Thursday, April 1, 1983/The Battalion/Page 5
State leaders meet,
discuss oil tax hike
Timber!
staff photo by Guy Hood
He recent windy weather on campus finally took
toll on the massive oak tree located near the
|rps Quad. Cadet Derrick Day, a junior chemical
engineering major from Austin, surveys the damage
suffered by some of the bicycles from a unique
vantagepoint on the tree trunk.
if
exas nuke site opposed
lUnited Press International
HEREFORD — Texas Agri-
itoacjltUH Commissioner Jim
■tower promised Panhandle
gave Merits that he will do every-
seaniMinhis power to prevent the
icialsjHral government f rom plac-
high level nuclear waste
al in the region,
jwo areas of land in the
Sis Panhandle, one in north-
ileal Smith County and one
Swisher County, have been
judged by the Department of
Energy as possible sites because
of their salt dome formations.
About 150 Panhandle resi
dents attended a town meeting
in Hereford Tuesday night to
voice their opinions on a DOE
proposal to drill a deep test shaft
in Deaf Smith County.
Hightower, who led the Au
stin delegation, told the resi
dents his office would do every
thing he can to stop the federal
waste dumping
government’s
plans.
The Texas Senate has
approved and sent to the House
a bill that would require DOE to
obtain a permit from the state
Water Commission before pro
ceeding with the drilling.
Environmentalists have said
they are concerned about the
effects of drilling such a shaft
into the giant Ogallala aquifer, a
deep reserve of underground
water shared by six states.
The DOE will conduct formal
hearings later this month on the
proposed Panhandle sites.
United Press International
AUSTIN — Despite pleas for
support from key state leaders,
representatives of the oil and gas
industry say they will continue to
oppose a proposal to use in
creased taxes on oil and gas pro
duction as a way of paying for
higher education needs.
Gov. Mark White, Lt. Gov.
Bill Hobby, House Speaker Gib
Lewis and almost a dozen repre
sentatives of the energy industry
met in White’s private office late
Tuesday. They discussed a
proposal to increase oil and gas
severance taxes by 1 percent to
pay for construction at 17 state
colleges and universities.
The schools, which do not
share in the oil-rich Permanent
University Fund enjoyed by the
University of Texas and Texas
A&M, are currently without a
source of funding for needed
construction and repair pro
jects.
“We don’t think the proposal
is timely or fair, particularly
since we already provide more
than a quarter of the state’s re
venue as it is,” said Julian Martin
of the Texas Independent Pro
ducers & Royalty Owners Asso
ciation. “We have a mandate
from our members to oppose
any increased tax on oil and gas,
and until we have a mandate
otherwise we will oppose it with
vigor.”
Faced with declining state re
venues, legislators have been
laboring over various proposals
to fund construction at the 17
colleges.
Current proposals call for the
creation of a $2 billion fund to
benefit the schools. To pay for
the higher education fund,
Sens. Grant Jones, D-Abilene
and Bob Vale, D-San Antonio,
proposed the 1 percent increase
in severance taxes.
Such an increase would yield
approximately $400 million a
year in additional revenue and
would allow the higher educa
tion fund to reach its $2 billion
cap in about six years.
Interest from the fund would
be used to pay off school bonds.
Hobby has been one of the
leading supporters of the prop
osed tax increase, saying that the
oil and gas industry is a logical
source for the added funds.
After the meeting, Hobby
said he still favored the tax in-
“If there is going to be a dedi
cated fund for any purpose,
there has be to a dedicated
source of funding,” Hobby said.
“Everybody has a reason why it
should be the other guy.”
However, White still declined
to endorse the proposal,
although he conceded new re
venues must be raised if the state
is to maintain projected levels of
spending.
Sen. Carl Parker, the sponsor
of a constitutional amendment
to create the higher education
fund, said he would continue to
push for a dedicated source of
revenue for the schools.
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fficers to undergo
sychological testing
hcsaBHtnited Press International
thei-AL'STIN — Two city police-
” accused of brutalizing de-
jbbyjjferkrators at a February Ku
‘Then® ^lan march will undergo
lakinj Wlogical testing but will not
eterrttsBsdplincd for their actions,
shed V ustm Police Chief Frank
:981 Jn said Tuesday that two of
e„aied p officers accused of using
p jhtIpive force in the arrest of
[anic activist Paul Hernan
dez would be tested to deter
mine their emotional fitness in
highly stressful situations.
Dyson said the test results
coidd affect future assignments
for Officers Charles Pittman
and Hector Polanco. He said
counseling had been discon
tinued for Officer Rupert Ortiz,
a third policeman accused in the
beating of Hernandez.
The chief said no disciplinary
action would be taken against
the officers. A Travis County
grand jury reported March 30
that there was no basis for cri
minal charges against any of the
officers.
Dyson said police were
pushed into using excessive
force by the anti-Klan demon
strators. Thirteen people were
arrested and 11 others were in
jured during the march.
alias lead pollution case
:alled a disgrace, tragedy
United Press International
DALLAS — A Dallas lead pol-
tioncase may be the worst case
Irresponsibility by the En-
mmental Protection Agency,
lorgia congressman charges.
jti.S. Rep. Elliott Levitas, D-
I toured a west Dallas lead
iter Tuesday and said that
lot acting the EPA exposed
, Jiians to hazardous chemical
antainination.
' lit was a major example of
^Ipsing human beings to the
V' of#!
hazardous effects of chemical
contamination when action
could have been taken,” Levitas
said. “I think it’s a crime, a dis
grace, a tragedy.”
Testimony last month before
Levitas’ subcommittee indicated
ex-Deputy EPA Director John
Hernandez blocked a proposed
lead clean up in Dallas.
A member of Levitas’ sub
committee, Congressman Guy
Molinari, D-N.Y., said it was
Hernandez’ action concerning
the Dallas lead case that led dire
ctly to his resignation last
month.
Three other congressmen
joined Levitas for the tour of the
RSR Corp. lead smelter.
U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, D-
Texas, who represents the dis
trict where the smelters are lo
cated, said he intends to ask Wil
liam Ruckelshaus, nominated to
head the EPA, to instruct the
agency to negotiate with the
smelters to voluntarily dean up.
at
M
i-n-up'
-
ftO Free Admission
v and 2 Free bar drinks
with College I.D.
500 Draft Beer 75C Bar Drinks
7:00-10:00
1600 S. College 779-6529