Department of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Complete DHS Daily Report for April 22, 2009

Daily Report

Top Stories

 According to the Oil & Gas Journal, six independent producers agreed to spend $6.4 million to comply with the U.S. Clean Air Act at their eastern Utah natural gas production facilities, federal regulators said on April 17. (See item 3)


3. April 20, Oil & Gas Journal – (Utah) Producers settle air pollution charges at eastern Utah sites. Six independent producers agreed to spend $6.4 million to comply with the U.S. Clean Air Act at their eastern Utah natural gas production facilities, federal regulators said April 17. The three settlements with Bill Barrett Corp., Wind River Corp., XTO Energy Inc., Dominion Exploration & Production Inc., Whiting Oil & Gas Corp., and Miller Dyer & Co. mandate air pollution reductions and conservation practices at the companies’ wellheads, pipelines, and compressor stations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a joint announcement. They said the agreements cover operations on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation near Vernal. They were filed in federal district court in Salt Lake City. The $6.4 million of outlays include retrofitting pneumatic controls with lower emitted components, reviewing processes to increase gas recovery and reduce air emissions at compressor stations and well sites, installing low-bleed or no-bleed pneumatics, and controlling emission sources such as large engines, gas dehydrators, and condensate tanks at all new facilities constructed in the next 5 years, the federal agencies said. It also includes shale-plating all future access roads, spending $100,000 to fund two ambient air monitoring stations’ operation and maintenance for a year, and using less polluting and more energy-efficient technologies in pilot programs, they added. The companies also agreed to pay $632,000 in fines and to spend $200,000 on supplemental environmental projects, EPA and DOJ said. They said complaints, which were filed along with the settlements, alleged that the producers violated hazardous air pollutant emissions standards; federal permitting, emissions monitoring, and reporting requirements; and other Clean Air Act provisions. Source: http://www.ogj.com/display_article/359729/7/ONART/none/GenIn/1/Producers-settle-air-pollution-charges-at-eastern-Utah-sites/


 WAGA 5 Atlanta reports that a runway had to be shut down at Hartsfield Jackson Airport in Georgia on April 19 because of problems with a military plane. About 65 flights were affected. (See item 18)


18. April 19, WAGA 5 Atlanta – (Georgia) Passengers delayed at Hartsfield-Jackson. A runway had to be “shut down” at Hartsfield Jackson Airport April 19 because of problems with a military plane. Several flights were delayed and it has reduced the number of flights going in and out of Hartsfield. “We were told that there was something wrong with a military plane on the ground in Atlanta,” said a passenger. Airport officials said an Army cargo aircraft called Short 360 had blown its right main gear tire. Runway 26R — a runway typically used for flights from northern airports — was closed at about 4 p.m. April 19. Airport crews replaced the tire, cleaned up and reopened the runway at about 6:30 p.m. “They said the plane had been sitting on the runway for almost two hours and it was blocking a complete runway,” said another passenger. Officials with Delta said they experienced minimal delays. Over all, about 65 flights were affected. Source: http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/Military_Plane_Shuts_Down_Atlanta_Runway_041909


Details

Banking and Finance Sector

13. April 21, Baltimore Sun – (National) Bailout fraud cases emerge. In the first major disclosure of corruption and fraud in the $750 billion federal bailout program, investigators said April 20 that they have opened 20 criminal probes into possible securities fraud, tax law violations, insider trading and mortgage modification fraud. The special inspector general overseeing the bailout program said in an interview that the investigations are just the first wave of cases by his office. He expects the first criminal indictments to occur later this year. The disclosures reinforce the worst fears that the hastily designed and rapidly changing bailout program run by the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve is going to carry a heavy price of fraud against taxpayers, even as questions grow about whether it can accomplish its goal of stabilizing the nation’s financial system. Ultimately, fraud could run into the tens of billions of dollars, according to the special inspector. The risk of those kinds of criminal activities is growing as the bailout becomes bigger and more complicated. Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.tarp21apr21,0,2254672.story


14. April 21, All Headline News – (Pennsylvania) SEC charges Pennsylvania investment advisor with $23M Ponzi-style scheme. A Pennsylvania investment advisor has been charged with fraud in misappropriating more than $23 million of his client’s assets in a Ponzi scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on April 20 it had charged the defendant and his Acorn Capital Management firm. The government has secured a court order freezing the assets of both. The defendant, of Coatsville, Pennsylvania, allegedly used investor’s funds to pay other investors and also stole some of the money to pay for luxuries such as horse ownership and racing, construction, boats, limousines, chartered aircraft and a vacation home in Palm Beach, Florida, the SEC said. SEC officials say the fraud allegedly began in mid-2005 and continued until recently. The defendant used an investment partnership Acorn II L.P., which he had established in 2001 to invest in publicly traded securities. Source: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7014867603


Information Technology


30. April 21, Spamfighter News – (International) Phishing scams surround PayPal account holders. Security experts at Better Business Bureau (BBB) claim that phishing scams targeting Paypal customers are on a rise. Supporting their research they elucidate the three latest phishing scams on PayPal. One of the phishing e-mails that are presently dodging PayPal customers informs the recipient that his/her PayPal billing updates have expired. Updates will save the e-mail recipients from the problems in near future. The recipient is further told to update his/her information; failure to which may result in the suspension of his/her PayPal account. For this purpose, fake links are also given in the e-mail, which forward the user to a rogue PayPal website. Interestingly, the aforementioned phishing e-mail was general, while the next one is personalized. This e-mail addressing Jane Doe informs her of her online credit card account with PayPal expiring shortly. It further states that in order to ensure uninterrupted services, the recipient should update her credit card details by visiting the PayPal website via the link provided in the e-mail and furnishing all the information asked therein. Finally, the third phishing e-mail states that in wake of some recent fraud activities detected on PayPal accounts, PayPal is going to start a fresh security program so as to make its Internet accounts safe and secure. Before activating this new system, PayPal will be assessing all its accounts to verify the authenticity of the account-holder. The e-mail further tells that the account holders will be informed in case of stealing, hacking, suspension or freezing of their accounts. The e-mail further asks the recipients to confirm the status of their accounts by clicking on the link provided within the e-mail, which ultimately directs the users to a phishing website appearing like PayPal. Source: http://www.spamfighter.com/News-12231-Phishing-Scams-Surround-PayPal-Account-Holders.htm

Communications Sector

Nothing to report.