Volume 26 • No 04 • 2003
ISSN 0742-468X • Since 1978
On-line Since 2000
Out of the Box
Editor's note: In “Out of the Box” we bring you news snippets that are not necessarily related specifically to GIS. These are items that come across my screen that help me understand our industry, by understanding the world around us. For the complete article just click “Details Here.” Think of it as thinking Out of the Box
In State and Local Government …
• The Department of Homeland Security urged Americans to prepare for a terrorist attack that could involve biological, chemical or radiological weapons. … Officials said people should take steps to protect themselves and their families. Some key questions raised by the latest alert are outlined in this FAQ. Details Here
• An oil barge carrying two million gallons of home heating fuel ran aground in Long Island Sound, puncturing at least four of its dozen compartments and spilling some 2,500 gallons of light-grade oil, the Coast Guard said.  Carl G. Annessa, the vice president and chief operating officer of Hornbeck Offshore Transportation, said the company immediately activated an emergency plan, contacting the Coast Guard as well as an environmental clean-up company called the National Response Corporation to coordinate the unloading of the remaining oil from the damaged barge. The slick was contained by a floating boom. Details Here
• Fairfield County will be on the front edge of a statewide collaboration that has homeland security implications -- being the first to upgrade a mapping system. Fairfield County Auditor Barbara Curtiss’ office was getting ready to upgrade the county’s Geographic Information system, when the idea was born to use it as a prototype for the state to provide a standardization of the system. Details Here
In Technology …
 • Since the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia …, squads of men and women have fanned out across eastern Texas toting state-of-the-art global positioning devices to mark the precise location of fallen tiles, mechanical parts and assorted debris. Besides performing a task that could help piece together the cause of the calamity, the searchers with their sophisticated global positioning equipment evoke an almost poignant contrast between the creaky 1970's–era space technology that lies scattered across the Southwest and the decidedly snazzy 21st-century commercial technology that is the space program's direct descendant. Details Here
• Sun Microsystems is set to announce a series of new computer and software offerings today in an effort to regain a sense of momentum and leadership in the corporate computing business. Details Here
• Printer cartridge case heads to court
Judge hears argument in Lexmark case, which experts say could
determine the future of low-cost, refurbished printer cartridges.
Details Here
• The online tax debate has suddenly become loud and bitter, with Wal-Mart Stores and Amazon.com as the leading antagonists. But the recent activity over Internet sales taxes may have only minimal impact on consumers and tax collectors, many retail executives and industry analysts say.Details Here
In Utilities …
• The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission Thursday said it met with forty federal criminal law enforcement officers Feb 12 to share information on current investigations into possible illegal activities in the energy market. The CFTC said its Division of Enforcement met in Washington, with Assistant US Attorneys, FBI agents and US Postal Inspectors on possible round-trip trading, false reporting, and “fraud and manipulation by energy companies and their affiliates, employees and agents.” Details Here
• Surry, VA, nuclear power station manager disputes terror vulnerability
study. A successful terrorist attack on spent nuclear–fuel storage sites
could have disastrous consequences, suggests a study in an upcoming
Princeton journal. An attack on spent–fuel storage pools such as those at
Surry Power Station could produce results “significantly worse than
Chernobyl,” according to a New York Times account of the study. An airplane
crashing into a spent–fuel storage pool, where used uranium is kept to cool,
could cause an explosion that would release radiation from the spent fuel,
the study reports. But local officials with Dominion Virginia Power and
other nuclear experts think the study is overblown and riddled with
speculation. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the nuclear industry has argued that an
airplane attack is unlikely to harm spent–fuel sites, which are designed to
withstand tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes. Details Here
• Bush’s budget for the Dept. of Energy. The new budget calls for spending $23.4 billion, which is a 5.9 percent increase over the 2003 budget. A few
budget highlights: it would expand programs to develop clean coal
technologies, safeguard nuclear materials, move ahead with a proposed
nuclear waste site in Nevada, and spur development of hydrogen fuel cells. 
It calls for spending $7.2 billion for environmental cleanup of radioactive
waste left over from Cold War nuclear weapons production, a slight increase
over this year. It also earmarks $6.2 billion, an increase of $533 million,
for maintaining current nuclear warheads. It calls for $321 million for
research into clean coal technology as part of a 10–year, $2 billion
program, double the spending on such programs in recent years. As previously
announced, the budget would provide $273 in fiscal 2004, as part of a $1.5
billion, five–year program to promote development of hydrogen fuel-cells for
cars and small power stations. The department, also as announced earlier,
proposes spending $1.3 billion, an increase of 30 percent, to improve
safeguards on nuclear material, mostly in Russia, and expand programs to
monitor possible trafficking in nuclear materials that could be used in a
“dirty” bomb. Details Here
• Missouri and Kansas utilities would be able to recover their security costs in confidential proceedings under legislation that has been filed in both states. In some instances, the utilities wouldn’t even have to tell consumers how much they were being charged to cover the expenses, which are rising rapidly as utilities beef up their defenses against terrorism. Details Here
• The U.S. power sector, loaded with a mountain of debt after a massive building spree during the past five years, faces a painful restructuring as the bills come due, affecting not just generators but also lenders, industry analysts say. During the heyday of electric deregulation in the late 1990s, energy companies borrowed about $500 billion to expand their businesses and build natural gas-fired power plants. Details Here
• Federal energy regulators approved rules on Thursday to keep secret certain information about U.S. power plants, large transmission lines and oil and natural gas pipelines, citing post-Sept. 11 security concerns. In keeping the information away from extremist groups, the rules would also restrict the general public’s access. Details Here
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