NOW ON EXHIBIT

$3.86 Million Raised Toward $6 Million Goal to Support At-Risk Children in Linn County

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Four Oaks today launched the public phase of its TotalChild Commit to a Child campaign, announcing it has raised $3.86 million of its $6 million campaign goal. TotalChild is based on the idea that when children hurdle all obstacles to success, then families, homes, neighborhoods and communities are stronger.

Of the $6 million campaign goal, $3 million will be devoted to Four Oaks' TotalChild programing addressing youth mental health, education, family unit support and safety. The remaining $3 million will go toward housing improvements being made by the Affordable Housing Network, Inc. in Wellington Heights to fulfill children's basic needs of safe and stable homes.

"We are very grateful to the Hall-Perrine Foundation, Campaign Co-Chairs Chris and Suzy DeWolf, Campaign Co-Chairs Kyle and Susan Skogman, Donna Oldorf, John and Dyan Smith, United Fire Foundation, McIntyre Foundation, Aegon  Transamerica Foundation, World Class Industries, Union Electricians and Employers (IBEW #405 & NECA) and two anonymous donors for their lead gifts," said Jim Ernst, Four Oaks President and CEO.  "Their kindness has jump-started this important campaign to help even more at-risk children and their families get on the path to success."

TotalChild is Four Oaks' comprehensive and long-term approach for helping children and families. The approach helps families with skills like parenting, financial literacy, job training, housing assistance and education. TotalChild employs success managers to work with at-risk children and their families to stabilize children's current needs and implement a plan to meet the family's long-term needs and goals.

"TotalChild is a better way to deliver social services, and Four Oaks has helped hundreds of families," said TotalChild campaign co-chair, Chris DeWolf. "TotalChild is different from other human-services approaches that only address one childhood problem at a time and is unique in that we help kids hurdle all obstacles to success all the way into adulthood."

According to Ernst, the $3 million designated for TotalChild programming will help children overcome behavioral and cognitive problems and will connect children with community partners. These resources are coordinated by success managers who work with the children and their families.

"We believe that every child and family can be successful, and our success managers offer encouragement and hope," said Ernst. "They do not judge. When everyone else is telling these kids and families they can't, our success managers are telling them they can and will."

Another $3 million will be earmarked for Wellington Heights renovation.  The Wellington Heights neighborhood initiative will help families eventually become homeowners in a safe and supportive community.                                  

"When we think about the hurdles some of these children face daily, we are compelled to get involved," said Kyle Skogman, campaign co-chair. "Now, we ask community members to give what they can to this important campaign to help get our most vulnerable youth on the right path to become successful adults and strengthen our communities in the long-term."

In Iowa, 100,000 children live in poverty and 25,000 children are victims of abuse and neglect each year. Four Oaks, and its affiliates, serves 14,000 children and families every year in a variety of child welfare, behavioral health and criminal justice programs.

"TotalChild has been a blessing to our family.  We hope it will result in more help for families who live throughout Linn County and in the Wellington Heights neighborhood," said Mariana Hendricks, a TotalChild mother. "Our life has been transformed because of it.  I feel like I have a family partnership that will help me raise my child so he and I can be successful."

There are many ways to get involved and Commit to a Child. Gifts may be made in cash, pledges, securities, bequests, real estate, life insurance or personal property. Gifts can sponsor a TotalChild, a success manager or a renovated home, apartment or home supplies.

The Commit to a Child campaign steering committee is co-chaired by Chris and Suzy DeWolf and Kyle and Susan Skogman. Other steering committee members include : John and Thelma Rife; Kathy and Rex Eno; John and Dyan Smith; Lydia Brown; Steve Allsop; Brian Scott; Dina Dusk; Diane Ramsey; Lisa Rhatigan; Karl Hoffman; Duane Smith; Sally Novetzke; Dan Thies; and Doug Neighbor.

For more information about TotalChild and the Commit to a Child campaign, visit TotalChildIowa.org or FourOaks.org

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Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control

Hearing on "Dangerous Synthetic Drugs"

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Prepared Statement of

Co-Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa

Madam Chairman, it's been over two years since this caucus held its first hearing on synthetic drug abuse.  At that hearing, we heard testimony from a constituent of mine named Michael Rozga.  Mr. Rozga's son David committed suicide shortly after smoking "K2."  "K2" is synthetic marijuana that is very different from the naturally occurring plant.  David had legally purchased this synthetic drug at a local shopping mall.  He then had a very rapid and negative reaction to it.  I said then that David may have been the first person in the United States to die from using this kind of synthetic drug, but surely he wouldn't be the last.

Sadly, my concerns were validated, as the abuse of synthetic drugs continued to escalate.  From 2010 to 2011, the number of calls received by poison control centers related to synthetic marijuana increased from 2,906 to 6,959.  And similar calls about the synthetic drugs known as "bath salts" increased from 304 to 6,138.  Emergency room visits associated with these synthetic drugs rose sharply as well.

In 2012, Congress responded to this crisis.  I worked with you, Madam Chairman, as well as Senators Schumer, Klobuchar and many others, to pass the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2012.  That legislation placed many of these synthetic drugs on Schedule I, making them illegal.  That was an important step to help protect our young people from the effects of these drugs.

There is some evidence that that legislation had a positive effect.  In 2012, calls to poison control centers related to synthetic marijuana dropped from 6,959 to 5,205.  Similar calls related to "bath salts" dropped from 6,138 to 2,657.

But new synthetic drugs have emerged since we passed that legislation.  Traffickers need only to alter the chemical structure of their drugs to effectively circumvent the law.  And these drugs continue to ruin lives in communities across the country.

In just the past few weeks, news reports have linked a synthetic form of ecstasy called "Molly" to the deaths of at least four young people in Boston, New York, and here in Washington.  What seems especially concerning is that authorities may not yet have a clear understanding of precisely what substances are contained in "Molly."  Regardless of its precise chemical makeup, there appears little doubt that "Molly" is a clear and present threat to the health and safety of our young people.

My home state of Iowa also continues to be affected by synthetic drugs.   On a single weekend last May, three teenagers in the Des Moines area were sent to emergency rooms after smoking synthetic marijuana.  One of them reportedly suffered cardiac arrest.

There is some good news, however.  In communities across the country, citizens are helping to sound the alarm about the dangers of synthetic drugs.

The Rozga family continues to share David's story.  They have also started a website, K2drugfacts.com, which provides a forum for folks who've survived encounters with synthetic drugs to share their stories.

A community group called "Iowans Against Synthetics" has successfully pushed to have this week declared "Synthetic Drugs Awareness Week" in Johnson County, Iowa.

The Iowa Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy has also taken steps to raise awareness about emerging drug trends such as synthetics.  Beginning this month, the office is issuing a monthly newsletter called The Connection. The newsletter will publish the latest news about new drugs in Iowa and trends among young people.

But despite these positive actions, synthetic drug manufacturers still have the ability to circumvent the law by slightly altering their chemical compounds.  A change of a molecule or two to a banned drug is sometimes enough to make a new and legal alternative.  This is a difficult problem without an easy solution.  But I look forward to hearing from the witnesses and working with you, Madam Chairman, to explore how we can continue to be effective in combatting the abuse of these dangerous synthetic drugs.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Grassley Presses EPA to Increase Transparency and Address Reports that RIN Market is Being Exploited by Wall Street

WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa is pressing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase the transparency of the Renewable Identification Number (RIN) market and provide assurances that the market is functioning for its intended purpose, rather than acting as a profit mechanism for Wall Street banks and other financial institutions.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Grassley wrote, "I'm concerned about recent reports of manipulation or exploitation of the RIN market by non-obligated parties, including financial institutions.  Allegations that the opaqueness of this market is leading to abuse and exploitation by individuals or firms simply to generate profits at the expense of refiners, other obligated parties, and perhaps consumers is troubling."

A copy of the text of Grassley's letter to McCarthy is below.  A signed copy can be found here.

 

September 25, 2013

The Honorable Gina McCarthy

Administrator

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20460

 

Dear Administrator McCarthy:

I've been a strong supporter of domestically produced biofuels for many years.  The production of homegrown biofuels allows American consumers to use a product that is renewable, cleaner and domestically produced.  The Renewable Fuel Standard has been a great success in achieving higher use of biofuels in our transportation fuel supply.

The Renewable Fuel Standard includes a RIN credit trading system. The RIN credit market was created as part of the Renewable Fuel Standard to provide flexibility and aid obligated parties in complying with their annual renewable volume obligations (RVO's).

I'm concerned about recent reports of manipulation or exploitation of the RIN market by non-obligated parties, including financial institutions.  Allegations that the opaqueness of this market is leading to abuse and exploitation by individuals or firms simply to generate profits at the expense of refiners, other obligated parties, and perhaps consumers is troubling.  The EPA needs to provide assurances that this market is functioning for its intended purpose, rather than acting as a profit mechanism for Wall Street banks and other financial institutions.  For that reason, I'd like the EPA to respond to the following questions.

1.      Other trading markets are regulated to protect market participants against fraud, manipulation and abusive trading practices.  What safeguards does EPA have in place to protect against RIN market manipulation and abuses by non-obligated third parties who are not directly involved in the renewable fuel supply chain?

2.      Please describe the oversight network EPA has in place to ensure that the RIN credit market is not manipulated by obligated parties or non-obligated parties.

3.      Is EPA working to modify the RIN credit market to eliminate manipulation and abusive trading practices like hoarding?  Has EPA considered implementing the type of volatility controls that are present in other markets, such as limits on daily price movements, position limits, etc.?

4.       Is there a way for the general public and all parties who generate, own or trade RINs to discover the market price for RINS through the EPA's EMTS system?  How do the prices reported by third-party industry publications compare to prices reported to the EMTS system?

5.      Why doesn't EPA publicly disclose information that would enhance the transparency of the RIN market?  Has EPA considered providing aggregated data to the public regarding RIN transaction prices, volumes traded, and volumes held by the various segments of the marketplace (i.e., obligated refiners, obligated importers, non-obligated blenders/marketers, and non-obligated third parties with no tie to the supply chain)?

6.      Is it possible for consumers or obligated parties to determine the amount of separated RINs in the market at a given time?  Is it possible at any given time to determine from publicly available data who holds those separated RINs?

7.      To what degree are non-obligated parties with no direct involvement in the fuel supply chain (e.g., financial institutions, speculative investors, etc.) participating in the RIN market?  What percentage of separated RINs are being held by non-obligated parties with no tie to the fuel supply chain?  What percentage are being held by non-obligated blenders, marketers and retailers?

8.      Is the current opaque RIN credit market the best way to achieve a fair, orderly and efficient market that protects market participants and is free of manipulation?

9.      Has EPA considered installing external oversight over the RIN credit market?

It's troubling that there appears to be no way to determine who is trading the credits, at what price, and at what volumes.  It's even more alarming that it's impossible to know the extent of the involvement of financial or other speculators.  It's imperative, to maintain confidence that the pricing of RINs is based on market forces and not manipulation or excessive speculation, that EPA increase the transparency of the market.  By answering these questions, EPA may be able to provide the necessary transparency.

Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to your prompt reply.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley

United States Senator