THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1980 Page 7 nation S m Wanted: coal exports Taskforce created to promote resource g again estricli® will pu| that til tate wilt \ , We® e state!; ngwili 3 protec usei r orceme: ed to t'J a wiretji and tlj legislatia naltiesfc e wirefa;- United Press International WASHINGTON — The Carter administration Tuesday launched an inter-agency task force to report to the president in six months on ways to expand U.S. coal exports, said De puty Energy Secretary John Sawhill. Sawhill told reporters the task force, which will examine trade bar riers to coal exports, is one of five new administration programs prom oting coal, the country’s most abun dant energy resource. The others are the synthetic fuels bill, enforcement of a law on coal conversions in industrial boilers, a $1 billion research and development program and $10 billion in proposed subsidies for utility coal conversions. Sawhill said his agency estimates coal exports could grow from the cur rent 5-million-ton level to 80 million or 100 million tons by the end of the decade. He said such a 20-fold increase in exports could create 38,000 new mining jobs and 190,000 related jobs. “There can be no argument that we must export more coal to improve the balance of trade, take pressure off the dollar and dampen inflation, as well as lift the burden of oil from the backs of our allies, who are far more dependent on imports than we are,” said Sawhill. Last year, the 20 industrialized na tions participating in an Internation al Energy Agency meeting and the seven attending the Tokyo economic summit agreed to find ways to in crease coal use. The United States recently has also discussed expansion of its coal export trade with France and Spain. Next week, Sawhill said, a delega tion of senior U.S. coal industry offi cials will meet in Paris to help the International Energy Agency mem bers find ways to boost their use of coal. No illegalities in silver crash United Press International WASHINGTON — Although the ! Commodities Futures Trading Com mission continues to pursue reasons for last month’s scary silver market crash, one commissioner told a con gressional panel Tuesday so far there has been no evidence of illegal mar ket manipulation. In an obvious reference to bil lionaire brothers W. Herbert and Nelson Bunker Hunt of Texas, Com missioner David Gartner told a House Government Operations sub- | committee the agency has found no evidence of a corner, squeeze or manipulation of the market. Silver prices plummeted to $10 an ounce in late March — down from a high of $50 in January, and much of the blame was attributed to the Hunts, who after acquiring massive amounts of silver, were unable to meet their contract payments known as margin calls. The Hunts’ action sparked a panic selling spree, and a subsequent spree in stocks of corporations known to have connections with the wealthy Texans. The subcommittee invited the Hunts to testify, but by Tuesday they had not responded. “They’ll testify, one way or the other,” declared sub committee chairman Benjamin Rosenthal, D-N.Y. Fat man wants stomach stapled tomeyii imtetb 28, ofi to de| 0 Id!:::; ICarzai. if Venn ly involc . 24,1*1 few Oils aties tional g the Ei* ed in United Press International ORLANDO, Fla. — Bill Mur phy’s friends are trying to collect enough money to finance stomach- stapling surgery for the 600-pound man. “I just don’t know how to come up with $5,000,” Murphy said Monday. “Ijust don’t know. Maybe my friends will think of something.” He says he will die without surgery because of the strain his heart bears. Just talking on the tele phone takes his breath away. A walk to the mailbox to collect his monthly $239 disability payment leaves Mur phy huffing for 10 minutes. But even the indignity of bathing in the backyard with a garden hose because he can’t fit into the tub has not motivated Murphy to keep from gaining weight. He has abandoned one diet after another. “I just don’t have no will power,” he said. “The whole thing in a nutshell is I don’t have no activity. I don’t have nothing to turn to because no one will hire me. I say to myself, why not enjoy food while I still can?” he said. “The way the doctor talked, it wouldn’t be very long before it would get the best of me, all this fat, ” Murphy, a bachelor, said. “In other words, I’m like a walking time bomb. My heart could go any time.” He says the only solution is an operation to close off his stomach so it holds no more than 2 ounces of food. I I [jr^i 1 I . A ' e ARMCO I I 'J A subcommittee aide said the panel was expected to vote in the next day or two on whether to sub poena the brothers. “The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has nothing to apolo gize for with respect to its role in connection with recent reverbera tions in the silver futures market,” Gartner said. “The silver phenomenon was free enterprise at its finest hour, ” he said. “It demonstrated the system works. ” Because of the large margin re quirements at the time of the crash, Gartner told the panel, “No one other than large speculators and un wary brokers got hurt.” “The market cured itself, ” he said. pimiiiimiifl Comissioner Read Dunn said he doesn’t think there is a need for addi tional regulation, and indicated much of the problem was due to hoarding by foreign investors. Commissioner Robert Martin agreed further government regula tion to ensure customer protection is unnecessary. He said investors should be protected against fraud, deceit and improper diversion of their funds, but regulation “should not offer any shelter from the con sequences of their own judgement.” Chairman James Stone was in the minority. “I think the financial fabric of the United States was en dangered,” he said. We Buy All Books!