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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 1989)
The Battalion jSTATE & LOCAL Tuesday, June 6,1989 e {Expiration of subsidies endangers commuter flights to 3 Texas cities l mac ss w islet lurioi agile whft art' )uci; WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is being isked to rescue three Texas airports with Essen- iai Air Service subsidies due to run out soon, po- entially leaving Brownwood, Paris and Temple vithout commuter flights this summer. The Senate Appropriations Committee has /oted to spend $190,000 to keep shuttles run- ting to the three Texas cites, as part of $6.6 mil- ion set aside to maintain the government’s Es- ential Air Service to 1 14 airports nationwide. The funds are included in an urgent supple- nental appropriations bill, which the Senate ' :ould consider for a vote as early as Tuesday tight. The House’s urgent appropriations bill, iiowever, provides no extra funds for EAS, with he Appropriations Committee voting down the alan in May. Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Vlosley said air service to the 114 airports could e jeopardized by late July if Congress fails to provide the $6.6 million to keep the program jpj going through Oct. 1, the start of the next fiscal year. According to a letter from Transportation Sec retary Samuel K. Skinner to Senate Appropria tions Chairman Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., a fail ure to maintain the program this summer could result in expensive start-up costs this fall if Con- iom eyri gress decides to continue with EAS in fiscal 1990. “Any attempt to re-establish the program fol lowing such a hiatus in service would be expen sive and logistically difficult since carriers would have taken steps to redeploy employees, aircraft Regular, reliable air service to and from a major hub greatly enhances local economic development efforts.” — Phil Gramm, U.S. senator and other resources,” Skinner said in the May 1 letter seeking a solution to the shortfall. Without additional funding, Skinner said the D.OT would have to begin notifying air carriers in early June that subsidy payments would be ter- minatecl in late July. At the first of the year, DOT had proposed terminating service to between 33 and 53 of the 114 subsidized communities to stay within its $25 million budget this year, allowing service to con tinue to the remaining airports. But the agency abandoned those plans after members of Con gress complained about the loss of EAS to their communities. The Senate’s proposal, however, would pare the list of cities receiving subsidies from more than 150 to 114, said Rep. Jim Chapman, a Sul phur Springs Democrat and member of the House Appropriations Committee. Eliminated are those communities receiving the greatest sub sidies coupled with the smallest number of pas sengers. No Texas airport is on that list. In Texas, Fort Worth-based Exec Express II provides subsidized shuttles between Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Brownwood, Paris and Temple. Sen. Phil Gramm, a Texas Republican and member of the Senate Appropriations Commit tee, said he hopes the subsidies can eventually help the three cities become self-sustaining. “This is an effort to help them develop this service,” Gramm said. “The service was imper iled. I want to give it a chance to become estab lished and self-sustaining. “Air transportation is vitally important to the growth of medium-sized towns,” Gramm said. “Regular, reliable air service to and from a major hub greatly enhances local economic devel opment efforts.” Sympathizers rally in Austin to support Chinese protesters AUSTIN (AP) — Sympathizers shouting “Down with communism” and “Power to the people” rallied on the Capitol steps Monday to support Chinese demonstrators involved in a bloody fight for democracy. “I think today the battle for de mocracy and freedom in China is not ... a battle for democracy and freedom only for Chinese people,” said Ping Chen, a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin and president of the Chinese Young Economist Society. “I think it is the battle of this century, and maybe for the 21st century.” The student-led effort to reform the Chinese government and to bring democracy to the country “is not a regional issue, it’s a global issue ... If the people win the battle, we can discouraee all the dictators around the world,” he told the crowd of about 200 who marched to the Capitol from a rally at UT. The crowd was comprised largely of UT students. Some carried a black banner with white characters that one supporter said signified a “funeral for all the martyrs, dead for democracy and freedom in China.” Some wore black armbands and white flowers as signs of mourning. Hundreds of Chinese students were shot and killed by Chinese troops in Tiananmen Square in Beij ing over the weekend, and many others were wounded following demonstrations for a freer society. “My heart goes to my fellow Chinese citizens in China,” said Ying Tang, who is from mainland China and attends the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at UT. Among the signs in the crowd was one saying, “May the will of the Chinese people be stronger than the guns of tlieir government.” Three intramural sports offered during summer By Richard Tijerina STAFF WRITER Three sports — slowpitch softball, basketball triples and vol leyball triples — are being of fered by Texas A&M’s Intramu ral Office for the first summer session. Entries for all three sports opened June 5 and close June 9. • Slowpitch softball requires a $30 team entry fee. Play begins June 12 and playoffs begin June 25. Playoff schedules will be posted June 22 at 2 p.m. • Basketball triples requires a $20 team entry fee. Play begins June 12 and playoffs begin June 21. Playoff schedules will be posted June 20 at 2 p.m. • Volleyball triples requires a $20 team entry fee. Play begins June 13 and playoffs begin June 22. Playoff schedules will be posted June 21 at 2 p.m. The three sports are the same ones that were offered during the first summer session last year, a spokesman from the Intramural Office said Monday. She said the rules for the sports might have changed somewhat, and that complete rules are available along with registration materials in the Recreational Sports Office, 159 Read Building. EPA agrees to abandon plan for burning hazardous wastes at site off Texas Coast WASHINGTON (AP) — The En vironmental Protection Agency has agreed to abandon a site off the Texas Gulf Coast designated as the country’s only location for ocean in cineration of hazardous wastes. Steps to begin the “de-desig nation” of the site 220 miles east of Brownsville hinge on resolution of a federal lawsuit in the District of Co lumbia. The case challenges the EPA’s decision not to issue a permit for industrial waste incineration at sea as long as the agency has no reg ulations over ocean burning. The EPA also argued in court that the 1988 Ocean Dumping Ban Act would prohibit SeaBurn Inc. of Con necticut from obtaining a permit to “I It’s good news for South Texans and all the Texas Gulf Coast. It removes a cloud of doubt and concern hovering over the Texas Gulf Coast for a decade.” — Phil Gramm, U.S. senator burn industrial wastes off the Texas coast. Although the court in April sided with EPA’s position, time has not run out for SeaBurn Inc. to appeal the decision, said Tudor Davies, di rector of the EPA’s office of Marine and Estuarine Protection. Once the court case is resolved, the EPA will officially propose the site be de-designated and then take public comment on the plan, Davies said. “EPA will begin proceedings to de-designate the site and the conclu sion of the judicial process in that case if the courts ultimately uphold the agency’s view of the law,” said a May 24 letter to Sen. Phil Gramm, R- Texas, signed by William A. Whit tington, acting deputy assistant ad ministrator of the EPA office on wa ter. Gramm, a Texas Republican, asked EPA Administrator William “It’s good news for South Texans and all the Texas Gulf Coast,” Gramm said Monday. “It removes a cloud of doubt and concern hover ing over the Texas Gulf Coast for a decade. “It has been a concern in terms of economic development, in terms of the fishing industry and tourism, so (the decision) eliminates a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the fishing industry, the shipping industry, and the tourism industry.” The EPA decided in 1977 to for mally designate the Gulf of Mexico site, 160 miles south of Galveston, in the event regulations were even tually formulated on ocean incinera tion. friei:' r. Hi; wd ? SOIK ring 4 it m mint | lyelfl ersi isicii An Invitation to Luxury*. ♦♦ The Jewelry Express Card The Jewelry Express Card... Sheer Brilliance! Join an exciusive membership with benefits you richly deserve... 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