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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1988)
The Battalion yd. 87 No. 85 GSRS 045360 14 Pages College Station, Texas Monday, February 1,1988 rogen seen as future fuel ement By Jeff Pollard Staff Writer With oil and gas supplies shrink- B ™ and the use of these as fuels de- >ying more and more of the envi- nment every day, some feel a new el needs to be found that will re- ice the world’s dependence on ese fuels and that is readily avail able. I Hydrogen will be this fuel of the future, said John Appleby, director of the Center for Electrochemical Svstems and Hydrogen Research at ■exas A&M. I Hydrogen is clean, renewable and does not have the harmful effects of fossil fuels, he said. Four research centers, including the A&M center, have received $600,000 each from the U.S. De partment of Energy to explore the possibilities of hydrogen as this new fuel. Theoretically, hydrogen could be used to make solar cells that are up to 60 percent energy-efficient, Ap pleby said. This is impressive when compared to the 7 percent to 12 per cent efficiency level of the solar cells available today. This means that eventually solar-hydrogen fuel cells can be used to perform any task re quiring power, from lighting a city to running a car. The other centers involved in the project are the Hawaii Natural Insti tute, Florida Solar Energy Center and the Clean Energy Research In stitute at the University of Miami. Appleby said the groups are doing work that will be complemen tary while still achieving the goals of the Department of Energy. “The work that we plan to do is in the area of production of hydrogen and the end use of hydrogen,” Ap pleby said. “Specifically, we are going to be looking at electrocataly sis and catalysis of the formation of hydrogen from water and the design of devices that can do this from solar energy.” Electrocatalysis is the use of elec tricity to speed up a chemical reac tion. The reaction in this case being the decomposition of water into its components — hydrogen and oxy gen. Appleby said the ultimate goal of the project is to design a device that either will function as a solar-hydro gen power cell or will be used to split water directly into hydroden and ox ygen. The end result might look like a sheet of Polaroid film, he said, with one side of the sheet producing oxy gen and the other side, hydrogen. “It’s a bit of a dream right now,” Ill. MmWmt ‘ - 2?,' : - mgmm rry WMw \ '''% k f *1 f . * i ! IASE f* _ ials llilt " At»’ 1 me iuper Bowl fever [A&M students gathered with others at Dudley’s Draw Sunday evening [at 5:30 to watch the Super Bowl. This year the annual contest pitted Photo by Shelly Schluter the Denver Broncos against the Washington Redskins. Washington won, 42-10. See related stories on page 11. ickens receives business award, ells crowd entrepreneurship lives ' I T-*»*-»** 1 I t-c lA’ill (ill t Tl n •■"WWSX-... ' I- I r .1.1 .. ...... ..II .. J ,i.l _ m I|._IIU „ one By Tracy Staton Senior Staff Writer Ari. || Entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens Attributes his success to a simple T| i ■cliche of hard work and honesty, but H* ■tl ie formula he outlined to a packed udder Theater Friday was more omplicated — it involved avoiding overnment regulation and reviving conomic competition. Pickens was at Texas A&M to re ceive the first Entrepreneur of the Year award from the College of Business Administration. The award was created to honor Harold L. Kupfer, Class of ’54. Pickens told a beyond-capacity crowd of about 1,000 that the entre preneurial spirit is alive, despite re ports of its demise, nk I 1,1 debated just Monday in Wash ington with a Harvard economist . . . who said the dream of being self-made is now dead in this coun try,” Pickens said. “I told him, ‘Rob ert, you’ve never been to Texas.’ ” Texas entrepreneurs will fill the gap in the state’s economy created by the decline of the oil and gas indus try, he said. “Oil and gas will be less and less a factor in the Texas economy,” he told a press conference before the presentation. “You’ve got an abun dance of capable people in the state. And those people, as a vacuum de velops, will move into that vacuum. I think that’s what’s going on in the state right now. That’s why we’ve gone down and we will go back up.” Pickens castigated the executives who plead for government protec tion from adversity. “Listen to me on this one — stay away from it (government interven tion),” he said. “Do not let the gov ernment get involved in your busi ness. Solutions to business in America are not in Washington, I can tell you that.” See Award, page 7 A A* Wm |\ S' ^ \fl|| Ik rm check- ot you f Corporate raider makes millions, enemies during career characterized by controversy Analysis Visa By Tracy Staton Senior Staff Writer Although the American dream of becoming a “self-made millionaire” seems outmoded to some, T. Boone [ Pickens’ rise from junior geologist to | well-known corporate raider follows the style of Andrew Carnegie or [John D. Rockefeller. He started Mesa Petroleum Co. in 1964 with $2,500 in equity; he is now a limited partner of the company, which has earned more than $500 million in profits for its shareholders since it was formed. He was voted Man of the Year in 1986 by the Oil Trades Associaton, and Petroleum Management magazine called him one of the 10 most influential people in the petroleum industry. But the candy-coated capsule of Pickens’ success has its bitter af tertaste. In 1986, Business Week magazine ranked him second in a list of 10 chief executives who gave the shareholders the least in return for the executive’s salary. Some question the economic value of his takeover attempts. And his plea for shareholders’ rights is juxta posed by his attempts to limit free dom of the press in Amarillo, his home town. Pickens is steeped in controversy. He elicits strong reactions from those who come in contact with him — intense loyalty or intense distrust, profound dislike e>i overwhelming admiration. When Pickens was at Texas A&M Friday, these polar responses could be seen on the faces of his audience in Rudder Theater. And the award he came to receive, the College of Business Entrepreneur of the Year, didn’t seem to fit a person who inspires such conflicting feelings. In Sunday’s Houston Post, oilman See Career, page 7 Appleby said. “But if you could do that you would solve all of the world’s energy problems without in troducing pollution into the envi ronment. It’s conceivable, but many years down the line.” As a more immediate use of solar- hydrogen power, many researchers are using power-cell technology from space and applying it to more earthly problems. The A&M center is using part of its money to develop a fuel cell based on this technology. “The cell would weigh about 150 pounds and would go in an auto mobile,” Appleby said. “You would need an electric motor and other controls, but the cell would use hy drogen to produce all the power you would need to run the automobile.” To test this theory and demon strate the possibilities of hydrogen fuels, the center has received an electric car from the U.S. Navy and two electric vans from the Depart ment of Energy. Appleby said the researchers hope to have one of the vans running in about six months. The centers have begun working on plans to continue the project be yond the original one-year stipula tion. Through the support of Con gressman Joe Barton, R-Ennis, and U.S. Speaker of the House Jim Wright, D-Ft. Worth, all four centers are looking to make this a long-term project. “We anticipate this to be a long term effort, but we have support in the right places,” Appleby said. “It’s going to take total international col laboration. Hopefully, looking at the big picture, we will see all sorts of things happening in the area of hy drogen fuels in the future.” FBI director: Investigation within law SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The FBI does not target dissident groups for investigation of crimi nal activities, despite such com plaints from groups opposed to Reagan administration policies in Central America, FBI Director William Sessions said. Sessions said Saturday that At torney General Edwin Meese’s guidelines were followed during an investigation of a coalition of organizations called the Commit tee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador or CISPES. Sessions, a former federal judge who became FBI director late last year, said he had not read the entire report about the inves tigation, but assumed that the guidelines were followed and that the agency did not violate any one’s civil rights. Sessions, who said he antic ipated no FBI policy changes in those type of investigations, den ied the group was investigated just because of its political lean ings. “The fact that it may feel or that there may be a perception that there is a thrust in the inves tigation,” he said. “I would deny that categorically. “Some people may be very pleased about the investigation of certain factions within the United States. Some may feel that the far right ought to be investigated or that some of the groups that are on the far left ought to be investi gated. That is not the criteria and we hope it never is.” Reagan won’t ask Meese to resign in spite of probe WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi dent Reagan will keep close tabs on the investigation into Attorney Gen eral Edwin Meese’s role in an Iraqi oil pipeline project, but seeking Meese’s resignation now would be tantamount to “pitching people to the lions without proof,” a top White House official said Sunday. “The president . . . has said he continues to have full confidence in his attorney general,” White House chief of staff Howard H. Baker said. “I see no reason on earth for the president to take any action unless and until it’s made to appear that Meese has done something wrong.” Meese has been one of Reagan’s closest associates since his days as the governor of California. Meese’s at torney, James Rocap, has said Meese had only a limited involvement with the project and has not broken the law. Baker’s comments came amid a report Sunday in theNew York Times that White House officials have been told by the independent counsel probing the matter that the attorney general played “an impor tant and sustained role” in the $ 1 bil lion Iraqi pipeline project, which never came to fruition. A close friend of Meese, E. Robert Wallach, had a financial interest in the Iraqi project and he sent the at torney general a memo citing a plan to pay off a top Israeli official in re turn for a guarantee that Israel would not bomb the pipeline, sources close to the investigation have confirmed. The sources spoke on condition of not being identified. See related story, Page 3 Controversial chief of fire department decides to resign By Richard Williams Senior Staff Writer Embattled Bryan Fire Chief Claude Jenkins III resigned his posi tion Friday citing personal reasons. Jenkins will officially leave the de partment on Feb. 12, but it is not yet known by city officials if he will work until then. Deputy City Manager Marvin Norwood said Jenkins may use vaca tion time for the remaining days. Deputy City Manager Marvin Norwood said Jenkins decided to tender his resignation during a Fri day morning conference between the two. The conference was “to talk about his (Jenkins) future with Bryan and the development of events in the department,” Norwood said. During the discussion Jenkins “decided to resign,” Norwood said. “Looking at the events I am not surprised,” he added. Norwood said he delivered the letter of resignation to City Manager Ernest Clark at about 4:30 p.m. and a press conference was held at 5 p.m. Clark and Jenkins could not be reached for comment. Jenkins has been on probation since Dec. 1 after an investigation into a petition signed by all 79 Bryan firefighters. The firefighters’ petition said they had “lost total and complete confi dence in Chief Jenkins’ ability to be an effective administrator and fire chief.” Firefighter Nick Pappas, speaking for the Byran Firefighters Associa tion, said the resignation “caught us all by complete surprise.” “We felt something was going on so we called some of the media . . . they didn’t know of anything so we blew it off,” Pappas said. The firefighters are relieved the situation is over, he said, adding “re lations between city hall and the fire fighters are at an all time high.” After the announcement was made a message was written on a chalkboard at Central Fire Station reading: “Santa Claus lives! Christmas is 12 Feb. 88.” A Bryan firefighter, who asked not to be named, said the message referred to one of Jenkins’ favorite sayings. “When he would cut one of our programs or privileges he would say, ‘Santa Claus is dead,’ ” the fire fighter said. Norwood said the city will not name an interim chief but will work with the existing chain of command to run the department, Norwood said. Applications from Bryan fire fighters will be considered before outside applications, he said, but no deadline has been set for the naming of a new chief.