hot cocoa and snow days, so you might as well let the Elf do his job: scare the bad behavior right out of them.
December 12: Crap! You're out of practice and you forgot to move him. Tell the kids Elfie still isn't 100% well and Santa told him it was too cold to fly so he should take the night off to rest.
December 13: Double crap! The kids are coming and you haven't moved him yet. The second week is the hardest! Have the Hubs run interference while you throw the Elf across the room with your best Hail Mary pass. Where ever he lands is where he stays. Tell the kids he wanted a new angle to watch them from.
December 14: Find where Elfie landed when you threw him this morning and put him on the mantle.
December 15: Tuck him in the Christmas tree.
December 16: It's getting tiring again and you're falling behind. Time for another drink and another break. Accuse your oldest child of lying where the Elf could hear it. Tell him Elfie has been called home by Santa for a consultation Re: Oldest Child's Behavior. (Again, don't feel bad about this. You know that kid has told a lie at some point this month.) Shove Elfie in the drawer again.
December 17-19: Rest up for the final push. You're almost done now!
December 20: The Elf comes back to the original shelf with a message from Santa: "Dear Oldest Kid, Lots of children would love to get your Xbox/American Girl doll/etc. that you asked for. Don't make me give your presents to someone else." Boom. Oldest kid will be an angel for the next week.
December 21: Put him on the mantle.
December 22: It's the Hubs' turn to move him. You've done it all month long and these are his damn kids too!
December 23: Dangit! You can't find where Hubs moved Elfie to and the kids are coming. You spot him on top of the refrigerator (what in the world, Hubs??). You've got to climb up there and throw him across the room again. If you've got time, throw a tissue over him and tell the kids his parachute malfunctioned.
December 24: This is it: Elfie's last night. No need to over think it. Just put him back where he started: the original shelf.
BONUS - December 25: You forgot to put him away for good last night, didn't you? Do you hear the pitter patter of little feet on the stairs? They're coming! A Hail Mary won't work this time. He's supposed to be gone! Quick, shove him in the cushions of the couch. Surely you vacuum your couch enough that you'll find him before next year.
Now, do me a favor and share this with all of your underachiever friends and family. Every time you see someone share those OAM calendars, hit them with mine. Let them know that the Elf on the Shelf doesn't have to be so difficult.
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text:
WINCHESTER — Juried photography shows generally come in two types. One prefers to go with fewer photographers, allowing for more images from each. Call this the portfolio approach. The Photographic Resource Center at Boston University's annual "Exposure" show, in the spring, and next month's "NEPR Showcase" would be examples. Or a show can maximize the number of photographers by having just a single work from each participant. Call this the multi-solo approach. Each type of show has much to recommend it.
This year's "Juried Exhibition" at the Griffin Museum of Photography demonstrates how well the one-from-each approach can work. It runs through Sept. 2, as do two other shows, "The Quiet: Photographs by Alysia Macaulay" and "Collected Visions," an exhibit of photographs by several area high school students.
Fifty-eight photographers are represented in the juried show. Los Angeles gallery owner Paul Kopeikin made the selections. What's interesting with juried shows, especially one as large as this, isn't how they connect with what's going on in photography as a whole (there are much better ways to track trends). Rather, it's the internal connections: the relationships that emerge among images within the show.
The insouciant pose and blank gaze of the schoolgirl in Sarah-Marie Land's "Lilley" makes for a fascinating contrast with the determined stare of the young boxer in Noah David Bau's "14, 86 lbs ." Bau received the show's $1,000 Legacy Prize. The title of that photograph is, you'll pardon the expression, a knockout. The best title belongs to Eric Lusito's "677th Artillery Regiment, Mongolia." It comes from Lusito's ongoing project, "Traces of the Soviet Empire," which aims to document remnants of the military presence of the Soviet Union from an almost-archeological perspective.
Another internal connection is an awareness — even outright acknowledgment — of other art and artists. Miah
Nate Johnson's "Wellfleet, MA," with its dominant American flags, could be an outtake from Robert Frank's "The Americans." Rich Turk's "Puffin With a Pearl Earring" is striking in and of itself (the colors are quite luscious) but also hilarious for anyone who knows Vermeer's famous painting, where the subject is a young woman rather than a pelagic seabird. Even funnier, if also sadder, is Andrea Rosenthal's takeoff on another celebrated painting. Her "Yearning" takes for its point of departure Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World," which it incorporates into Rosenthal's ongoing focus in her photography on issues of female self-image and body type (note the cover from Seventeen magazine in the background).
Throughout the show, one is struck by how frequently witty the pictures are. Turk and Rosenthal are cases in point. Sometimes the wit is deadpan, as in Nancy Grace Horton's amusingly cropped image of two legs on a chaise lounge, "Bored Stiff." Or it can be simultaneously overt and subtle, as in Chehalis Hegner's rear-view nude self-portrait, "Butt Wait, Have You Seen My Cable Release?" The overt part is the title (a bit too overt, actually). The subtle part is how the bulb of the cable release looks so much like a hand grenade — a resemblance all the more startling for the proximity to naked flesh. It's a visual pun worthy of Man Ray.
Macaulay writes that her photo project "The Quiet" "was created as a visual response to chaos, both past and present, in my life." The 16 color images are of domestic scenes "of my family and home." They have a quality of hushed intimacy. Most of the photographs show children (reading, sleeping, bathing) or mundane household objects, such as toys or an alarm clock. The time on the clock reads 11:56. It's a safe bet that that's p.m., not a.m.
If wit stands out in "Juried Exhibition," it's seriousness, even solemnity, in "Collected Visions." That's as one might expect with teenagers interested in art. What one wouldn't expect is how consistently good these images are. There are one each from Winchester High School and Buckingham Browne and Nichols, and six each from Concord-Carlisle Regional High School and Reading Memorial High School. The winner of this year's Joan Johnson Scholarship is Avery Stroman, of RMHS. Her freckles, as seen in the self-portrait that earned her the scholarship, are worthy of Joel Meyero-witz's camera — though Stroman's does just fine by them.
Mark Feeney can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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The Boston Public Library welcomed its new writer-in-residence, Annie Hartnett, during a reception. Hartnett, who lives in Newton, is the BPL's 10th Children's Writer-in-Residence, chosen on the basis of an excerpt of her proposed novel, about a family's struggle to cope with the death of their mother, who drowned while sleepwalking. . . . Composer Laurie Anderson was the keynote speaker at last week's Conference on International Opportunities on the Arts, held at BU by the TransCultural Exchange. (We don't have a photo because she wouldn't allow photographers.) Florian Dombois, winner of the 2010 German Sound Art Prize, created a temporary public artwork for the conference, which included a green laser shot through the Boston skyline. . . . Marie Claire's Zanna Roberts Rassi joined fashionistas Erica Corsano and Joanna Humphrey to check out fall/winter 2013 fashions of Emporio Armani at Copley Place.
Mark Shanahan can be reached at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkAShanahan. Meredith Goldstein can be reached at email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeredithGoldste.


text:
22nd November, 1906.
Allow me to answer a question that has occasionally been put to me, Why have I sanctioned the publication for use in this diocese of a version of the Prayers after Mass, containing a manifest error?
The 'manifest error' in question is the use of the form, 'Through Christ our Lord,' instead of 'Through the same Christ our Lord,' in the termination of the prayer beginning, 'God, our refuge and our strength.' For, in that prayer, as it has more than once been pointed out to me, our Lord, although not specifically named, is distinctly referred to and is indeed mentioned in the clause, 'through the intercession of the glorious and immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God.'
The form 'Through Christ our Lord,' as distinct from 'Through the same Christ our Lord,' should no doubt be at once ruled out as inadmissible if the liturgical rule on the subject is as clearly unqualified as writers on the liturgy generally assume it to be. I take, for instance, the latest edition of De Herdt (Louvain, 1902). There I find the rule stated thus: 'si oratio dirigatur ad Patrem, et . . fiat mentio Filii in principio aut medio orationis, sub nomine Filii, Salvatoris, . . Dei, cum addito Genitricis Mariae, . . concluditur . . Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum.'
But the matter cannot be so easily disposed of. It so happens that it was through me, during the prolonged illness of the late Primate, Most Rev. Dr. M'Gettigan, that the order for the recital of the prayers prescribed to be said after Mass was sent to Ireland by the Holy See. And I have before me, as I write, the official copy that was thus forwarded to me from Rome. I may add indeed that there were forwarded two such copies, separately printed, one of them a particularly large one, apparently intended for use on the occasion of some special ceremonial. Now in both of these copies the ending of the prayer is printed simply: Per Christum Dominum nostrum.
Was this the result of an oversight? To me it would seem very strange indeed if such a thing could occur by oversight. Surely a rule of the liturgy if, upon the point in question, such a rule existed, well-known and absolutely unqualified, is by no means likely to be overlooked at the Holy See, and not merely to be overlooked, but to be openly transgressed, and this in the official publication of a prayer prescribed for use throughout the Church.
Some publishers, indeed, apparently taking it for granted that a mistake had been made, whether by the Roman authorities or by some diocesan authority, seem to have taken it upon themselves to set matters right, by boldly printing the termination: Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum.
I mention this point as to the publishers because there is connected with it a fact not without significance in the case.
During my last visit ad limina, in the spring of 1905, I happened to say Mass in a certain parish church, where, at the end of Mass, there was handed to me a card with the prayers printed in the form I have just now described. But the word 'eumdem' had been carefully and completely obliterated. It was clear, then, that the authorities of the church in question were not of opinion that the prayer, as issued with the termination 'Per Christum Dominum nostrum,' without the 'eumdem' had been issued in error.
On making some enquiries about the matter I was informed that, towards the end of the late Pontificate, the point in question had been brought under the notice of the S. Congregation of Rites, by some one who, from his knowledge of the definite rule formulated by the rubricists, took it for granted, as many have done, that there was really no question to be considered. But what was the result ? The S. Congregation declined to decide the point formally, and preferred to dispose of it informally, by intimating to the querist, through the Secretary to the Congregation, that in view of the general structure of the prayer in question, not, be it observed, in view of the absolute unqualified rule of the liturgical writers, the form 'Per eumdem' etc., was the correct one.
This, as far as it went, was satisfactory. But it could hardly be regarded as a sufficiently authoritative declaration to warrant the setting aside of a form of prayer officially issued by the Propaganda for public use in this country.
Furthermore I learned that subsequently, during the present Pontificate, another effort had been made to obtain from the S. Congregation a formal decision on the subject, but, as in the former instance, without success.
Ultimately, the following course was taken. The prayer, printed with the ending, 'Per eumdem,' etc., was sent in with the request that the Secretary of the S. Congregation would officially attach to it a certificate of correctness, in the recognized form: Concordat cum originali. This was acceded to, and the printed form, the accuracy of which is thus formally attested, is now in my possession.
I am, therefore, at length in a position to regard the amended form as sufficiently attested to justify me in setting aside the form of prayer originally sent to us from the Holy See, and I have accordingly instructed Messrs. Browne and Nolan to have the prayer, as now amended in accordance with the certificate of the Secretary of the Congregation of Rites, printed for use in this diocese.
The issuing of the card in its amended form affords a suitable opportunity of printing, after the prayers already prescribed, the short ejaculatory prayers, to the recital of which by the priest and the people, indulgences have been attached by our present Holy Father. As the card doubtless will come into use in dioceses other than this, it should be noted that the addition of those ejaculatory prayers, inasmuch as it is not prescribed by the Holy See, is a matter to be regulated by each Bishop for his own diocese.
I remain, Very Rev. and Dear Sir,
Faithfully yours,
Archbishop of Dublin.
You may be wondering why such a, um... boring post. I intended to post the decree of patronage for St. Rose of Lima, this being her traditional feast day but I mislaid it. Then I was thinking of posting the liturgical vesture of bishops for an Ecumencial council but I mislaid that also. Then I thought about pre-Pian shortcuts to saying the breviary, but that was too long for me to type and look up. So I settled on this one after trying to decide whether I should post on the equally famous contention of whether the Leonine prayers had to be said iunctis manibus (with joined hands) or holding the chalice.
Published in August, 2007


text:
• moreish •
Pronunciation: mor-ish • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Encouraging the desire for more, making you want more.
Notes: Today's Good Word is an odd little fellow for reasons I lay out in the Word History. However, it has made it into all the fashionable dictionaries, so we are justified in offering it a place among the fashionable alphaDictionary Good Words. This word is common in Britain and the UK but rarely pops up in the US. The adverb and noun are moreishly and moreishness, respectively.
In Play: We have a TV commercial for potato chips (crisps) in the US in which one actor bets another that he can't eat just one. Although the word isn't used, the first actor obviously thinks the chips moreish. We most often use this word in connection with food: "Lydia, although your roast goose with the turnip stuffing is quite moreish, I am so full I couldn't eat another bite." However, it works just as well with other objects of desire: " Mollie Spancer-Downe always keeps us laughing with her moreish good humor."
Word History: Today's Good Word is good and awkward because, first of all, we don't create new words from comparative adjectives in English. We don't say things like smallerish or biggerish. Also, the final E of more shouldn't appear before the suffix -ish. We don't keep the final E on largish, latish, or modish, so its use on moreish is curious, to say the least. When it first emerged in English, around the 1690s (yes, sixteen nineties), moreish was spelled without the E as morish. The E has only recently been added to the word. It may have been reinserted to make the word's origin, hence meaning, more evident. Still, it is an odd-looking little lexical dude. (Now let's all thank Monika Freund for sending us today's moreish Good Word in hopes she will send us, well, more.)
P.S. - Register for the Daily Good Word E-Mail! - You can get our daily Good Word sent directly to you via e-mail in either HTML or Text format. Go to our Registration Page to sign up today!


text:
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