The Battalion
87 No. 102 CISFS 045360 10 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, February 24, 1988
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BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — The
in Shiite Moslem militia has
ght three gunmen who kidnap-
a U.S. Marine officer serving
lh the United Nations, but not the
stermind of the abduction, secu-
sources said Tuesday.
|the United Nations has ap-
ached Iran, Syria and the Pales-
Liberation Organization, which
|ve influence in Lebanon, seeking
[ip in the search for Lt. Col. Wil-
R. Higgins, U.N. spokesman
»Zamorano said in New York.
IZamorano said the contacts were
de by Undersecretary-General
track Goulding, who was in the
ion when Higgins was kidnapped
Wednesday. The 43-year-old
tine from Danville, Ky., is a deco-
ed Vietnam veteran and was an
le to former U.S. Defense Secre-
y Caspar Weinberger.
The relatively moderate Shiite mi-
aAmal has seized 42 suspects in a
clampdown on Shiite fundamental
ists since Higgins was abducted near
Tyre, 50 miles south of Beirut, an
Amal spokesmen said on condition
of anonymity.
Amal has been the dominant
force in predominantly Shiite south
Lebanon but is being challenged by
Hezbollah, which is loyal to Iran and
believed to be an umbrella for Shiite
radical groups that hold most of the
25 foreigners missing in Lebanon.
Nine Americans now are among
the missing foreigners. The hostage
held longest is ferry A. Anderson,
chief Middle East correspondent of
the Associated Press, kidnapped
March 16, 1985.
A security source, who also would
not let his name be used, said those
rounded up by Amal include “the
three gunmen who seized Col. Hig
gins and forced him into the first
getaway car.”
Three other Shiites held by Amal
monitored Higgins’ movements be
fore his abduction, sources reported.
According to the reports, Amal
questioned the suspects but found
they did not know the whereabouts
of Higgins or the man who planned
the operation.
Their leader kept his men in the
dark, one source said, and “the oper
ation was a masterpiece from a pro
fessional standpoint.”
“The mastermind used five iden
tical brown Volvo cars plus two addi
tional getaway cars, a white Peugeot
and a red Mercedes, in the abduc
tion,” he said. “The squads in each
car did not know who was in the
other cars.”
A group calling itself the Organi
zation of the Oppressed on Earth
said it abducted Higgins and claimed
he was a spy for the “satanic CIA.”
The U.S. government denied the ac
cusation.
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Sneaky snake
Photo by Gary Bean
Temina, an animal science major, plays with her ing. Jenny Palter, a journalism major and owner of
pet snake, Ayce, in front of the Academic Build- her own snake, looks on.
SU must absorb
alf of plant cost,
ommission rules
Space researchers attend conference at A&M
ikler
laSoroif
AUSTIN (AP) — Gulf States
tilities’ customers should pay
nly about half of the $3.1 billion
he company spent to build its
iver Bend nuclear power plant,-
(the Public Utility Commission
(ruled Tuesday.
In a 2-1 decision, the commis-
ion decided the Beaumont-based
[utility had failed to prove the
(prudence of $1.5 billion in con-
truction costs.
“The company simply failed on
[its burden of proof,” Commis
sioner Jo Campbell said. “They
had ample opportunity. They
spent money on top of money try
ing to prove their case.”
GSU will get to spend more
money to try to prove its case.
The commission’s decision allows
GSU to ask for the $1.5 billion in
disallowed costs at a subsequent
PUC hearing. That upset Assis
tant Attorney General Scott Mc-
Collough, representing state
agencies served by GSU.
“At some point we are going to
quit litigating this issue and make
a final decision,” he said.
The nuclear plant decision
came as the commission began a
series of votes that will decide
new rates for GSU, which re
quested in November 1986 a $144
million rate increase.
After hearing 129 days of testi
mony, PUC examiners recom
mended an $86.7 million in
crease, including a $39.9 million
emergency increase granted the
financially troubled company last
April.
The decision-making process
continues. A hearing was set for
today to hear testimony about ex
penses incurred by GSU as a re
sult of the rate case.
The commission also approved
a 13 percent return on equity,
down from the 15.25 percent
sought by GSU.
PUC Chairman Dennis
Thomas said the dollar effect of
the Tuesday decisions on GSU
rates would not be calculated un
til later this week. He estimated it
would add up to a rate increase
less than the $86.7 million recom
mended by the examiners.
The Tuesday meeting opened
with a survival plea from E. Linn
Draper, GSU’s chief executive of
ficer.
“I believe the River Bend nu
clear plant was a good decision at
the time it was made,” Draper
said. “It has been in service for
two years. It has operated effecti
vely.
“I would just encourage you
that in this mass of testimony you
have heard that you keep in mind
the big picture, that our compa
ny’s survival really is at stake.”
GSU owns a 70 percent share
of River Bend, which serves its
customers in Texas and Loui
siana. The plant’s total cost, in
cluding the share owned by Ca
jun Electric Power Cooperative,
was $4.5 billion. The GSU rate
case is the first in which the PUC
will determine the prudence of
nuclear plant construction costs.
Thomas was the dissenter in
the 2-1 vote on River Bend costs.
Federal judge: Occidental Chemical
responsible for Love Canal cleanup
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) —
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that
Occidental Chemical Corp. is liable
for the cost — estimated at more
than $250 million — of cleaning up
the Love Canal landfill that became
synonymous with environmental di
saster.
After nine years of deliberations,
U.S. District Judge John Curtin said
Occidental produced the wastes that
created the disaster and stored them
in a way that would eventually result
in toxic leakage.
“It is beyond dispute that OCC’s
disposal practices were at least par
tially responsible for the release, or
threatened release, of the chemicals
from the Love Canal landfill,” Cur
tin said.
Curtin said Occidental’s liability
would be determined in further
court proceedings involving claims
against Occidental by other parties,
including the state of New York and
some residents.
Occidental spokesman James
Green said the company was disap
pointed by the ruling and would not
comment on its plans until its attor
neys had a chance to study Curtin’s
36-page decision.
“At last somebody has been as
signed some responsibility,” said Sis
ter Marjeen Hoffmann, director of
the Ecumenical Task Force which
has been an advocate for people in
the Love Canal neighborhood.
Curtin’s ft|iling upholds the fed
eral Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation and Liabil
ity Act of 1980, which the judge said
was designed to compel the waste
disposal industry “to correct its past
mistakes and to provide a solution
for the dangers posed by inactive
abandoned waste sites.”
The law was passed 27 years after
Occidental yielded ownership of the
landfill, transferring it to the Niag
ara Falls School Board.
Occidental, formerly Hooker
Chemical and Plastic Co., contended
that it was not responsible for the
site after 1953 when it sold the prop
erty to the school board, which built
a school on the grounds.
Occidental said the construction
broke a clay seal on the dump and al
lowed the chemical^ to leak into the
environment. The company ac
knowledged dumping 20,000 tons of
chemical wastes into the canal dur
ing the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Martin Littlefield, assistant U.S.
attorney for the Buffalo district, said
the decision was “a great victory for
the state because it means companies
are indeed responsible for what
they’ve done in years past.”.
Littlefield said Occidental would
be liable for the “bottom line” on the
cleanup costs. He said, however, the
ruling allows Occidental to sue other
parties the chemical giant contends
should share the responsibility.
Nunzio Loverdi, president of the
Love Canal Environmental Action
Committee, said, “I think Occidental
should accept the decision and not
take action against the city and
School Board because if it does we
will all suffer. We want to get on with
our lives and put this behind us.”
Ten years ago, Love Canal be
came synonymous with environmen
tal disaster when state officials or
dered an evacuation of children and
pregnant women from the area be
cause of leaking chemicals.
Reagan chooses nominee
for secretary of Navy position
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Reagan on Tuesday picked a
veteran Capitol Hill infighter, Wil
liam L. Ball III, to step into a sim
mering dispute over Pentagon bud
get cuts as his new secretary of the
Navy.
The White House said the presi
dent will nominate Ball, a former
Capitol Hill aide who has been chief
lobbyist for both the State Depart
ment and the White House, to suc
ceed James Webb, who resigned as
Navy secretary on Monday with a
blast at Secretary of Defense Frank
C. Carlucci.
“We look to Will Ball to continue
working aggressively for a strong
U.S. Navy,” White House spokes
man Marlin Fitzwater said, noting
Webb’s charge that Carlucci had
needlessly sacrificed the administra
tion’s goal of a 600-ship fleet.
Fitzwater said the administration
still seeks a 600-vessel Navy, but now
expects the goal to be reached in fis
cal year 1992, instead of in fiscal
1989 as originally planned.
Ball, 40, a soft-spoken Southerner
who came to Washington as an aide
to former Sen. Herman Talmadge,
D-Ga., has a reputation for skill at
behind-the-scenes compromises and
maneuvers needed to steer legis
lation through Congress.
Ball has been assistant to the pres
ident for legislative affairs since Feb
ruary 1986. Before that he had been
assistant secretary of state for legis
lative and intergovernmental affairs.
By Jeff Pollard
Staff Writer
With the space shuttle Challenger
isaster of 1986 slowly fading into
ie past, researchers are busy work-
on the necessary technology that
help NASA achieve future mis-
on goals and take the space pro
ram into the 21st century. Many of
lose researchers were at Texas
&M Monday and Tuesday for the
antrolled Environmental Life Sup-
lort Systems (CELSS) Research
onference.
Sponsored by the Space Research
enter at A&M, the conference was
leant to bring together researchers
|ith varying backgrounds and give
em an overview of current re
arch going on at the interdiscipli-
ry level.
Oran Nicks, director of the Space
Research Center, told participants
'at it was up to university research
ams, under the direction of NASA,
do the basic research, and indus-
must take these developments
nd put them to practical use.
“Universities are best suited for
ie research because they are on the
utting edge of science where all of
he changes occur,” Nicks said.
They can dream and be creative
nd even make mistakes without the
utcomes causing any great dama-
;e.”
Nicks said NASA had fallen into a
dormant period when research was
de-emphasized and allowed to dete
riorate. He said universities had
fallen into a survival mode and were
just now starting to pull out.
“We’re in the dawning of a new
space age,” Nicks said. “We’re
looking past just a space station to
return trips to the moon and a
manned mission to Mars.”
Government officials from NASA
to President Reagan’s office have
recognized the need to expand U.S.
commitment in space and have es
tablished programs to meet this
need. In the budget submitted to
and recently approved by the Presi
dent’s Office of Management and
Budget, NASA set aside $100 mil
lion dollars in 1989 and over $1 bil
lion through 1993 for the Path
finder Initiative to be run by the
Office of Aeronautics and Space
Technology (OAST) at NASA.
Peggy L. Evanich, program direc
tor in the propulsion, power and en
ergy division of OAST and keynote
speaker at the conference, explained
that Pathfinder is a technology de
velopment program that will focus
on human survival in space for ex
tended time periods.
“With the renewed interest in a lu
nar base and a mission to Mars,”
Evanich said, “Pathfinder will focus
on producing deliverable technology
within the next five years, giving of
ficials the information needed to de
cide on the next mission beyond the
space station.”
Part of the Pathfinder Initiative
will be devoted to the development
of life support systems and the inte
gration of CELSS research already
under way. Evanich said the end
product will be a life support system
that operates independently and
combines chemical/physical proc
esses with biological processes to
form a man-made biosphere.
She said a new’ system of technol
ogy development is required to
reach Pathfinder goals. The system
should begin with a computer proc
ess simulation, proceed through sub
system and system development and
then go through laboratory vali
dation before the technology is re
ady to be used.
“We’re not looking to build hard
ware through Pathfinder that is
going to be obsolete before it can be
used,” Evanich said. “We want to
have the technology ready when
these things that we’re talking about,
like a lunar base, are ready to be do
ne.”
The rest of the two-day confer
ence was made up of paper presen
tations by academic and NASA re
searchers from across the country.
Primary emphasis was on biologi
cally based systems, with a secondary
emphasis on physical/chemical proc
esses and system modeling.
Dr. Kamel H. Fotouh, chairman
of the chemical engineering depart
ment at Prairie View A&M Univer
sity, presented his senior class’s pro
ject — Production of Breathable Air
on Mars. Fotouh said that his stu
dents designed systems to remove
solid particles from the Martian air,
convert the Martian air into breatha
ble air and to search for possible un
derground water pockets to be used
in the production of air. They also
made a general time line for the es
tablishment of a Mars base.
“The establishment of a Mars col
ony will involve three phases: A sur
vival stage, when the primary con
cern will be with air, water and food;
A self-sufficiency phase, when
chemicals, fuels, pharmaceuticals,
polymers and metals are produced;
and a production and export phase,
when items such as enzymes, chrys-
tals and radiation resistant materals
will be sent back to Earth.”
Fotouh suggested that w r e know
how to get to Mars but we do not
know how to stay there longer. “Eve
ryone has their own definition of a
design but each thinks that his is the
best,” he said. “We must combine
our designs to get 100 percent effec
tiveness.”
Other papers involved the use of
plants and plant growth in a con
tained environment. Plants are a big
part of the biological life-support
system idea. They act as an oxygen
producer and as a source of food
and comfort on long missions.
Alice Eichold, a NASA Graduate
Student Research Fellow from Yale
University, reasons that if you ex
pect a human to take on an 18 to 36
month space flight you must build
the spacecraft from the inside-out,
putting flight crew comfort and con
venience above outer structure.
“By creating a plant growth fa
cility with human interaction capabi
lities, the plants act as a psychologi
cal boost to the crew,” Eichold said.
“The plants benefit the humans and
the humans, at the same time, bene
fit the plants.”
Clearly, it will require a combina
tion of physical/chemical systems
and biological systems to create a
closed-loop life support system that
can be used over a long period of
time, and the research will take time.
“We hope to have both a closed-
loop physical/chemical process and a
closed-loop biological process de
signed by 1994,” Evanich said.
“Then we can integrate the two and
have a physical/chemical/biological
process that we can test in the space
station by 1998.”
Professor
dies after
heart attack
Abdel Ayoub, a 60-year-old
electrical engineering professor
who had been at Texas A&M for
• 20 years, died Saturday of a heart
attack.
Ayoub was in the emergency
room of St. Joseph hospital when
the attack occurred. His wife,
Odessa, said Ayoub was taken to
the hospital because of a chest
pain but, she said, there was no
indication of a heart problem un
til the attack occurred. Mrs.
Ayoub said doctors examined her
husband and initially found noth
ing wrong, but Ayoub had the fa
tal heart attack after the examina
tion, while he was still in the
hospital. Mrs. Ayoub said her
husband had suffered from a
heart problem for five years.
This semester, Ayoub was tea
ching an electrical circuit theory
class, a course he taught for the
past three semesters. The electri
cal engineering class is required
for all electrical engineering and
nuclear engineering majors.
Chanan Singh, an electrical en
gineering professor and friend of
Ayoub’s, said Ayoub was also in
volved with research in power
systems reliability and electrical
machines. His specialization was
power systems, Singh said.
Singh said Ayoub always
seemed to enjoy spending his
time with students.
“He really liked to work with
students and he cared about
them,” Singh said. “He was a nice
person.”
Eric Gusfafson, a senior electri
cal engineering major who took
Ayoub’s class, said Ayoub played
an important role in many stu
dents’ academic careers.
“He had a lot of influence in
their curricula and education,”
Gustafson said. “He influenced a
lot of people’s decisions.”
Funeral services were held in
College Station and he was buried
at a Moslem cemetary in Houston
Sunday.
Ayoub is survived by his wifq
and sons who live in Houston.