THE BATTALION
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1981
Page il;
State
Natural gas price decontrols
will cause higher fuel costs
o by Riisi
7?
United Press International
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The era
of low-cost natural gas has ended,
leaving consumers with a supply
of energy that could disappear if
they refuse to pay the price, a
Texas natural gas firm says.
Panhandle Eastern Corp. Vice
President Stanford A. Wallace,
speaking to reporters at a briefing
Friday, said the price of natural
gas will continue to increase and
will jump dramatically when
prices are decontrolled in 1985.
He said Panhandle, which
serves about 500,000 customers in
Illinois, is worried about the 1985
jump in prices — a provision of the
federal Natural Gas Pricing Act
adopted in 1978.
The act, which encourages
domestic natural gas exploration
through incentive pricing, pro
vides for decontrol of natural gas
discovered after February 1977.
Wallace said the natural gas in
dustry wants more of a phased de
control before 1985, so customers
will not be hit with higher bills all
at once.
“The potential sudden and dra
matic price rise on January 1,
1986, is of great concern to us,”
Wallace said.
“It is one of the reasons we and
others have been studying possi
ble modification of the act before
1985. We are opposed to sudden
and complete deregulation of all
gas production,” he said.
Wallace said the public has a
misconception about the nation’s
so-called surplus of natural gas.
He said any surplus is temporary,
unless the government provides
more incentives to drill for new
reserves and a national handsoff
pricing policy.
He said the current surplus —
caused by the public’s tecent con
servation efforts, a slowdown in
the economy and increased gas
productivity — is expected to dis
appear within three years.
“There is reason to be optimis
tic about the long-term prospects
for discovering and producing
additional volumes of natural gas.
But the major factor in converting
geologic potential into flowing gas
is economic incentive and national
policy,” Wallace said.
More incentives and total de
control, he said, automatically
mean higher prices. But natural
gas customers will not have to face
another natural gas shortage simi
lar to the one in the 1970s.
“Higher prices are the only in
strument that can assure stable
supplies and continued efficien
cy,” Wallace said.
He said Panhandle has begun a
program of acquiring new supplies
of gas, including more gas from
Canada and imported liquified
natural gas from Algeria. In 1982,
Panhandle expects liquified natu
ral gas to equal 16 percent of the
total gas available for its market.
Panhandle also investigated
converting coal to natural gas, he
said, but added it is still too diffi
cult and costly to develop.
“Gas from this source (coal)
most likely will not be available
because of the difficulties we have
encountered to completing a feasi
ble plan to finance a coal gasifica
tion plant,” Wallace explained.
“We announced a substantial
slowdown on this project on Sep
tember 1, primarily because of un
certainty of federal policy on
assisting synthetic energy pro
jects.”
Panhandle, owner of the Trunk
line Gas Co., operates 16,000
miles of pipeline and under
ground storage fields in six states,
including two in Illinois. It sup
plies about 17 percent of the natu
ral gas requirements of the state
by selling gas to eight investor-
owned utilties, 35 municipal gas
systems and 12 industrial cus
tomers.
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Firefighter finds
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Mom and pop battling
Harris county for house
United Press International
HOUSTON — Harris Coun
ty officials say W. D. and
Frances Wofford must tear
down their $130,000 house to
keep it from being flooded.
“The whole thing is like a bad
nightmare, Mrs. Wofford said
Friday. “We’ve put our life sav
ings into the house and now
they tell us we have to tear it
down.”
afford to build the levee, which
Mrs. Wofford thinks is unneces
sary.
“We’ve had that lot for 15
years and there has never been
a flood there,” she said. “Be
sides, we don’t have any money
left. We kept taking money out
of our savings a little at a time.
It’s all in the house now.”
Harris County Commission
ers’ Court Thursday backed
Commissioner Bob Eckel’s re
commendation to deny the
Woffords an exception to the
county building regulations be
cause of flooding problems.
Eckels said unless the couple
build a levee around the house,
which is located on a 100-year
flood plain, he will approach
County Attorney Mike Driscoll
to begin legal steps to have the
house torn down.
But the Woffords, nearing
retirement from a mom and pop
electronics supply store, cannot
Eckels said if a variance is
granted allowing the Woffords
to keep the house without the
levee, the county’s federal flood
insurance program might be
cancelled.
“If we waived it (the Wof
ford’s permit) I think we would
be subjecting this county to a
federal lawsuit.”
But Mrs. Wofford said she
was told that under special cir
cumstances, the variance can be
granted.
“The regulation states a
variance can be issued if you
show extreme financial hard
ship,” she said. “My husband
has had three cancer surgeries.
We were financing the house so
our son could move back here
and run our business and take
care of us in our retirement.
“When you get in your 60s
and you’re not working for a
large corporation with a retire
ment fund, you have to rely on
social security.”
Mrs. Wofford identified the
builder as Edwin LaMont Sr.,
and LaMont denied he was told
by county officials to stop work
because the lot was on the flood
plain.
County engineer Marvin
Marek, however, said the
variance permit application was
signed by LaMont.
“We told him we couldn’t
issue the permit (unless he com
plied),’’ Marek said. “He told us
he wasn’t going to comply. On
May 28, 1980, we reported it to
the county attorney’s office as a
violation.”
Mrs. Wofford said: They say
we can do something about this,
but they won’t tell us what we
can do or how much it will cost.
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United Press International
SLIDELL, La. — A 3-year-old
boy trapped in a burning house for
more than an hour and given up
for dead was hospitalized in critic
al but stable condition Saturday.
Volunteer firefighter Ed Ryan
scooped Kenneth Russell from
under a bed in a charred, sooty
room Friday.
“Thank God that little baby is
still alive,” Ryan said. “He is a
tough little cookie. He was fight
ing all the way. ”
Kenneth was in the intensive
care unit of Children’s Hospital
suffering from smoke inhalation
and second-degree bums on his
right leg.
The son of Noah and Debra
Gallien survived the fire because
he hid under the bed, Assistant
Fire Chief Albert Lee said. A nar
row layer of breathable air above
the floor kept the boy from inhal
ing too much hot gas and carbon
monoxide, he said.
Gallien and his wife were able
to rescue two other sons, aged six
and one, and a 4-year-old nephew
after they were awakened by a
neighbor who spotted the fire. But
they were unable to pull Kenneth
from the smoke-filled house.
“I picked up my baby and grab
bed Kenneth by the arm and drag
ged him as far as I could before
letting go,” Mrs. Gallien said.
She threw the 1-year-old boy
out of the window and turned to
get Kenneth, but could not find
him.
“I looked for him until I was
almost overcome with smoke and
then I jumped out of the window, ”
she said.
It took firefighters about an
hour to push back the flames
enough to enter the gutted home,
and Ryan began what he thought
was a search for the boy’s body.
“I thought I heard a whimper,”
he said. "Then I said to myself,
‘Ed, did you hear a whimper? Or
did you hear what you wanted to
hear?”’
Ryan said he knew the boy was
alive when he heard a second
whimper. He stooped under the
bed and, with the boy’s help, pul
led him from the rubble.
220 indictments
could be dropped
United Press International
TYLER — More than 220 in
dictments charging 121 people
with drug dealing or possession
will probably be thrown out be
cause the undercover agents who
implicated them admitted lying to
a grand jury, two district judges
say.
State District Judge Galloway
Calhoun received the first two
motions for dismissal Friday after
noon in the drug charges stem
ming from the botched federal
undercover investigation of 1978-
79. He said he would most likely
accept them.
District Judge Don Carroll
termed the dismissal action dras
tic but said it was based on guilty
pleas entered in Tyler federal
court last month by the two under
cover officers, Creig Matthews
and Kim Ramsey Matthews, who
have married since the investiga
tion ended.
Both Matthews pleaded guilty
to perjuring themselves during
the trial of Kenneth Bora, who was
convicted.
“If it had been known that they
(the Matthews) had lied, none of
the cases would ever have been
presented to the grand jury or
tried,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun said because the cou
ple admitted perjuring them
selves in some cases, that tainted
their credibility in all the cases.
“They just flat-out lied about
making the case against (Bora),”
he said. “They didn’t make it. I
think each of us are sick and
angered and feel abused by the
circumstances that developed in
this. We hope the action we are
taking will speak for itself.”
As a result of the Matthews’ tes
timony, 226 indictments involving
121 people were handed down by
a federal grand jury.
DIETING?
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diets, we make it possible for many to
enjoy a nutritious meal while they
follow their doctor's orders. You will
be delighted with the wide selection
of low calorie, sugar free and fat free
foods in the Souper Salad Area, Sbisa
Dining Center Basement.
OPEN
Monday through Friday 10:45 AM-1:45 PM
QUALITY FIRST
The
Battalion
Since 1878
GRADUATING ENGINEERS
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REACH FOR TOMORROW WITH MARTIN MARIETTA AEROSPACE
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See our representative on campus
November 25
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