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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 1981)
■ ■■ Page 6 State THE BATTALION TUESDAY. APRIL 14. 1981 Comanche Peak nuke plant construction costs not set United Press International DALLAS — Hundreds of mil lions of taxpayer dollars may be risked in a plan to allow two Texas electric cooperatives to buy into the proposed Comanche Peak nuclear power plant without set ting limits on the construction costs. The plant’s costs have been re vised upward several times from the original $779 million estimate in 1972 submitted by Texas Utili ties Co., the plant’s builders. The latest projections made in a loan guarantee application filed by one of the cooperatives puts the tag at close to $3 billion. Under the new purchase plan, the two cooperatives — Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. in Waco and Tex-La Electric Pow er Cooperative of Texas, Inc. in San Augustine — would reported ly buy 8.13 percent of the plant from subsidiaries of Texas Utili ties. The cooperatives plan to pay for the project with least $232.5 million in federal loans and loan guarantees. In the event of a default by the cooperatives, the loans must be Seniors Vote Mark Retzloff repaid from tax dollars. Tliere would be no ceiling on the con struction costs. Texas Utilities officials say the cost of the nuclear plant, which will be built near Glen Rose, southwest of Dallas in Somervell County, has not increased beyond its 1980 estimate of $2,235 billion. One of the cooperatives, Brazos Electric, reportedly already has secured $97.5 million in federal loans and guarantees, while Tex- La has applied for a federal loan of $135 million. The federal agencies involved in the purchase plan are the Rural Electrification Administration and the Federal Financing Bank, which make the loans fully guaran teed by tax dollars. The U.S. General Accounting Office has criticized the agencies for letting cooperatives finance their projects through such loan gurantees because they represent a major risk to taxpayers. The GAO has estimated that by the middle of the next decade, the REA would have committed loans in excess of $200 billion and has urged shifting at least part of the risk to private lenders and bor- Comanche Peak's twin reactors are being built by Brazos Electric, Tex-La, Texas Municipal Power Agency and three subsidiaries of Texas Utilities. The subsidiaries are Dallas Power & Light Co., Texas Electric Service Co. and Texas Power & Light Co. Under the original plan, the three subsidiaries of Texas Utili ties were to have been the equal owners of Comanche Peak. But in 1978 the three began selling por tions of the plant to the other cooperatives. A number of anti-nuclear de monstrations and arrests have occurred at the controversial nuc lear plant, which remains under construction. and Sean Rudolph Class Agents paid for by Kenzy Hallmark il/ESDA! RAIN OR SHINE PASTAS TUESDAY NIGHT BUFFET goes on!! 6 to 8 p.m. All the pizza, fried chicken and salad you can eat for only And don’t forget our daily lunch buffet too!! OPEN Sun.-Thurs. Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-12 a.m. 11 a.m.-l a.m. PASTES PIZZA SPAGHETTI LASAGNA United Pr GRAMBLII dents on the; State Univer apprehensive arrival of the quarterback ii Thirteen yi is being revive ..excitement w NBC movie ci of “Gramblinj Bruce J( Olympic deca Jim Gregory, dominantly neighborhood tion and som mates at blac! Harry Bel for his Calyp The ‘braidy’ bunch Nancy Montgomery, senior marketing ma jor, sits patiently as Danice Killen fixes her hair into a French braid. The demonstra tion was part of a promotion for the spring fashion show sponsored by MSC Hospi tality Committee and Mademoiselle magazine staffers. VAN HOR pected by fee -U.S. District Monday on cl illegally possi Represent ra, Harrelsor felony indict ings in the 2 1 County. Harrelson , county jail un and tennis sb the hearing ir ouston imn Harrelson ’epf ember af for seven ho suicide. He v (A O 2< Z N O N Q E LUNCH SPECIAL I Good Only 11:30 AM-4:30 PM I Committee okays loan interest hike Pr, 693-2335 846-8861 I $2.00 OFF ANY LARGE 2 OR MORE ITEM PIZZA I OR $1.00 OFF ANY SMALL 2 OR MORE ITEM PIZZA. I ONE COUPON PER PIZZA. FREE DELIVERY WITHIN LIMITED AREA. 4407 TEXAS AVE. 1504 HOLLEMAN — EX PIRES 4-30-81. , I I There’s no pizza like Pasta’s pizza! Tour Easter Basket Headquarters! guarantee it! 807 TEXAS AVE. 696-3380 Hwy. 30 Woodstone Commerce Center 696-2850 AGGIELAND ACCOUNTING MAJORS GAAP IS HERE! Sponsored by Accounting Society and Beta Alpha Psi Greater Annual Accountant’s Playday (and banquet) Thursday April 16, 1981 Events 5-K RUN TENNIS GOLF Reception Awards Banquet Dance following Students, compete with professors and professionals! More Information available at the Ac counting Department at the Old Hospital Building. Tickets are on sale from 9:00 - 1:00 everyday. United Press International AUSTIN — The Senate Econo mic Development Committee to day approved 7-1 a bill allowing the interest rate ceiling on con sumer loans to go as high as 24 percent and the commercial loan ceiling to climb to 28 percent. The bill, which passed the House earlier, imposed the 24 percent ceiling on all loans, but the committee rejected over whelmingly an attempt by Sen Peyton McKnight, D-Tyler, tore- tain that ceiling for both consumer and commercial loans. John Gronouski of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs testified against the bill, saying a study showed interest rates in ev ery state have quickly climbed to the maximum allowed when new ceilings were imposed. “I think the impact of this bill will be devastating with respect to small loan consumers,’’ Gronous ki said. “Unfortunately, the floating ceiling of up to 24 percent may not always be sufficient for certain high risk commercial loans. Therefore, we do need an outside ceiling high enough to allow the market-sensitive floating ceiling to operate to provide needed capital to many Texas firms,” he said. Gronouski also objected to the complex wording of the bill, and told the committee, “The bill is so damn complex that no consumeris ever going to understand it.” “How many consumers under stand the present credit code? Jones replied. United BROWN < iora Palma” lessman an ranter and die, but she for $22,300, said. Gypsy pa Palma,” whe Adams, is sc sentencing a a reduced ch of property the con garr Governn called the ' bizarre ever I&] 1981-’82 Staff position open Apply at Reed McDonald rm. 216 Applications due by Anril 17. 1981 MSC LOST & FOUND AUCTION Featuring KEYES CARSON, Auctioneer Going Going twici MSC Main Lounge Wednesday, April 15 10 am-2 pm Previews at 9 am For further information Caff 845-1515 ©UNCIL ©KCJECTS CA$H ONLY