Category: Tara Fehr
Small City, Big Risk
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 – Bulletproof vests for canines and trailers for transporting lawn mowers may not be what most Americans expect from homeland security.
While Connecticut may have passed on buying the vests (Ohio did not) and the trailers (Texas bought them) with money earmarked for security needs, the state’s safety in a post 9/11 world remains a challenge.
New London does not have as many people as other cities that are considered at high risk, such as New York City, but it does have some of the highest risks, particularly in its infrastructure and its transportation routes.
The city has a major submarine base and a nuclear power plant nearby. It has a deepwater port facility. Close to two million people use the Long Island Sound ferries every year, and there are major rail stations for Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad. Freight traffic flows through New London by rail and along Interstate 95, which goes right through the middle of the city.
“The folks that allocate money, whether it’s to the state or local government, have not done the best job they can do in determining where the risks are and allocating money appropriately,” said Richard Brown, New London’s city manager. “I’m not convinced that the allocation formula that was developed at the federal level in the first place was appropriate.”
Federal funds for preparing for future terrorist attacks comes from the Department of Homeland Security, which was created in 2002 after the Sept. 11 attacks. The government allocates money to the states, which in turn allocate the funds to municipalities. In the past, grant money was based on population, but there is a new effort to include risk assessment in the decision-making process.
The federal government disburses its general homeland security grant to each state based on a package of requests submitted by the state’s homeland security administrator that addresses where the risk, threat and need is present in the state.
Federal officials would not give details of the assessment process because of national security reasons, but Clark Ervin, the department’s former inspector general, said it is not defined. He said the department needed a comprehensive nationwide assessment checklist that would be applied uniformly.
The department of has not made its allocations for 2006, but every state can make a case for needing money, Ervin said.
“We’re optimistic that because we’re so close to New York and Boston and because of the level of transportation services that we have in the state that we’ll be able to get additional funding,” said Wayne Sanford, deputy commissioner of Emergency Management and Homeland Security in Connecticut.
Connecticut will also receive a share of regional funds for its transit system. Homeland security allocates transit funds regionally because lines often run through more than one states So Connecticut, New Jersey and New York together received an estimated $37 million this year, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
The federal department generally allocates money in a block grant to the states, which then disburse funds to local governments. Steven Llanes, spokesman for the federal agency, said it allocates funds based on the threat applications and then monitors the states’ spending.
Sanford said 80 percent of the state’s funds are designated for municipalities. A committee of approximately two dozen persons – including representatives of state agencies and local police, fire and emergency management departments – recommends where to distribute the rest of the money in four key areas: prevention, protection, response and recovery.
In fiscal year 2005 New London received $110,000 from the general homeland security grants and $61,838 from a separate law enforcement terrorism protection program, Sanford said.
New London was one of six or seven communities that received an additional $119,000 . because it was considered a more densely populated area, but Sanford said he hopes for an increased amount from the federal government for 2006, based on the added risk-based criteria.
New London is potentially at high risk, according to Ian Cuthbertson, director of the World Policy Institute, which studies globalization and national security and is part of the New School in New York City.
“New London is a good target for terror,” Cuthbertson said. “The harder it is to attack bigger areas, the more danger medium-sized cities are in because terrorists look for soft targets.”
Brown agreed about his city’s vulnerabilities. “We’re a major hub,” he said.
In protecting its railroad systems, ports and highways, New London works with multiple agencies.
Amtrak, for example, has its own police force, cooperates with other law enforcement agencies, uses canine teams and performs random ticket checks on trains.
Cliff Black, Amtrak spokesman, said he remains hopeful that Amtrak will receive more funds from Homeland Security under the risk-based formula.
The Coast Guard also hopes to benefit from the new formula as it works under a “do more with less motto,” Vanessa Looney, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said.
“We’re always asking for more resources, but then again, everybody is doing that,” said Roger Guest, a Coast Guard port security specialist in Connecticut.
Guest said that the area’s nuclear power plant and submarine base can stretch the Coast Guard’s resources. “That is why we try to partner with the locals to assist with everything we need,” he said.
Local law enforcement also assists in highway security. Federal, state and local governments make a combined effort to secure the roads, Donna Tadiello, spokeswoman for the state police, said.
As part of the Connecticut Department of Public Safety, the state police will perform commercial vehicle inspections and respond to specific threats while looking for unusual behavior.
Traffic on major local roads, particularly Interstate 95, has been a concern for some residents.
“The road system is woefully inadequate to handle the volume of traffic,” city manager Brown said. “You only have to be in this area for a little while to see how without any problems whatsoever the roads can just close down completely.”
Although Tadiello said that the state has an evacuation plan, Brown questioned how effective it can be when an accident on I-95 could close the road down in both directions for hours.
“We need money,” Brown said.
But not everyone thinks increased funds will help make for a more secure Connecticut.
“Security is going to be the kind of issue where everybody is going to say, ‘You can’t be too secure, there can’t be enough money or there can’t be too much money,’ ” said Chris Cooper, Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesman said. “Given the resources that are available, I think that everybody is reasonably sure that there is a strong level of security at our facilities.”
Ervin said he was convinced when he was a Homeland Security inspector general and remains convinced today that a 100 percent risk assessment is the only way to secure the country from terrorist threats. But he said that won’t happen until the government ranks the country’s infrastructure so that cities such as New London do not get lost between two big targets.
“Until you have that, the country is flying blind,” Ervin said.
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Growing Oil Needs Spark Potential Cooperation between the United States and China
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 - As leading consumers of oil, the United States and China face friction in the global competition for that natural resource, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting Wednesday morning.
"It is time not only to recognize the similarities of our oil dependency status and the direction competition may take us, but to begin to talk more directly about this growing global competition for oil, so we can help develop national policy and cooperative international policy," Sen. Lieberman said.
According to the Energy Information Administration, the United States consumed 20.7 million barrels of oil a day in 2004, the most of any country, followed by China at 6.5 million barrels a day. In 2004 the U.S. imported 12.1 million barrels a day and China imported 2.9 million barrels a day. By 2025, the number of barrels imported by China is projected to triple.
This past year both countries have made a cooperative effort to resolve the growing energy problem, including the U.S. Department of Energy adding a new office in Beijing.
China has taken several steps to attain more energy resources: negotiating with Russia for pipelines, entering military basing agreements with countries in the Middle East, signing energy contracts with Iran and Sudan and energy contracts with Latin American countries, actions which Lieberman said would sound reasonable from a Chinese point of view.
"The U.S. has a responsibility to take its own steps to get our hunger for oil under control," Lieberman said.
And to a degree it has, according to another speaker, William Martin, a former National Security Council and Energy Department official who now chairs Washington Policy and Analysis Inc. For example, the United States is a member of the International Energy Agency, which focuses on climate change policies, market reform, energy technology collaboration and outreach to the rest of the world. China is not a member of the agency.
"If I'm China and I'm looking around the world I am terrified," Martin said.
But Lieberman said that each nation is just acting on its own national interests, which is why the countries must find alternative energy sources. Lieberman suggested that the future could include electric cars.
"We plug in our cell phones and blackberries every night, why not other things?" Lieberman asked.
Lieberman said he was hopeful that the United States will be able to cooperate with China, but was still concerned of the consequences if the countries do not.
"When both nations that are potentially combative have the opportunity to win without fighting, . fighting would be a tragic failure of foresight and leadership," Lieberman said.
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Northeast Corridor Could Cause Problems for Connecticut
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17-The firing last week of Amtrak President David Gunn may now lead to the splitting off from Amtrak its Northeast Corridor service, which runs trains between Boston and Washington.
In September the Amtrak board voted to take preliminary steps toward spinning off the corridor service, but Gunn did not agree with it and was fired
The Amtrak board favors cutting the Northeast Corridor service from Amtrak and turning corridor operations over to a private consortium.
"The Amtrak board of directors has become a front for the Bush Administration and people who want to destroy Amtrak," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said at a hearing Tuesday by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's railroads subcommittee on the governance of Amtrak. "When Mr. Gunn refused to go along with the 'Bush Board' on actions that would cripple the railroad, most notably the Northeast Corridor, he was fired."
In a press release announcing Gunn's dismissal, the board said the rail service needed to "intensify the pace and broaden the scope of its reform."
"David Gunn has helped Amtrak receive much-needed financial and organizational stability," David Laney, chairman of the board, said in his testimony at the hearing. "At the same time, the Amtrak board cannot keep looking at the rear-view mirror."
So, where does this leave the Northeast Corridor?
Amtrak carried about 1.4 million Connecticut passengers in 2004, up from 1.2 million the previous year, according to the company's fact sheet.
The Connecticut rail system is among the most congested tracks in the country, said Chris Cooper, Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesman. The New Haven line, with 110,00 riders per day, carries more passengers between Connecticut and New York City in a year than the rest of Amtrak does nationally. The Northeast Corridor track also runs through a part of the state with the oldest bridges and overhead electrical systems.
"Connecticut is one of the 13 colonies, so all of our infrastructure and transportation corridors are among some of the oldest [in the country]," Cooper said.
Track maintenance costs about $300,000 per mile annually when the track is in good condition, said Jim Cameron, vice president of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, a citizens group representing riders of the Metro-North and Shore Line East rail lines. Shore Line East commuter trains are operated by Amtrak. Cameron is also a member of the Coastal Corridor Transportation Investment Area, which was established by the Connecticut General Assembly in 2001.
Connecticut invests its own money in the state's railroad system. The fleet replacement program, for example, introduced by the governor in the 2005 legislative session, will deliver new cars. The state also is building new stations and improving the rail infrastructure.
"Connecticut is on pace, between its fleet replacement plan, new stations and infrastructure upgrades, to have a first-class system within about three years," Cooper said. But the state is concerned with the Amtrak board's preliminary proposal, he said.
"The bottom line is Connecticut is making significant investments in rail," he said. "We do not want to see a proposal that would represent a step backward from the progress we are making."
But federal funding has been scarce, and actions taken by President Bush, who did not allocate money to Amtrak in his fiscal 2006 budget proposal, and the Amtrak board, when it fired Gunn and introduced the Northeast Corridor plan, have some lawmakers worried.
"The funding problem is a safety concern," said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., noting that railroads are always underfunded.
The Senate and the House rejected the President's proposal to deny funds to Amtrak, and now the system could receive $1.3 billion, according to the Transportation appropriations bill conference report, Nadler said
"Affordable, reliable, and safe rail service in the Northeast Corridor is vital to the lives of the people of Connecticut who depend on it for their daily transportation and livelihood," said Rep. Robert Simmons, R-2 nd District.
Cooper said that the state recognizes the importance of its rail system and hopes that Amtrak also will see it.
"The best scenario for us would be that Amtrak recognize the importance of rail travel, particularly commuter rail travel in Connecticut, and not do anything to impede our progress from making sure we have a safe, reliable system that could handle the growing capacity that we see every month in terms of increased ridership," he said.
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Veterans Affairs Department Celebrates 75th Birthday
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 - Today is not only a celebration of America's veterans, but the 75th anniversary of the establishment of a federal agency to provide health and other benefits to veterans and their families.
With an increasing number of military men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the quality and timeliness of that health care is still a primary concern for many veterans as well as for the Department of Veterans Affairs, created in 1989 to replace the Veterans Administration.
Waiting to receive treatment is a problem for many veterans, but there has been an improvement, according to Rep. Robert Simmons, R-2 nd District, who served on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee for four years.
When he first came to Congress, Simmons said, Connecticut veterans could wait a year or longer for the VA to address their claims, but now the backlog is reduced. All claims, including education, pension and disability compensation, are included in the backlog.
"Once you get in the door it's excellent," Joe Davis, director of public affairs for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said of the VA benefits system. But as of last week, he said, about 763,000 claims remain unsettled.
Simmons said the department is part of the problem.
"It's an inefficient system," Simmons said. "A lot of the money that we spend on the VA is to sustain these inefficiencies."
For example, if veterans want to get their medicine through the department, prescriptions from civilian doctors can not be used. Instead, they would need a physical and complete diagnosis by a VA. Simmons said this could take up to a year.
"This is ridiculous," Simmons said. "That's part of what contributes to the backlog."
Laurie Tranter, a VA public affairs official, said the program does not have a standard waiting time because each case is different, depending on the location of the claim and the health care needs of the veteran.
According to Simmons, there have been improvements as a result of legislation. Before he ran for Congress, he said, active-duty military families in his district were living off food stamps and veterans weren't receiving adequate health care through the VA.
"When I ran for Congress veteran issues were one of my issues," Simmons said. "I believed that the United States of America had not kept its promise to its veterans."
During his four years on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, funding for veterans' health care was increased by 38 percent and overall VA spending was increased by 50 percent, he said.
The VA has $30.8 billion in its discretionary budget for 2006, up from last year's $30.6 billion. The senior Democrat on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Rep. Lane Evans of Illinois., said this increase is not enough to keep pace with growing "medical inflation" rates resulting from today's wars.
"The growth in the number of VA patients is almost twice the amount of growth in resources available per patient," Evans said.
Part of this growth is due to the return of service members from Iraq and Afghanistan, 15 percent of whom will develop post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a report last year by the Government Accountability Office(GAO).
The report said the VA lacked "information needed to determine whether it can meet an increase in demand for Veteran Affairs post-traumatic stress disorder services." It stated that the department did not have enough veteran centers and facilities.
After meeting with officials from the GAO early this year, the department issued this response: "GAO failed to incorporate our data in their report.. We welcome any evaluation of our programs; we ask only that accuracy guide the process."
An estimated 430,000 soldiers returned from Iraq and Afghanistan this year. Of that number about 119,000 asked for health care through the VA and about 36,000 asked for mental health care, with 16,000 receiving a provisional diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, the VA's Tranter said.
The department can only help veterans who enroll in the program, she said.
When you look at the number of patients enrolled in the department's health care system the number diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder is small, Tranter said.
Mental disorders are one of the three biggest medical problems that veterans face, along with joint and back disorders and dental problems, she said. These issues have only been addressed in the past few years.
While on the committee, Simmons sponsored a bill that called for chiropractic and dental care through the VA health system. That bill became law.
"This is a way of bringing the VA to current standards," Simmons said. "How's a veteran going to get a job without any teeth?"
Veterans with mental health disabilities also have a hard time maintaining jobs and often end up homeless. The VA estimates that more than one-third of the adult homeless population are veterans.
"Traditionally, the military deals with health care as a physical phenomena, but America has overcome that." Simmons said.
The VA's homeless assistance programs serve about 40,000 homeless veterans a year, with about $231 million budgeted to support the programs, according to the department's Web site.
Health care for veterans continues to be a high priority for many in Congress.
"The system is facing a financial crisis, yet the administration's continuing response is to force veterans to pick up the slack - impose new fees, increase co-payments and force thousands of veterans who need care to go find it elsewhere," Evans said.
Brooke Adams, a spokeswoman for Steven Buyer, R-Ind., the chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, said that every piece of committee legislation affects health care. For example, the House unanimously passed Buyer's bill to improve management of information technology within the VA and the Department of Defense, and that will ultimately improve the quality and efficiency of veterans' health care,.
Health care concerns will continue to increase as more soldiers come back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Evans considers this part of the continuing costs of the war.
"Costs of wars extend past the last shot," Davis of the Veterans of Foreign Wars said.
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Lieberman Meets Judge Alito
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 - Judge Samuel Alito does not believe in ideological labels and calls himself a traditionalist who respects judicial precedents , Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) said after meeting Tuesday morning with the nominee for the Supreme Court.
"It was a good exchange," Lieberman said at a press conference after the meeting. "He is refreshingly willing to talk about his decisions." President Bush nominated Alito, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for 15 years, by to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor..
According to Lieberman, Alito said that as a traditionalist he believed in "line-drawing on the circuit court," which was why he was the lone dissenter after Raymond Rybar appealed his conviction for violating federal firearm laws by selling submachine guns.
In his dissent, Alito wrote that federal firearm laws allowing the control of the sale of submachine guns exceeded congressional power under the commerce clause, which authorizes federal regulation of trade among the states.
When asked about his opinion of O'Connor's "undue burden test" in abortion cases, Lieberman said, Alito would not answer on the ground that he might face that decision in the Supreme Court.
But this is an issue that concerns many Democrats.
"There are important issues I hope that Judge Alito will answer during the confirmation process, including his thoughts on a woman's right to choose and a commitment to equal opportunity for all," Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said in a press release.
In 1997, Alito voted against Beryl Bray, a New Jersey woman who said a Marriott hotel did not promote her based on race. Alito wrote in his dissent that the hotel committed "minor inconsistencies" in its rules but did not act with intent to discriminate.
Lieberman said the nominee told him the decision, once again, was based on a "line-drawing theory," which is consistent with how he views the law.
Lieberman said Alito throughout the meeting stressed his respect for precedence, including Roe V. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision striking down restrictions on abortion. Lieberman said he left their meeting encouraged but added that the discussion was not conclusive and that the nomination process will be a challenge.
In the two months before Alito's Judiciary Committee hearing in January, Lieberman said he will read more of Alito's decisions and measure the nominee as a person.
"My mind remains open," Lieberman said.
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Security Threat Assessment Policy Threatens the Number of Hazardous Material Truck Drivers
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 - Consumers around the country could see a decline in soft drink, perfume, paint and nail polish products if trucking industries cannot find enough drivers to transport these items, which the government classifies as hazardous materials.
In January the Transportation Security Administration of the Department of Homeland Security implemented a new, fingerprint-based background check for drivers hauling hazardous materials, a move that has drawn criticism from the trucking industry.
With a name-based background check already in place, many within the industry see the fingerprint process as redundant and inconvenient, and, they argue, it could cut down on the number of available truckers..
Officials from the Transportation Security Agency estimate that requiring drivers to receive a "Determination of No Security Threat" notice from the department before renewing or getting a hazardous material permit may reduce the number of such drivers by 20 percent. But the trucking industry fears the decline will be much steeper.
"We estimate that number to be significantly higher based on experiences our fleets have been having with the drivers, now that this has been implemented," said Rich Moskowitz, regulatory affairs councilor for the American Trucking Association.
In order to transport hazardous materials drivers must obtain a transportation worker's identity card, which is only distributed after federal background checks. Industry members fear that when the estimated two million currently-licensed drivers need to renew their endorsements that they just won't bother acquiring the license.
"This is all designed in a way that kicks the driver in the head," Michael Riley, president of Connecticut's Motor Transport Association said. "I haven't heard that there's an effect on the employment rolls, but they're not working it in the right direction to keep people in the field."
In Connecticut, drivers pay a $90 fee and lose time from work because the state only has one fingerprinting site, a problem shared by many other states in the country.
Until last week, Connecticut had fingerprinting facilities in Rocky Hill and West Haven, but the motor vehicle department closed the West Haven site suddenly and without informing drivers of the change.
"Drivers went there to be fingerprinted and were told 'we're not doing this anymore,'" Riley said. "We're trying to figure out what happened, why it happened and what we need to do to fix it."
One potential solution is to narrow the definition of hazardous materials. Syrup for soda, paint, batteries, perfume and nail polish are among many everyday products that the government classifies as hazardous.
"We think that background checks should be required only for drivers who are transporting hazardous materials that can be easily converted into a weapon," Moskowitz said.
Instead, the costs and inconvenience of the program are causing drivers to avoid seeking hazardous material endorsements.
"Companies are beginning to see their number of hazmat-endorsed drivers go down, which diminishes its ability to haul hazmat," Stephen Russell, chairman and CEO of the Celadon Group, told a recent congressional hearing, speaking on behalf of the American Trucking Association.
As of Nov. 1, Connecticut has 15,686 hazardous material endorsed drivers, as compared to the 16,088 endorsed drivers earlier this year, said Bill Seymour, director of communication for the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles.
Riley said he has not seen this impact in Connecticut yet, but he would not be surprised.
"We're having a very difficult time finding drivers," he said. "We want only the best drivers operating cargo that's hazardous and we should be working hard to make this a convenient program."
Under the current statute, states and the industry have little flexibility when complying with the new program, but department members have expressed a willingness to work on its policy.
"We welcome the opportunity to look at how we conduct background checks," Justin Oberman, TSA assistant director of transportation of threat assessment and credentialing, said at the hearing Tuesday.
But this can only happen if Congress changes the statute. In the meantime, the industry hopes that the policy does not spur a further decline in drivers.
"Truck drivers are resilient people," Riley said. "They just do what they have to do."
Global Warming Debate Heats Up
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 - As the power of hurricanes has strengthened this year, so has the global warming debate.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, speaking at a Yale globalization conference last month, linked this year's hurricane season to the century-long debate over global warming, saying it's not just a "theoretical" threat anymore.
"Now while you can't single out any single event, like Hurricane Katrina, and say it's due to global warming, the statistical evidence for the theory keeps piling up," Lieberman said, according to a text of his speech.
Carbon dioxide emission levels rose from 4.7 billion tons in 1990 to 5.5 billion tons in 2003, Environmental Protection Agency spokesman John Millett said.
Concerned by the potential consequences of carbon dioxide emissions left unchecked, Lieberman said the solution lies within transportation and infrastructure - "from the refinery to the tail pipe."
Lieberman has fought a bipartisan, uphill battle with climate control legislation. He and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., first introduced a climate change bill in October 2003 but it did not pass. In the beginning of this year they reintroduced legislation, but it died in committee.
Lieberman and McCain offered an amendment to the June energy bill that would have provided a financial incentive to climate friendly companies that reduced emissions.
Although the Senate defeated the amendment by a 36-60 vote, members did vote for a bipartisan resolution to enact principles of the McCain-Lieberman act in future legislation.
The resolution is not binding, but Lieberman said he considers this step a success because the Senate made a commitment on record to consider the reduction of green house gas emissions, allowing Lieberman and McCain to continue discussions with individual senators so they can offer legislation that could pass.
.But other members of Congress, like Sen. James Inhofe R-Okla., who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, are not convinced of the science behind global warming concerns.
"Sen. Inhofe defends sound science," Inhofe spokesman Bill Holbrook said. "The science today tells us that there are still significant uncertainties remaining."
In his speech, Lieberman commended the nations that ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which caps greenhouses gasses internationally, and challenged the United States to act on it. Meanwhile, Inhofe called climate change the "world's greatest hoax," as he called it in his statement at a committee hearing on the Kyoto Protocol in early October.
Ben Lieberman, senior policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Institute, said the answer is something in between.
"I don't think it's a hoax," Ben Lieberman said. "The truth is exaggerated, but there is some underlying scientific validity to global warming."
He said he would only describe global warming as a "hoax" in regards to certain claims like linking it increased power of hurricanes.
"There are risks to global warming, but I also think there are risks with global warming policy," Ben Lieberman said. "I would take issue with Sen. Lieberman. I think he's taking advantage of the hurricanes to put global warming proposals on the table."
But Sen. Lieberman said that a bipartisan majority share concerns about global warming and that the United States cannot afford to ignore it.
But Holbrook argued that capping carbon dioxide emissions could have several economic consequences.
"Any reduction in temperature would be negligible," Holbrook said. "The McCain-Lieberman legislation for example. would only result in a 0.029 degree Celsius [change] in temperature, but would increase already high gasoline prices by 55 cents a gallon, increase electricity prices by 20 percent and increase the cost of natural gas by 46 percent."
Cost is also affecting Europe's effort to comply with the protocol, Ben Lieberman said.
"There's an interesting lesson there emerging from the European nations that have ratified Kyoto," he said. "They're having tremendous difficulties complying. It's turning out that the costs of doing so looks to be prohibitive."
The debate rages, like this year's hurricanes. In his speech, Sen. Lieberman said the United States must take "a leading role."
"We cannot stand aside from the rest of the world and say: 'Okay, you first,'" he said. "The timidity is bad for America and bad for the world."
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Gales Ferry Student Wins Award at the Discovery Channel Science Fair
By Tara Fehr
COLLEGE PARK, MD., Oct. 19 - Elijah Mena, 14, from Gales Ferry, stood in the middle of his team Wednesday, directing his fellow participants in the Discovery Channel's Young Scientist Challenge. When talking about science Mena sounds like a college professor; talking about anything else, he is a typical teenager.
Members of the teams participating in the interactive event at the University of Maryland were among the 40 finalists chosen from around the country to present their research at the competition for middle school students. The top winners were announced Wednesday night, when Mena won the "Discovery Channel Ice Age Award," acknowledging his skills as a problem solver.
Mena has always showed interest in problem solving. "I've always been interested in science, in doing hands on experiments," Mena said. When he was younger, for example, he enjoyed puzzles.
Mena also was a finalist in last year's competition. Through his tropical fish collection he developed the idea of researching the survival instincts of baby guppies.
Last year Mena came to Washington with his father, and this year he made the trip with his mother, who is a psychotherapist. He also has a brother Josh who is 17.
To qualify for the competitions, Mena first had to submit his project to a local science fair for middle school students. Directors from around the country go to these fairs and nominate students to join the competition. This year 6,000 students applied. Mena had to present his project and display his ability to communicate and relay his ideas through essays.
This year Mena focused on energy.
"There's been a lot of talk on energy," Mena said. "Ethanol has no innate increase on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."
Corn can produce ethanol, but it's expensive. Mena discovered that fungi also could produce this renewable fuel at cheaper costs. This idea was inspired by his father's explanation about mushroom enzymes, but Mena did most of the work on his own.
"He keeps himself going pretty well," said his father Edward Mena, president of LifePharms Inc., a biotechnology company. "He's always doing things I wouldn't expect a 14-year-old boy to do."
At an early age, Mena had a knack for math and problem solving, his father said. His son's interest in science developed from there; it started about four years ago.
Since then, Mena has read and researched science in his own time, which his father and his eighth grade science teacher said keeps Mena challenged.
"He knows how to get the job done," said Emile Levasseur, Mena's eighth grade science teacher at Ledyard Middle School. "I wished he had asked me for help a little more. I almost felt useless."
Mena's hard work has paid off so far. In addition to the Discovery Channel competitions, he was one of two students at his school who received $500 from the Connecticut Science Teachers Association, he came in first in the state science fair and his middle school math team came in first at the competition sponsored by the Connecticut Society of Professional Engineers.
But science is only one part of this teenager's life.
"He really gets involved in things he does," his father said. "He has a lot of broad interests."
These interests include jazz music, piano, Boy Scouts, running and tennis, which he hopes to play in high school this year at Ledyard High School. He is currently ranked 50 th in New England for tennis players his age, but Mena doesn't like to talk about his accomplishments.
"I've had very few students of his caliber, not just academic, but maturity," Levasseur said. "He has the complete package."
Positive Outcome in Saturday’s Election Could Shift Responsibility in Iraq
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 - Wrapping up a six-day tour of Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., predicted a positive outcome for Saturday's referendum, but also showed concern toward future U.S. involvement.
Speaking on a conference call from Kuwait on Wednesday, Dodd, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the Sunnis appeared more optimistic because the interim assembly had been making changes to the draft constitution which would allow revisions four months after its adoption. This had been an an initial concern for the Iraqi group.
Dodd traveled with Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed, a member of the Armed Services Committee. The senators talked with soldiers, military commanders, Qatar's foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jaber al-Thani, and Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari.
"Most people still think it is going to be close one way or another," Dodd said. "It's not a sure thing that this is going to carry, but there is a positive reaction about it."
If the constitution is approved, Dodd said, people will be encouraged to go to the polls and set up a more permanent government during the National Assembly Election on Dec. 15.
Successes in these next two elections could shift responsibility in Iraq onto the country's own forces, or at least it should, Dodd said.
"I would be [an advocate] if we started reducing the size of our military come after these elections, after the referendum, sometime after the first of the year," Dodd said. "Again, demonstrate to them that this is the direction that we're going in."
But Congress doesn't have a timeline yet, and a spokesman for the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said the senator will discuss the timeline issue with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she testifies before the committee on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Dodd expressed concerns about the future U.S. presence in Iraq.
"We need to be doing a better job in communicating to the Iraqis that we aren't here for the long-haul," Dodd said. "I was under the impression that we're doing too much hand-holding and we really need to break clean of that."
A clean break would include properly-trained Iraqi troops and a police force, Dodd said, adding that he has learned that a number of these battalions are ready to take over the responsibility.
"You are not going to win this battle over here militarily," Dodd said. "It's going to be won politically."
Eastern Pequots and Schaghticokes Denied Recognition
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 - After years of waiting, the Bureau of Indian Affairs denied federal recognition of the Eastern Pequot and Schaghticoke tribes Wednesday.
Such recognition would have allowed the tribes to build casinos.
Earlier, the bureau had granted recognition to the two tribes, but in May the Interior Department's Board of Indian Appeals overturned this decision and sent it back to the bureau for reconsideration..
This time, the bureau held that petitioners for the two tribes failed to prove political authority or influence through selected time periods, two criteria for recognition, said Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for the bureau.
Members of the Connecticut congressional delegation, including Reps. Robert Simmons R-2 nd , Christopher Shays R-4 th and Nancy Johnson R-5 th , and Sens. Christopher Dodd D-Conn. and Joseph Lieberman D-Conn., had opposed recognition, arguing that the process of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or BIA, had flaws that resulted in the tribes being recognized in the first place.
"For far too long there has been a shadow cast over tribal recognition matters at the BIA as critically important criteria were treated in an almost 'a la carte' fashion," Dodd and Lieberman said in a joint press release. "That's unacceptable."
The House members agreed.
"The decision correctly applies all seven mandatory criteria for federal recognition, a process which I support, and showed both tribal petitions failed on community and political authority," Simmons said in a press release.
Shays described the decision as a victory for anti-gambling forces.
"The Schaghticokes and Eastern Pequots are not legitimate tribes, and today's historic decision underscored that fact," Shays said. "This is great news for the state of Connecticut and communities threatened by casino expansion."
Two large Indian gambling resorts are already located in Connecticut.
Ernest Stevens Jr., chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association in Washington, D.C., said it's not about betting, but history.
"I don't think this is about Indian gaming," Stevens said. "I think it's about the historical relationship with these tribes."
Calling the day "sad" and an "injustice," Stevens suggested the decision was the result of political pressure stemming from the fact that the Schaghticokes were looking to open a casino.
"It sounds to me that the state is probably afraid of more gaming in their state," said Ray Ramirez, editor and a corporate officer of the Native American Rights Fund. "They probably provided tremendous political pressure on the Department of [the] Interior and their congressional delegation to make sure that they were denied."
Ramirez admitted he wasn't familiar with this particular case but said the recognition process is generally difficult because many of these tribes don't have the resources to prove their existence.
While the Connecticut congressional delegation found a victory in Wednesday's decision, members still admit the recognition process needs more improvements.
"I certainly hope that these decisions indicate a new day for the BIA, but these decisions are far too important to merely hope for the best," Dodd said. "That's why I'm continuing the push for legislation authored by myself, Senator Lieberman and members of the Connecticut delegation in the House of Representatives that would ensure a fair process by which all tribal recognition decisions are made by the BIA."
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