INCAE AND WOODROW WILSON PRIVATE SECTOR INITIATIVE

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
INCAE and Woodrow Wilson Private Sector Initiative to Address Crime and Insecurity in Central America
Remarks Maria Otero
Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights World Bank
Washington, DC
April 19, 2012
(As Delivered)
Thank you, Cynthia. It is an honor to attend the third meeting of the INCAE and Woodrow Wilson Center project here in Washington, DC. I also want to thank the World Bank and the Central American Private Sector Initiative for co-hosting today’s event. I especially want to thank INCAE and the Woodrow Wilson Center for bringing together the private sector to help create practical solutions to the security challenges in Central America – because we know that governments cannot do this work alone. Your contribution is critical to help build safe, prosperous, and democratic societies in Central America.

Today, I want to talk about three key areas of the U.S. strategy to combat crime and insecurity in Central America: First, what the U.S. is doing to reduce the demand for illicit drugs in our own country, which we know is a major factor in this transnational issue. Second, how the U.S. is utilizing new international partnerships to address transnational organized crime and citizen security. And lastly, the need for a comprehensive, community-based approach to address citizen security in each country in Central America.
At the Summit of the Americas, President Obama and Secretary Clinton engaged with the leaders of the region in a robust and healthy dialogue on a range of issues, including the U.S. strategy on drugs. The U.S. has acknowledged that the high demand for drugs in our own country is a major contributing factor to drug trafficking and its effects in the region. In response to this concern, President Obama charted a new direction for our efforts to reduce illicit drug use and its consequences by launching a National Drug Control Strategy in 2010. This week, he announced a revised strategy that provides a review of our progress, and looks ahead to continued reform.

This new strategy rejects the false choice between an enforcement-centric “war on drugs” on the one hand and the notion of drug legalization on the other, an issue that was also addressed in Cartagena.

While the United States remains open to engaging in discussion on this issue, we do not believe that legalization is the path towards a holistic solution to combat drug trafficking and organized crime and improve citizen security across the region.

The United States believes there must be a balanced approach to reducing illicit drug use, and our efforts are yielding results. The rate of overall drug use in America has dropped by roughly one-third over the past three decades. Since 2006, meth use in America has been cut by half and cocaine use has dropped by nearly 40 percent. In 2011, the United States spent over 10 billion dollars on drug prevention and treatment; 9.4 billion dollars on domestic law enforcement; 3.6 billion on interdiction, and 2.1 billion on international drug control programs. The President’s revised National Drug Control Strategy seeks to redouble our efforts, and employs a balance of evidenced-based public health and safety reforms.
Another pillar of this strategy is strengthening international partnerships – and at the leadership of Secretary Clinton, we have created new partnerships to address the security challenges in Central America.

The United States has developed new modes of cooperation starting by addressing security issues that are identified by Central Americans themselves. Secretary Clinton firmly believes that the solutions to the problems in Central America must come from Central Americans – that is why the U.S. supports the Central American Integration System, commonly known as SICA. I cannot stress the importance – however difficult and slow it may be – to have the government leaders of Central America agree upon the primary security challenges and then identify as a group the specific areas of cooperation needed to create the solution. Today’s event further contributes to the Central American-led effort to identify practical solutions to the security challenges facing the region.

The U.S. programmatic efforts are funneled through our Central America Regional Security Initiative – known as CARSI – which is an integrated, collaborative program designed to disrupt and dismantle the gangs and transnational criminal organizations. From 2008 to 2011, the United States has allocated over 361 million dollars to CARSI efforts.

At the Summit of the Americas, President Obama announced that the U.S. will allocate 130 million dollars for CARSI in fiscal year 2012.

Our support is focused not just on helping security forces track down criminals. We are working to address the root causes of violence, from impunity to lack of opportunity. We are working to build accountable institutions free from corruption that respect human rights and enhance the rule of law. We are building partnerships to improve courts and prisons, train police and prosecutors, and enhance education systems and job-training centers. We are working towards building partnerships with political leaders, but also with civil society, businesses and with the elite, who have a special obligation to help confront these challenges.

The U.S. welcomes the progress on tax reform in some countries, such as President Perez Molina’s tax reform in Guatemala and the recently passed security taxes in Costa Rica and Honduras. The fact that so many of the wealthy in Latin America have not paid their fair share of taxes is one of the many reasons why the services that are necessary to protect citizen security and enhance educational opportunities have not been available. Fora such as the one today are critical to ensure the voices of the private sector are part of the solution.

In addition to new partnerships with Central Americans, we are building partnerships across the Americas. One example is our cooperation with Colombia in Central America. Presidents Obama and Santos announced a new Action Plan on Regional Security Cooperation earlier this week in Cartagena. These coordination efforts will initially focus on Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Panama with the goal of expanding to the rest of the Americas and West Africa. Both countries will develop complementary security assistance programs and operational efforts to support partner nations afflicted by effects of transnational organized crime.

Lastly, I want to talk about the progress we are seeing on the ground. I have seen the most progress during my visits to Central American countries when there is a multi-faceted, community-based approach that empowers all actors in society – including municipal and state government officials, members of the private sector and civil society, and individual citizens, with a focus on young people who are not only the most at-risk, but who have the most potential to change their communities for the better.

We are seeing progress clearly demonstrated in the Model Precinct Program which has significantly aided in reducing homicides, robberies, and burglaries throughout the region. The program uses community-based policing techniques and youth drug prevention programs like the Gang Resistance Education and Training – or GREAT - and the Police Athletic League to build local support. Police officers assigned to the unit receive several years of classroom and on-the-job training, greatly increasing their investigative and patrolling capabilities.

I recently visited the Model Precinct in Lourdes, El Salvador, where new police leadership was installed in the spring of 2010. The new commander of the Lourdes precinct fully embraced and implemented best practices for policing. By adopting an intelligence-led policing philosophy for crime prevention and targeted enforcement, the Lourdes precinct reduced the number of homicides from 287 in 2010 to 170 in 2011 -- a 40 percent reduction. All other major crimes were also reduced by more than 40 percent. By comparison, the national homicide rate in El Salvador rose by 9 percent in 2011.

Now these programs occur on a municipal-level; the challenge is how to scale up these efforts and replicate them across each nation and the region. In Guatemala, the new tax reform funds will go to support community-based policing programs building upon the Model Precinct in other parts of the country. For example, I visited the Mixco Model Precinct earlier this year. The local mayor, police chief, priest and community leaders worked together to create a new level of trust and collaboration that resulted in a significant decrease in the levels of crime and violence.

And it was clear that these efforts were not only difficult, but dangerous. In this particular case, the police chief had to release a high percentage of the police force due to corruption and train an entire new cadre of young police officers. So we see that even these models are not simple, and take a great deal of time, effort and personal investment by many actors. I am pleased that we will now expand this program in Honduras, which has launched the first Model Precinct Program. President Lobo has indicated that funds from the new security tax will go towards the expansion of these efforts.

Solving the crime and insecurity that plagues Central America requires a set of multi-faceted responses that include involvement by every sector of society. My message to those of you here today is that your governments need you – they need your investment in the country. And more importantly, they need your support to help increase the political will needed to face these tough issues head-on. They need your help to rebuild weak institutions, to strengthen the judicial system, to build capacity through the government, all essential for a meaningful and long lasting response.

U.S. GOVERNMENT FEARS GROWING BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT

FROM U.S. AIR FORCE

Commander of Air Combat Command, Gen. Mike Hostage, and his wife, Kathy, look on as 2nd Lt. Suzanne Sparks, 7th Space Warning Squadron crew commander, demonstrates a mock missile detection sequence in the Missile Warning Operations Center at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., Nov. 6, 2011. 7th SWS operates 24/7 and Airmen are responsible for up channeling an event analysis to the Missile Warning Center at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colo., within 60 seconds of the initial detection. (U.S. Air Force photo by Mr. John Schwab)

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE

U.S. Missile Defense Counters Growing Threat

By Cheryl Pellerin

WASHINGTON, April 19, 2012 - Six days after North Korea's failed long-range rocket launch, the head of the Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency testified on Capitol Hill about bolstering U.S. defenses against a growing ballistic missile threat.

Agency Director Army Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O'Reilly appeared yesterday before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee to discuss the administration's fiscal 2013 budget request of $7.75 billion for his agency.

The request is a reduction of more than $650 million from the fiscal 2012 appropriation. Since 1999, the United States has invested more than $90 billion in missile defense.

The latest request, O'Reilly said, "balances our policies as documented in the 2010 Ballistic Missile Defense Review [with] U.S. Strategic Command's integrated air and missile defense priorities, [Missile Defense Agency] technical feasibility assessments, affordability constraints and current intelligence community estimates of the ballistic missile threat."

But the director expressed concern to the panel about two critically needed programs that are in jeopardy because of past congressional funding reductions.

The first, he said, is a missile defense sensor capability provided by the precision tracking space system, which allows space-based tracking of ballistic missiles. The second is the need to develop a second independent layer of homeland defense with the SM-3 IIB interceptor, a highly deployable missile that would destroy threat missiles earlier in their flight paths than the current architecture.

"I request your support for these programs," O'Reilly said, "so that our homeland benefits from the same layered missile defense approach that we successfully employ in our regional defenses."

The director described improvements made last year to the complex ballistic missile defense system designed to protect the United States and its allies. These include activating a new missile field and a fire-control node at Fort Greely, Alaska; activating an upgraded early warning radar in Thule, Greenland; and upgrading the reliability of three ground-based interceptors, or GBIs, he said.

"This year," O'Reilly told the panel, "we continue to aggressively pursue the agency's highest priority -- to conduct a missile intercept with the newest version of the GBI's exo-atmospheric kill vehicle after two previous flight-test failures."

A failure review board of government and industry experts redesigned critical GBI kill vehicle components and established more stringent manufacturing and component requirements, he added.

"These requirements have previously not been encountered anywhere in the aerospace industry," O'Reilly noted, adding that these have caused delays in preparing for the next flight tests.

"We will fly a nonintercept test by the end of this year to verify we have resolved all issues, and then we will conduct our next intercept flight test early next year to reactivate the {ground-based midcourse defense] production line," the director said. "We will not approve the execution of a flight test until our engineers and independent experts are convinced that we have resolved all issues discovered in previous testing."

Also this year, the agency will activate a hardened power plant at Fort Greely, increase the firepower of fielded GBIs by testing and upgrading GBI components, and boost the capability of sea-based X-band radar, the tracking and discrimination radar used for the GMD element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System.

"Regional defense highlights over the past year include the on-time deployment of the first phase of the European Phased Adaptive Approach," O'Reilly said, "consisting of the command-and-control node in Germany, forward-based radar in Turkey and an Aegis missile defense ship on station in the Mediterranean Sea."

The agency also demonstrated the first Aegis intercept of a 3,700-kilometer target using remote forward-based radar, he said, and the simultaneous intercept of two missiles by the terminal high-altitude area defense system, called THAAD.

The THAAD element gives the missile defense system a globally transportable, rapidly deployable ability to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles in or out of the atmosphere during the final, or terminal, flight phase.

"This year the first two THAAD batteries will be available for deployment, increasing the number of Aegis-capable ships to 29," the director said, and three SM-3 Block IB flight tests will show that last year's flight-test failure is resolved.

Coming up, he said, the largest missile defense tests in history will involve the first simultaneous intercepts of multiple short and medium-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles by Patriot forward-based radar.

The United States has missile defense cooperative programs with the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Israel, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy and many other nations. O'Reilly said the agency works with more than 20 countries, "including our cooperative development programs with Israel and Japan and our first foreign military sale of THAAD to the United Arab Emirates," and supports technical discussions with the Russians on missile defense.

Phases 2 and 3 of the European phased, adaptive approach to missile defense are on track to meet the 2015 and 2018 deployment dates, the director said.

STUDY TO DETERMINE IF HYPERTENSION AND RESPIRATORY DISEASES RELATED TO VIETNAM WAR HERBICIDE AGENT ORANGE

FROM: U .S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
The Army Chemical Corps Vietnam-Era Veterans Health Study is designed to learn if high blood pressure (hypertension) and some chronic respiratory diseases are related to herbicide exposure during the Vietnam War.

Background
This study follows a request by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki for VA to conduct research on the association between herbicide exposure and high blood pressure (hypertension), as a basis for understanding if hypertension is related to military service in Vietnam.  VA is also interested in learning more about the relationship between herbicide exposure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
This study is a follow-up of a similar study conducted between 1999-2000. We have examined the health status of individuals who served in the Army Chemical Corps since the 1990s.

Goals
Researchers have two questions:
Is the risk of high blood pressure (hypertension) related to Agent Orange exposure during service in Vietnam?
Is the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including chronic bronchitis and emphysema, related to Agent Orange exposure during service in Vietnam?

Participants
Researchers are asking approximately 4,000 Veterans who served in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps sometime during the Vietnam era (1965-1973) to participate in this study.  Army Chemical Corps personnel were responsible for the maintenance and distribution or application of chemicals for military operations. Army Chemical Corps personnel who served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War constitute the largest group of Army Vietnam Veterans who were thought to have had the greatest potential exposure to herbicides.

We have already selected participants from earlier Army Chemical Corps study rosters, and researchers cannot accept volunteers for this study. Each Veteran selected for this study represents other Veterans with similar characteristics.

Methods
We are conducting telephone interviews, reviewing medical records, and measuring the blood pressure and lung function of these Veterans.

Investigators
Han Kang, Dr.P.H.
Aaron Schneiderman, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N.
Yasmin Cypel, Ph.D.
Amii Kress, M.P.H.
Stephanie Eber, M.P.H.

STATE DEPARTMENT STEPS UP VISAS TO U.S FROM CHINA, BRAZIL

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
State Department Processing Visas at Record Pace: More Visitors from China and Brazil Mean More American Jobs
Media Note Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
April 18, 2012
Earlier this year, President Obama called for a national strategy to make the United States the world’s top travel and tourism destination, generating jobs and revitalizing our economy. The Department of State is well on the way to meeting the President’s goals of increasing visitor visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent in 2012.

Visa Surge: In Brazil, consular officers issued more than 555,000 visas in the first half of fiscal year 2012, compared to 350,000 visas during the same timeframe in 2011, an increase of 59 percent. In China, consular officers issued more than 453,000 visas in the first half of the year, compared to approximately 310,000 visas in the same timeframe in 2011, an increase of 46 percent.

Short Wait Times: At the same time, the Department of State has reduced wait times for visa interview appointments. On average, applicants wait just five days for an appointment at U.S. consulates in China. Wait times have dropped dramatically in Brazil and now average two weeks or less in Brasilia, Recife, and Rio de Janeiro, and 35 days or less in Sao Paulo.

New Consulates: To further increase visa processing capacity in Brazil, President Obama announced on April 9 that the United States will open new consulates in Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre. These consulates will facilitate travel and trade to support economic growth in both the United States and Brazil, and will further expand the breadth and depth of the U.S.-Brazil relationship. Additionally, the Department of State is exploring whether to add visa-issuance services in Wuhan, China.

Innovative Hiring Program: In another initiative to streamline visa processing without compromising security, the first group of newly hired consular adjudicators recently arrived at U.S. consulates in Brazil and China. These adjudicators were hired under a landmark program which targeted recruits who already speak Portuguese or Mandarin. These talented employees were selected by the State Department through a rigorous screening and security process, and given the same consular training as career Foreign Service Officers. The program offers the flexibility to quickly augment our consular staff with qualified professionals.

The State Department is committed to facilitating travel to the United States as part of broader “Jobs Diplomacy” goals. Visas for legitimate travelers are an important tool to help accelerate America’s economic revival.

EARTH WEEK AND THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE ON THIS PLANET

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Earth Week: A Stream Is a Stream Is a Stream: Or Is It?
Scientists supported by NSF SEES use everything from microscopes to deep-sea submersibles in their research.
But how many SEES scientists need a machete?
During Earth Week--or any time of year--that's exactly what LeRoy Poff requires. Poff is an aquatic ecologist and evolutionary biologist at Colorado State University and an NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability- (SEES) Dimensions of Biodiversity principal investigator.

To characterize the lesser-known aspects of the diversity of life on Earth, NSF's decade-long Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign aims to transform, by 2020, how scientists describe and understand the scope and role of life on Earth.

The effort is funded by NSF's Directorate for Biological Sciences, Directorate for Geosciences and Office of Polar Programs.

"By establishing networks of interdisciplinary, globally-engaged scientists, Dimensions of Biodiversity will have a lasting effect on biodiversity science," says John Wingfield, NSF assistant director for Biological Sciences. "It has the potential to transform the way we conduct biological research in this arena."

The Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign is important, says Wingfield, because assessing the living diversity of Earth is not as straightforward as simply listing species.
Earth is rapidly losing species. It's happening faster than scientists can understand the roles these species play and how they function.

With their disappearance comes lost opportunities to comprehend the history of life, to better predict the future of the living world and to make beneficial discoveries in the areas of food, fiber, fuel, pharmaceuticals and bio-inspired innovation.
Poff and colleagues from Colorado State, Cornell University and the University of Nebraska are trying to change that.

They're studying how temperature variation and extreme weather such as floods and droughts affect life in temperate Colorado and tropical Ecuadorian streams.

The scientists are comparing how aquatic insects and fish in small streams along the Colorado Front Range--which has a seasonally variable climate--and insects, fish and amphibians in streams in Ecuador, with its more stable climate, are faring at a time when Earth is heating up."To get to our Colorado research sites," says Poff, "there's relatively easy access along mostly paved roads." But to reach streams in the cloud forest headwaters of the Amazon, he says, it takes a machete to bushwhack through tangled vines choking narrow waterways.

Poff and colleagues will identify new species in both locales by barcoding these species' DNA, as well as track species movements based on their tolerance of warming water and declining oxygen levels.

"We're trying to understand how animals will respond to climate change based on their evolutionary history in a particular climate zone," says Poff.

"To do that, we need to know their physiological responses to thermal and oxygen stress. This is one of the first studies to look at the sensitivity of species to both temperature and environmental variation such as floods and droughts."

The research team's hypothesis is that temperate species are likely to be less sensitive to climate change than those in the tropics.
Temperate streams are subject to large seasonal differences in temperature; the organisms that live in them occupy a wide range of elevations.

In the Colorado Rockies, for example, there's a big change between summer and winter temperatures in streams. That suggests, Poff believes, that species there could be somewhat tolerant of future climate warming.

In contrast, studying species diversity in the tropics, he says, is like taking apart the layers of a cake.

"Temperature doesn't vary seasonally at any given altitude," says Poff. "But as you move up in elevation you pass through layers of increasingly colder temperatures."
He's trying to discover whether aquatic insects, fish and frogs are restricted to a narrow range of elevation and temperature--one layer of the cake.

"If they are--and that's coupled with a poor ability to disperse over land to find another small stream as temperatures warm--they could be more vulnerable to changes in climate," Poff says.

He plans to use a new understanding of species' sensitivity to climate change, and the ability of species to move with changing conditions, as a basis for developing maps for policy-makers and others.

The maps will show where animals are most vulnerable to climate change in tropical and temperate streams.

"The knowledge being developed," says Tim Killeen, NSF assistant director for Geosciences, "will lead to improved, science-based decision-making about our common future."

To reach that goal, Poff is fording chutes from North to South America. His research takes not only microscopes and high-tech genetics labs.
It takes a machete.
PHOTO:  FROM WIKIMEDIA

U.S-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SIGN AGREEMENT ON SHARING IN CRIMINAL FORFEITURES

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Thursday, April 19, 2012
U.S. Attorney General Holder and Dominican Prosecutor General Jiménez Pena Sign Permanent Agreement to Share Forfeited Assets
Attorney General Eric Holder and Dominican Prosecutor General Radhamés Jiménez Peña met today in Washington, D.C., to sign a permanent agreement to share forfeited assets between the governments of the United States and the Dominican Republic. The permanent sharing agreement acknowledges the consistent forfeiture-related cooperation that United States authorities have received from the Dominican Republic and creates a more efficient process for sharing assets with the Dominican Republic.

“The steady stream of forfeiture cooperation we receive from our Dominican law enforcement counterparts has been indispensible to our efforts to recover millions of dollars in criminal assets located abroad,” Attorney General Holder said.    “In a world where criminals increasingly operate across borders, strengthening international partnerships is critical. Today’s agreement will serve as a highly beneficial and useful tool for asset sharing in the future.”

The permanent agreement requires the United States and the Dominican Republic to return all fraud and theft proceeds for purposes of making victims whole.   It also streamlines the asset sharing process by eliminating the need for individual agreements each time assets are shared in recognition of forfeiture assistance provided by the Dominican authorities.   In addition, the agreement is reciprocal, allowing for Dominican sharing with the United States.

Assets shared under the agreement must be used by the recipient country in accordance with domestic laws governing the use of forfeited assets.   Dominican law provides that forfeited assets be disbursed to the Office of the Prosecutor General; the National Drug Council; the National Counter Drug Directorate; the National Police; and non-government organizations engaged in efforts to prevent drug abuse.

To date, the Department of Justice has shared a total of $8.67 million in forfeited assets with Dominican authorities on four prior occasions since 2002.   This includes a case-specific sharing agreement that was signed on Nov. 14, 2011, to share approximately $7.5 million in forfeited assets with the Dominican Office of the Prosecutor General.   The November 2011 agreement represents approximately 20 percent of the estimated $37.5 million in forfeited assets located in the Dominican Republic that stem from a conspiracy led by brothers Carlos, Luis and Jose Benitez, who allegedly defrauded the U.S. Medicare program of approximately $80 million.

The permanent agreement was negotiated on behalf of the United States by the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section’s International Unit in the Justice
Department’s Criminal Division and the Office of International Affairs in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, in cooperation with the FBI’s Attaché in the Dominican Republic and the Department of State.

UPDATED STANDARDS ISSUED FOR OIL AND NATURAL GAS AIR POLLUTION

FROM:  ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

EPA Issues Updated, Achievable Air Pollution Standards for Oil and Natural Gas

Half of fractured wells already deploy technologies in line with final standards, which slash harmful emissions while reducing cost of compliance
WASHINGTON – In response to a court deadline, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized standards to reduce harmful air pollution associated with oil and natural gas production. The updated standards, required by the Clean Air Act, were informed by the important feedback from a range of stakeholders including the public, public health groups, states and industry. As a result, the final standards reduce implementation costs while also ensuring they are achievable and can be met by relying on proven, cost-effective technologies as well as processes already in use at approximately half of the fractured natural gas wells in the United States. These technologies will not only reduce 95 percent of the harmful emissions from these wells that contribute to smog and lead to health impacts, they will also enable companies to collect additional natural gas that can be sold. Natural gas is a key component of the nation’s clean energy future and the standards released today make sure that we can continue to expand production of this important domestic resource while reducing impacts to public health, and most importantly builds on steps already being taken by industry leaders.

"The president has been clear that he wants to continue to expand production of important domestic resources like natural gas, and today’s standard supports that goal while making sure these fuels are produced without threatening the health of the American people," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "By ensuring the capture of gases that were previously released to pollute our air and threaten our climate, these updated standards will not only protect our health, but also lead to more product for fuel suppliers to bring to market. They're an important step toward tapping future energy supplies without exposing American families and children to dangerous health threats in the air they breathe.”

When natural gas is produced, some of the gas escapes the well and may not be captured by the producing company. These gases can pollute the air and as a result threaten public health. Consistent with states that have already put in place similar requirements, the updated EPA standards released today include the first federal air rules for natural gas wells that are hydraulically fractured, specifically requiring operators of new fractured natural gas wells to use cost-effective technologies and practices to capture natural gas that might otherwise escape the well, which can subsequently be sold. EPA’s analysis of the final rules shows that they are highly cost-effective, relying on widely available technologies and practices already deployed at approximately half of all fractured wells, and consistent with steps industry is already taking in many cases to capture additional natural gas for sale, offsetting the cost of compliance. Together these rules will result in $11 to $19 million in savings for industry each year. In addition to cutting pollution at the wellhead, EPA’s final standards also address emissions from storage tanks and other equipment.

Also in line with the executive order released by the president last week on natural gas development, the rule released today received important interagency feedback and provides industry flexibilities. Based on new data provided during the public comment period, the final rule establishes a phase-in period that will ensure emissions reduction technology is broadly available. During the first phase, until January 2015, owners and operators must either flare their emissions or use emissions reduction technology called “green completions,” technologies that are already widely deployed at wells. In 2015, all new fractured wells will be required to use green completions.  The final rule does not require new federal permits. Instead, it sets clear standards and uses enhanced reporting to strengthen transparency and accountability, and ensure compliance, while establishing a consistent set of national standards to safeguard public health and the environment.  

An estimated 13,000 new and existing natural gas wells are fractured or re-fractured each year. As those wells are being prepared for production, they emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which contribute to smog formation, and air toxics, including benzene and hexane, which can cause cancer and other serious health effects. In addition, the rule is expected to yield a significant environmental co-benefit by reducing methane, the primary constituent of natural gas. Methane, when released directly to the atmosphere, is a potent greenhouse gas—more than 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

During the nearly 100-day public comment period, the agency received more than 150,000 comments on the proposed rules from the public, industry, environmental groups and states. The agency also held three public hearings. The updated standards were informed by the important feedback received through the public comment period, reducing implementation cost and ensuring the achievable standard can be met by relying on proven, cost-effective technologies and processes already in use.  

FORMER U.S. SOCCER TEAM TO TRAVEL TO MOROCCO FOR EMPOWERING WOMEN AND GIRLS THROUGH SPORTS INITIATIVE

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 
Former U.S. Soccer National Team Coaches and Players to Travel to Morocco for Empowering Women and Girls through Sports Initiative
Media Note Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
April 19, 2012
Building on efforts to empower women and girls through sports, the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Soccer announced today former U.S. Women’s National Team players and coaches will travel to Morocco as Sports Envoys April 22-28, 2012. These Sports Envoys are a key component of the Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative, which aims to increase the number of women and girls worldwide who are involved in sports.

While in Morocco, former U.S. Women’s National Team assistant coach Lesle Gallimore and players Angela Hucles and Marian Dalmy will lead clinics focused on soccer skills and sports psychology for 40 female coaches from the region. They will also partner with the coaches from Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia to conduct soccer clinics with local female soccer players. In addition, the Sports Envoys will lead discussions about the importance of women’s sports and Title IX, the landmark U.S. law that defined equal opportunity.

The Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power,” which embraces the use of a full range of diplomatic tools – in this case, the game of soccer – to bring people together and foster understanding.

In March, Amanda Cromwell and former U.S. Women’s National Team coach Lauren Gregg traveled to Argentina while Siri Mullinix and Lorrie Fair traveled to Venezuela as Sports Envoys. In addition, the U.S. Women’s National Team participated in a clinic with young female athletes in Japan on March 27 prior to their friendly match against the Japanese Women’s National Soccer Team. In February, former U.S. National Team players Danielle Slaton and Tony Sanneh traveled to Malaysia with Cheryl Bailey, the former general manager of the U.S. Women's National Team.

SportsUnited is the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ division devoted to sports diplomacy programs at the U.S. Department of State. Since 2003, SportsUnited has brought more than 900 athletes from 58 countries to the United States to participate in Sports Visitor programs. Since 2005, SportsUnited has sent more than 200 U.S. athletes to over 50 countries to participate in Sports Envoy programs.

PRESIDENT OBAMA TALKS TO UNEMPLOYED

FROM:  WHITE HOUSE
President Barack Obama participates in a roundtable with unemployed workers who are students in Lorain County Community College job training programs, at Lorain Community College in Elyria, Ohio, April 18, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama was in Elyria, Ohio today where he met with students at Lorain County Community College. The President was there to talk about the Administration’s job training initiatives to help more Americans get back to work and connect unemployed Americans with the skills training they need to find jobs in high-demand, high-growth industries, including the Community College to Career Fund. He told the students that taking classes at community colleges and getting new skills doesn't just benefit students and their future employers but adds economic value to the entire region:

Investing in a community college, just like investing in a new road or a new highway or broadband lines that go into rural communities, these investments are not part of some grand scheme to redistribute wealth. They’ve been made by Democrats and Republicans for generations because they benefit all of us. That's what leads to strong, durable economic growth. That's how America became an economic superpower. That's how we built the Transcontinental Railroad. That's why we’ve got the best universities and colleges in the world. That's why we have cutting-edge research that takes place here, and that then gets translated into new jobs and new businesses, because somebody did the groundwork.  We created a foundation for those of us to prosper.

When you take classes at a community college like this one and you learn the skills that you need to get a job right away, that does not just benefit you; it benefits the company that ends up hiring and profiting from your skills.  It makes the entire region stronger economically.  It makes this country stronger economically.
In this country, prosperity does not trickle down; prosperity grows from the bottom up.  And it grows from a strong middle class out.  That’s how we grow this economy.

SECRETARIES PANETTA, CLINTON TALK TO CNN'S WOLF BLITZER

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Panetta, Clinton Discuss Diplomatic, Defense Policies
By Jim Garamone
WASHINGTON, April 19, 2012 - The world is full of threats, and the United States must be prepared for them, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview yesterday.

Blitzer traveled to a NATO meeting in Brussels with Panetta and interviewed the defense secretary and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Panetta said he is concerned about North Korea, Iran, Syria and the turmoil in the Middle East. Beyond that, he added, he also worries about threats posed by cyber war, weapons of mass destruction and rising powers. "All of those things are threats that the United States faces in today's world," he said.

On Syria, Clinton said the U.S. goal is to see Bashir al-Assad's government stop killing its own people.

"The goal right now is if the Assad regime were to say, 'OK, we agree, we're going to do everything that [United Nations envoy] Kofi Annan asks us to do,' that will be our focus -- not some future, maybe unlikely, outcome in terms of criminal accountability," she said. "What I'm interested in is 'Let's stop the violence and let's start the political transition.'"
The United States stands ready to do what the international community decides on Syria, she added.

The administration has taken a firm stand on North Korea and the provocative behavior of its new ruler Kim Jong Un, Panetta said. "We're within an inch of war almost every day in that part of the world," he said. "And you just have to be very careful about what we say and what we do."

The U.S. alliance with South Korea is strong, Panetta said, and more than 28,000 U.S. service members are based in the country, providing a tangible example of U.S. commitment to peace in Northeast Asia.

Provocations such as North Korea's recent failed rocket launch and threats of testing a nuclear weapon should stop, Panetta said. "The fact is it was provocative, and we have made it very clear to them that they should not take any additional, provocative actions," he said.

The defense secretary stressed that this is not just a U.S. wish, but that the international community wants North Korea to end its provocations.

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON'S REMARKS ON GLOBAL TRAVEL INDUSTRY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks for 12th Annual Global Travel and Tourism Summit
Press Statement Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State Washington, DC
April 19, 2012
Good morning, everyone. I am delighted to send greetings to you as you discuss new ways to lead this dynamic industry through these exciting and challenging times.
The United States and Japan enjoy a strong partnership based on a history of shared experiences, common values and ties of family and friends. This partnership is as strong as ever today. We’ve worked closely with you during the past year to help rebuild after the tragic events of last March. Japan has helped so many people around the world during their own crises and catastrophes and I want to express my appreciation to all of you for meeting in Japan and spreading the message that Japan is indeed open for business, including tourism.

More than one billion people will travel around the world this year. They will help our economies grow and support new areas of cooperation. At the State Department, we’re working to support tourism through student exchanges, study abroad opportunities and our visa waiver program. We, too, want the world to know that America is open for business, tourism and investment.

We are keeping America safe while welcoming visitors who add to our nation's culture and economy. As government and industry leaders, we need to look toward the future, and continue to harness the forces of change. So, I can’t wait to hear about what new ideas you come up with at this conference, because travel and tourism have the power to build new bridges, broaden our understanding, and make our world a safer, more prosperous, peaceful place. Thank you all very much.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT ON GUINEA-BISSAU

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
UN Security Council Presidential Statement on Guinea-Bissau
Susan E. Rice
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
U.S. Mission to the United Nations New York, N YApril 21, 2012
NOTE: This is issued in the United States’ capacity as president of the UN Security Council
The Security Council recalls its Press Statement SC/10607 of 13 April 2012 and reiterates its strong condemnation of the military coup by the military leadership and political elements in Guinea-Bissau, thereby undermining the conclusion of the legitimate presidential electoral process.

The Security Council rejects the unconstitutional establishment of a Transitional National Council by the military leadership and its supporters.

The Security Council demands the immediate restoration of the constitutional order as well as the reinstatement of the legitimate government of Guinea-Bissau. The Security Council further demands the immediate and unconditional release of the interim President Raimundo Pereira, Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and all officials currently detained in order to enable the completion of the presidential and legislative elections. In this regard, the Council welcomes the decision of the African Union Peace and Security Council to suspend, with immediate effect, Guinea-Bissau from the African Union (AU) until the effective restoration of constitutional order.

The Security Council underlines the need to ensure the safety and security of those detained and that those responsible for violent and illegal acts must be held accountable.
The Security Council is deeply concerned by reports of violent repression of peaceful demonstrations, looting, restriction of freedom of movement, the arbitrary detention of civilians and demands their release. The Council calls on the military leadership to release information on the number of arrests and the names and whereabouts of those arrested and further calls upon the military to protect human rights including the rights to freedom of movement, peaceful assembly and expression.

The Security Council welcomes and supports the active engagement and measures undertaken by the AU, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), and encourages the coordination of these efforts for the immediate restoration of the constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau.

The Security Council urges Guinea-Bissau’s partners to further strengthen these efforts and requests the Secretary General to support these endeavors, namely through his Special Representatives.

The Council stands ready to consider possible further measures, including targeted sanctions against the perpetrators and supporters of the military coup, should the situation remain unresolved.

The Security Council takes note of the AU’s decision to initiate consultations with ECOWAS, the CPLP, the United Nations and other partners on possible additional means necessary for the stabilization of the country, in consultation with the legitimate government of Guinea-Bissau.

The Council requests the Secretary General to keep it informed on developments in Guinea-Bissau and to submit a report by 30 April 2012, concerning the reestablishment of the constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau.

The Security Council stresses that the recurrence of illegal interference of the military in politics contributes to the persistence of instability and a culture of impunity, and hampers efforts towards consolidation of the rule of law, implementation of Security Sector Reform, promotion of development and entrenchment of a democratic culture. In this regard, the Council welcomes the efforts of the Peacebuilding Commission Country Specific Configuration and of the Angolan bilateral Mission (MISSANG) in pursuit of peace and stability in the country.

The members of the Security Council emphasize the need to uphold and respect the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Guinea-Bissau.
The Security Council will remain actively seized of the matter.