Driving Under the Influence : Corn Ethanol and Food Security

Environmental Working Group / By Craig Cox and Andrew Hug http://www.ewg.org/files/EWG-corn-ethanol-energy-security.pdf [From press release] Between 2005 and 2009, U.S. taxpayers spent a whopping $17 billion to subsidize corn ethanol blends in gasoline. What did they get in return? A reduction in overall oil consumption equal to an unimpressive 1.1 mile-per-gallon increase in fleet-wide fuel economy. … Continue reading »

Improving FEMA’s Disaster Purchase Card Program

Office of Inspector General. Dept. of Homeland Security http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_10-91_May10.pdf [From executive summary] The Federal Emergency Management Agency can improve its disaster purchase card program and related internal controls by: Consolidating, updating, and more effectively communicating policies and procedures; Taking better advantage of preventive controls to minimize risk exposure; Working with the Department of Homeland Security … Continue reading »

FEMA ‘s Practices for Evaluating Insurance Coverage for Disaster Damage and Determining Project Eligibility and Costs Report

Office of Inspector General, Office of Emergency Management Oversight. Dept. of Homeland Security http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/auditrpts/OIG_DS-10-08_Jun10.pdf [From Report] During our audit of Gulf Coast Recovery: FEMA’s Management ofthe Hazard Mitigation Component of the Public Assistance Program (Audit Report Number OIG-lO-28 of December 10, 2009), we identified reportable conditions outside the scope of that audit. We employed audit … Continue reading »