Thursday, April 25, 1985/The Battalion/Page 13
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Funky Winkerbean
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LIKE THE RSHBAOM
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THEIR HOUSE!
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FOLLOW STANDARD
OPERATING PROCEDURE
FROM THE SCHOOL
BUS DRIUER'S
MANUAL...
GIUE A LOUD HONK
ON THE HORN...
by Tom Batiuk Committee
queries Hall
on judgeship
Valley residents to protest
sea-burning of toxic waste
to by SUE KRM
tree were thrw
ig cart.
Associated Press
BROWNSVILLE — With the
help of state officials — including
Gov. Mark White — environmental
ists will square off against the EPA
today to protest proposed ocean in
cineration of toxic wastes in the Gulf
ofMexico.
Environmentalists say they expect
thousands of people to attend a pub
lic hearing scheduled for today.
More than 6,000 people attended
similar hearings in November 1983.
The public response delayed at-
sea burnings by Chemical Waste
Management Inc. until further stud
ies were conducted.
Sue Ann Fruge of the Gulf Coast
Coalition for Public Health, which
trganized the opposition, said the
roposed toxic waste burnings have
mined Rio Grande Valley residents.
“We don't really need to have an-
ither blow to our economy,"Fruge
aid. “We’re willing to fight for it.”
The coalition has run newspaper
md television advertisements telling
New Funds
(continued from page 1)
The declining oil and gas taxes
kre the main reason the future does
pot look good for the Texas econ-
Ibmy, says Dr. James Griffin, an
fconomist at T exas A&M who spe-
iializes in the international oil mar
about the public hearing.
A television commercial shows a
family of four on the beach as the
theme of the movie “Jaws” begins.
“Just when you thought it was safe
to go into the water — ‘Ocean Incin
eration II,’ ” says the narrator.
T he commercial then shows waste
burnings on a ship, with smoke bil
lowing from stacks and the narrator
telling of the possible hazards and
asking residents to attend the public
hearing.
The 30-second commercial ends
with the same family on the beach
wearing gas masks.
“Ocean Incineration II, coming
soon to a beach near you,” the narra
tor concludes.
Today’s public hearing will be
preceded by a rally at Texas South-
most College, including addresses by
Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox,
state Reps. Don Lee and Rene Oli
veira and state Sen. Hector Uribe.
The protesters then will march to
the Jacob Brown Auditorium where
the all-day public hearing is sched
uled.
The governor is expected to tes
tify at the hearing at approximately
3:30 p.m., his office said Wednes
day.
Officials from Chemical Waste
Management Inc. have been in the
Valley to try to reassure residents
the incineration is safe.
The Brownsville hearing is the
third in a series of public hearings
being conducted across the country
on proposed ocean incineration.
Environmentalists have com
plained the EPA is not making the
public aware of hearings and is not
making available the agency’s back
ground reports on ocean incinera
tion.
Opponents also protest the pro
posal of granting 10-year permits to
companies to operate ocean incine
rators, contending that the technol
ogy has not been properly tested.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Democratic
Rep. Sam B. Hall Jr., nominated by
Republican Sen. Phil Gramm for a
federal judgeship, told the Senate
Judiciary Committee on Wednesday
he will not “blindly follow” judicial
rulings he believes wrong.
Committee chairman Strom
Thurmond, R-S.C., said the commit
tee will probably vote on Hall’s nom
ination today. Hall, a Marshall law
yer, is expected to easily win
confirmation to fill the seat of re
tiring U.S. District Judge Joe Fisher
of Beaumont.
Both Texas senators, 15 Texas
representatives and seven other con
gressmen appeared at the hearing
on behalf of Hall.
Gramm called Hall “the most re
spected member of the U.S. Con
gress” and Democrat Lloyd Bentsen
praised Gramm for choosing Hall.
Responding to routine questions
from Thurmond, Hall said that he
would depart from judicial prece
dents he beleived in error, citing the
overruling of public school integra
tion.
After the judiciary committee
votes, the nomination will go to the
Senate for approval.
According to the Texas Election
Code, Gov. Mark White must then
immediately set a date for a special
election, to be held no earlier than
36 days or later than 90 days after
the announcement, to fill the seat.
Hall, 60, was elected to Congress
in 1976. He is a member of the
House Judiciary Committee and
chairs the Subcommittee on Admin
istrative Law and Governmental Re
lations. He received his law degree
from Baylor in 1948.
a mail
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:)me, and whether^
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ng services in tM
iled orders from I
ieces. Koch said
;le day, more than! 1
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aid that in 1984,tk|
ce handled
ird-class mail, comp
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184 volume, mem!
dvertising Seme
mi ted for about m
hing t
ihead,” Griffin said. “Looking at the
torld market over the next five
ears, we’re looking at constant or
leclining oil prices.”
Combining constant or declining
Irices with declining production is
not likely to help the Texas econ-
my, Griffin said.
A Texas Railroad Commission
|tudy indicates oil production and
eserves in Texas are rapidly de
lining. The study shows that in
984, 881 million barrels of oil were
iroduced. Total reserve for 1984
as estimated at 7.6 billion barrels.
But in the year 2003, oil production
is expectea to drop to 525 million
[arrels with reserves totaling only
i.9 billion barrels.
If oil production and reserves de
ease as the study predicts, Texas
face a 35 percent decrease in oil
iserves and a 40 percent decrease
in production over the next 19 years.
A 40 percent decrease in production
assuming the price of oil re-
lained at $27 a barrel — would de
prive Texas of over $16 billion in oil
taxes over the next 19 years.
“Based on constant prices, oil rev
enues are trending downward at 3.1
percent a year,” Griffin said. “Pro
duction in Texas has been trending
downward for the last ten years and
we’re going to see a continuation of
that trend.”
That downward trend in oil pro
duction and prices is the cause of
Texas’ financial troubles, Griffin
said.
“Even if oil prices are constant,
your tax base is declining at 3.1 per
cent a year,” Griffin said. “That’s
taking a big bite out of state reve
nues.
“The state has got to cut expendi
tures or find new ways to generate
revenues.”
The state shouldn’t count on oil
and gas taxes as a significant source
of revenue in the future because
chances are slim that the oil industry
will turn around soon, Griffin said.
But, he said, certain possibilities do
exist.
“The only thing that could change
the current situation is the price of
oil going up,” Griffin said. “And the
price of oil can be driven up by a
number of factors.”
A major energy crisis would be
good for Texas, but it would be bad
for the nation as a whole, he said. It
is unlikly that the world soon will ex
perience an energy crisis or a war
that wipes out the Middle East, caus
ing an oil shortage and increasing its
price, Griffin said.
“Barring those reactions, I think
Texas is going to have to look at
other means of generating reve
nues,” Griffin said.
One proposed means of generat
ing revenues that would affect the
oil industry is raising the tax rate on
every barrel of oil produced, Griffin
said.
According to a U.S. Department
of Energy study, 12 of the 26 states
that tax crude oil production have
higher tax rates than Texas. Of the
three biggest oil producing states,
Alaska’s 15 percent tax rate is the
highest, followed by Louisiana with
12.5 percent, and Texas with 4.6
percent.
Dr. Thomas Plaut, manager of
economic forecasting at the Univer
sity of Texas Bureau of Business Re
search, also said Texas has to look
ahead and investigate other ways of
generating revenue.
“The basic problem with the
Texas budget is that it has major
structural problems,” he said. “It’s
way too dependent on oil and gas
revenues. Twenty-four percent of
the budget relies on oil and gas reve
nues. That 24 percent is five times
the national average.
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aot like junk mail,
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Ivertisers to remosi
i their lists.
O'
tvel an average of]
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$10 for tickets fo |
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entertainers, ei
'om one to three sot?
its boondocks chat*
iw presented inanat
million auditorium']
:, $23 million park'
.” It was moved ft*
town Ryman ...
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tudience can still sit
pews and hear uita
: Roy Acuffs fanw 1
nonball.”
tingly enough, the
earsed. The petf 1
at time they’re dim
irtained stage am
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ipplement the 0|
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quartet of backup
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needed.
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“In the future the state will have
to increase taxes and find other
sources of revenue. We can get
through this session (69th Legis
lature) with the measures already
taken, but that won’t be the case in
the next session.”
Plaut said cuts in expenditures
and the proposed increase in college
tuition are part of the reason Texas
lawmakers didn’t have to implement
new taxes in the 69th Legislature.
But the next session, as well as other
sessions, will be a little different, he
said.
“We are running out of short
term things to do,” Plaut said. “We
adopted an accelerated sales tax dur
ing the special session, but we can do
that only once.”
Texas is facing some serious fiscal
problems jin the approaching years.
With the declining price of oil and
declining production, the oil and gas
industry aoes not look like the sig
nificant source of funds it once was,
Plaut said.
The solution to Texas financial
problems is something Texans
might not like, but it’s something
they’re going to have to accept, he
said.
“Taxes will have to be increased to
make up for the declining produc
tion and prices,” Plaut said.
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A- Students: Your Suggestions Please!
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A Special Task Force on the Quality of
Student Life was appointed this spring and jJ.
it will continue to meet next school year
(1985-86).
One method to be used next fall is an
indepth Student Questionnaire, to assist in
its preparation your assistance is needed to
identify concerns, problems, and issues in
four major categories of student life:
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(1) Academic
(2) Traditions
(3) Services for Students
(4) Student Organizations,
Activities and Programs
All Suggestions
Please send or
suggestions to:
are solicited,
bring your
Special Task Force on the Quality of Student Life
Office of the Vice President for Student Services
110 YMCA Building
Texas A&M University
College Stations, Texas 77843
if
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Advertising in The Battalion
is as
There’s only one flomber One.
Good as Gold!
CALL 845-2611