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AAES FAST FACTS
May 31, 2002
May 31, 2002
May 31, 2002
Allison Salyer, editor asalyer@aaes.org
WASHINGTON UPDATE
Following their return from the Memorial Day recess, the Oklahoma Congressional delegation will be pushing for $15-20 million in emergency funds to repair a damaged bridge to be added to the FY 2002 supplemental appropriations bill. Four spans of the 13 span I-40 bridge near Webbers Falls, OK collapsed May 26th after two barges rammed into it. An early estimate released by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation put the cost to repair the bridge at $15 million.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision this week, substantially adopted IEEE-USA's proposed 'foreseeable bar' standard on patent rights. According to Bloomberg News, as reported in the New York Times today, 'the Court ruled that patent holders who could not have foreseen that changing the description in an application would limit coverage' would still be able to sue others who make 'equivalent' products. Additional information may be found below or at www.nytimes.com
For the second day in a row, thunderstorms forced NASA on Friday to call off space shuttle Endeavour's launch on a mission to the international space station. The delay in delivering a fresh crew to the international space station means at least two more days in orbit-and a record-breaking stay-for Americans Daniel Bursch and Carl Walz. Their mission, already at the 177 day mark, will reach at least 190 days by the time they return to Earth. The U.S. space endurance record stands at 188 days; Shannon Lucid posted that about Russia's Mir space station in 1996. Additional information may be found at www.washingtonpost.com
All 15 European Union nations ratified the Kyoto protocol against global warming this week and goaded Washingtonówhich has turned its back on the treatyóto reverse course and do its part. The Kyoto pact, which grew out of the historic Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and was signed in Kyoto, Japan in 1997, is aimed at cutting emissions of the polluting greenhouse gasses blamed for rising global temperatures. It requires industrialized nations to cut their emissions by an average of 5 percent over the period 2008-2012. But the United States, the world's largest polluter, shunned the treaty shortly after President Bush took office last year, arguing it would harm the U.S. economy. Additional information may be found at news.yahoo.com
Association News
IEEE-USA
On May 28, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the Festo Corporation v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., LTD. case, restoring patent holders' ability to protect their patents from "equivalent" products. The justices' decision substantially incorporates IEEE-USA's proposed "forseeable bar" standard outlined in an amicus curiae brief submitted by IEEE-USA and argued by the Court in January. As reported by Bloomberg News, this "ruling may prove to be the most significant Supreme Court patent decision in two decades, affecting as many as 90 percent of the 1.2 million patents now in force." For more information, see: www.ieeeusa.org/releases/2002/052802pr.html
On June 17-18, IEEE-USA will be hosting a workshop on national policy for accelerating broadband deployment at the Cosmos Club in Washington. The workshop will focus on the potential applications of gigabit ethernet over fiber technology, and its place along with other broadband technologies in the coming policy debate. For more information, see: www.ieeeusa.org/conferences/broadband/index.html
The current issue of IEEE's The Institute newspaper highlights coming changes in the U.S. engineering licensure examinations, including the new Principles and Practice of Electrical and Computer Engineering exam, which features separate modules on computer engineering; electronics, control and communication; and power engineering. See:www.spectrum.ieee.org/INST/may02/fnew.html
AIChE
On Monday, May 20th, AIChE joined the United States Fuel Cell Council, the Society of Automotive Engineers and the US Department of Energy in sponsoring the 2002 Fuel Cell Expo in the Cannon Caucus Room. Around 40 exhibitors from the nation's leading fuel cell producers, component suppliers, and research institutions explained their technologies to congressional staff from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Representative Nancy Johnson (R-CT) was the congressional host of the 2002 Fuel Cell Expo, and was joined by officials from the Department of Energy for lunchtime remarks.
Also on May 20th, AIChE co-hosted the second in this year's briefing series on vulnerability and security with the science and engineering community in the Rayburn House Office Building. The briefing, "Early Warning: Developing Sensors for U.S. National Security", explored new technologies being developed to detect harmful chemical and biological agents and diseases which might be employed in a terrorist attack. The briefing was moderated by Frank Fernandez, Director, Institute Technology Initiatives, Stevens Institute of Technology, and former Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Speakers included Commander Phil Smith from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, United States Navy; Alan Sylwester from Sandia National Laboratory and MicroChemLab Technologies; and Eddie Crow from the Applied Research Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University.
AIChE welcomes its two WISE (Washington Internship for Students of Engineering) interns to Washington, DC for the 10-week program where engineering students learn how government officials make decisions on complex technological issues and how engineers can contribute to legislative and regulatory public policy decisions. AIChE is sponsoring two outstanding interns, Wayne Blaylock who is studying at Tennessee Technology University and Corinna Kester from the University of Texas at Austin. Wayne plans to examine advanced fuel reprocessing techniques for their proliferation resistance during his summer internship. He will weigh general feasibility and image issues against the degree of proliferation resistance offered by the various reprocessing technologies. This summer, Corinna plans to explore how young people are involved in and affected by government decisions on sustainable development. She will be examining youth participation in various countries' governments and applying these examples to the US decision-making process. With AIChE's support, she hopes to establish a framework for and push for the establishment of an EPA Youth Advisory Council.
On Saturday, May 11th, AIChE co-hosted an exhibit with the University of Maryland at the National Capital Science Festival put together by the Sally Ride Science Club(tm). Sally Ride Science Club(tm) aims to make science, math, and technology accessible and fun for girls with natural curiosity. The festival brought hundreds of middle school-aged girls to George Mason University for workshops on a wide range of topics from Technology Goddesses: Making a Difference in Your Community to Mixing Engineering and Medicine: A Journey into Biomedical Engineering to Engineering Do's and Dont's to Space Exploration and the Quest for Black Holes. There were 22 workshops the girls could choose from as well as workshops for adults. AIChE's SET for Success kits were on display for parents and educators to conduct similar activities that are fun and educational. These kits introduce kids to the excitement of Science, Engineering, and Technology using hands-on activities.
ASME
ASME ENERGY COMMITTEE ENCOURAGES OVERRIDE OF YUCCA MOUNTAIN VETO
Recently, the Energy Committee of the Council on Engineering sent a letter to the full Senate encouraging members to override Nevada Governor Guinn's veto of the President's recommendation of the Yucca Mountain site for permanent storage of civilian nuclear spent fuel. In the letter, the Energy Committee says, ' (it) believes the risk of going forward with the development and engineering of the Yucca Mountain site is far less than the risk of maintaining the status quo.'
The letter also addresses opponents' concerns about the risk associated with transporting spent fuel to the repository by discussing the technologically sophisticated casks engineers have designed for this process. The letter can be found at: www.asme.org/gric/ps/2002/02-23.html For more information, contact Francis Dietz at dietzf@asme.org
NSPE
The nation's high-level nuclear waste moved one step closer to finding a permanent home in the Nevada desert when the House overwhelmingly (306-117) approved a resolution (H.J.R. 87) to authorize the federal government to develop the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. The Senate must also vote to approve a separate resolution (S.J.R. 34) authorizing the site. The Senate Energy Committee has held 3 hearings and will likely mark up the SJR next week. NSPE sent a letter to all 100 Senators urging them to approve the resolution.
More than $41 billion would be authorized under a bill approved by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee for the clean water and drinking water state revolving funds with stipulations that states adhere to certain requirements in order to get the money. The committee approved the substitute amendment to S. 1961 in a 13-6 vote. Voting against the bill were two sponsors of the original bill. Senators Robert Smith (R-NH) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) opposed the substitute offered by committee chair Jim Jeffords (I-VT) and Bob Graham (D-FL) because it contained too many restrictions on the funding, incorporated prevailing wage provisions for infrastructure projects, and changed the allocation formula in a way they said is not fair to small states. NSPE while concerned about the deletion of QBS and additional requirements on borrowers supports the movement of the bill to passage and will work for additional improvements.
Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) introduced S. Res. 266 designating October 10, 2002 as Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day. NSPE is working with the senator's office on passage of the resolution.
The House passed (410-5) legislation that would authorize adding $4.4 billion in highway funds to the FY03 transportation budget. The bill (H.R. 3694) would allow highway spending to rise to $27.7 billion, the base level for FY03 required by TEA-21. It would also place the additional $4.4 billion behind the budgetary firewalls that require money coming into the Highway Trust Fund to be spent on highway projects. The bill includes a "sense of Congress" statement that the revenue aligned budget authority (RABA) provision "should be amended in the future to more accurately align highway spending with highway revenues while maintaining predictability and stability in highway funding levels." NSPE supports adding $4.4 billion to the spending bill.