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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 1990)
The Battalion STATE & LOCAL Friday, October 12,1990 3 Gulf crisis, pollution fuel research 'l ° Ur % By JOE FERGUSON eniGr- I S1 ot The Battalion Staff It Will;,. ou gh, ivar atic emocraiit sident can’t st^ -hen. r e conomi l: The combination of U.S. depen dence on Persian Gulf oil and esca lating air pollution problems is caus ing a renewed interest in alternative fuel sources, a Texas A&M profes sor says. A serious, economically driven concern about alternative fuels has not existed since OPEC refused to sell oil to the United States and oil prices were driven up in the 1970s, Dr, Richard Davison, a chemical en gineering professor, says. Once again, a situation in the Mid dle East has driven gas prices up in the United States and, once again, interest in alternative fuels is on the rise. Davison, however, says any imme diate increased interest in alternative fuel would be for environmental reasons, not because of an oil short age. “I think everyone knows the pre sent cost of oil is based on fear,” Da vison says. “Everyone is running out bidding for this oil to keep their (re serve) tanks full in case something happens in Saudi Arabia. And bid ding drives the price up.” Davison says he expects the price hike to be short-term only. “There’s really only a slight short age and unless (a major) one devel ops, (the higher prices) won’t last long. This is only temporary.” But due to the nature of oil, a real shortage is coming, Davison says. “Of course oil is not a renewable resource,” he says. “We are con suming. But most people feel a true shortage is still decades away.” He says possible alternative fuels are natural gas, synthetic gas, pro pane, butane, methyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol. All are used already on a limited basis. Davison says natural gas would be good economically, but a loss of power and inconvenient refueling make it unattractive to some people. Wade Thomason, program ad ministrator of environmental health for the American Lung Association of Texas, says the substitution of compressed natural gas for gasoline would provide the following bene fits: • total elimination of hydrocar bon evaporate emissions • 50 percent reduction of carbon monoxide • 40 percent reduction of hydro carbons • virtual elimination of partic ulates, like soot Compressed natural gas as a ve hicular fuel will be exhibited Thurs day in the first floor student lounge of the MSC from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ALA is sponsoring the exhibi tion. Davison says economics is the ba sis for converting to alternative fu els. “I believe (economics) is finally what pushes everything,” he says. “You can never pass laws (forcing the use of alternative fuels) if the economies are too bad. If the eco nomics are far apart, people will scream because it will make them poor. “We are not going to burn a fuel equivalent to $50 to $100 per barrel if we can buy oil from the Arabs or anyone else for, say, $20 or $25 per barrel,” he says. “It’s going to be very hard for an alternative fuel industry to develop when everyone figures that in a few years, the price of oil will come back down,” he continues. Davison says just as technological advances like horizontal drilling have allowed for more oil produc tion, they also could make alterna tive fuel production cheaper. But lower production costs for al ternative fuels is not the only delay to conversion. “The reason people (in the petro leum market) want to stay with gaso line is because of a multi-billion dol lar gasoline infrastructure,” Davison says. “We’ve got millions of gasoline- run motorvehicles, millions of filling Papers call for debate before election Associated Press iuties of i From Abilene to Waco, Texas newspapers are calling on the guber natorial candidates to debate one an other before the Nov. 6 election. Despite months of haggling, Dem ocrat Ann Richards and Republican Clayton Williams have so far failed to agree to a face-to-face debate. Each blames the other. The Houston Chronicle noted that 1990 could be the first year since 1974 in which voters wouldn’t tickets. Mi -formanct, 3t only are be able to view a debate. “Neither Williams nor Richards is entitled to be governor," the Chroni cle said. “But the voters are entitled to a fair chance to see them together and evaluate them accordingly.” Many other newspapers agree. “This election shouldn’t be de cided by campaign ads, headlines and sound bites,” the Abilene Re porter News said. “The voters ought to have an opportunity to see the two candidates, face to face, discuss the issues facing Texas.” “Dear Ann Richards and Clayton Williams: It’s high time you two quit playing hide-and-seek with each other on the campaign trail,” the Houston Post said. “Get together and give us some real insight into yourselves and how you would serve as Texas’ next governor.” Williams has insisted that Rich ards sign a pledge to run only a “pos itive” campaign before he will con front her. Richards says that’sjust an excuse. stations designed to pump gasoline or diesel, tanks designed to hold gas oline, refineries designed to produce gasoline. “In order to start replacing that infrastructure, there has to be a really heavy economic incentive,” he continues. “It’s not enough for an al ternate fuel to sell for about the same. It’s got to be significantly cheaper to justify replacing that in frastructure.” But environmental concerns such as the greenhouse effect, acid rain and smog could force the issue of al ternative fuels. And it already has, at least on the state level, Thomason says. He referred to a state law which requires state agencies to convert their vehicles by 1998 to alternative fuels. Thomason lists the percentage of vehicles required to be converted by date as 30 percent by 1994, 50 per cent by 1996 and 90 percent by 1998. Metropolitan transit authorities not meeting health standards and school districts with more than 50 buses also fall under those require ments, Thomason says. A&M Bus Operations Manager Doug Williams says A&M must com ply with the state law, but he has not received conversion plans. a r r r rTi>c J3/-Y X JL AJT Anyone with story suggestions can call BATTIPS, The Battal ion’s phone line designed to im prove communication between the newspaper and its readers. The BATTIPS number is 845- 3315. Ideas can include news stories, feature ideas and personality pro files of interesting people. Fraternity provides babysitting APO gives parents free time from kids By SEAN FRERKING Of The Battalion Staff Alpha Phi Omega will give par ents at Texas A&M a chance for some free time during Parents’ Night Out from 6 until 10:30 to night in 601 Rudder. Brad Mudgett, the event’s project chairman and a junior psychology major from San Antonio, says the event will give parents an opportu nity to participate in some activities at A&M. “We have Parents’ Night Out so parents can actually get out and have some fun without worrying about the cost or hassle of babysitting,” Mudgett says. “We try to plan to have three or four of these during a semester.” Mudgett says APO, a national coed service fraternity, tries to plan Parents’ Night Out on nights when there are several activities on cam pus. But parents have used the free time to do almost anything, he says. “Some parents will go to the Glas- nost Ballet or ‘Coffee House’ at Ru mors (the snackbar near the post of fice in the MSC),” Mudgett says. “But some drop off their kids and go see a movie, while others go eat din ner at Duddley’s. “It’s not too often parents have free time,” he continues. “We are just trying to give them some time to enjoy and get away.” Mudgett says there is no cost for Parents’ Night Out, but parents must complete a registration card the first time they use the service. He says APO has various ways of entertaining the children. “We’re going to show a couple of movies,” Mudgett says. “We also will have coloring books, Tinker Toys and all sorts of toys for the kids to play with.” He says individual volunteers also will be assigned to care for and en tertain each child. “We’ve found that most kids usually have the most fun with their own volunteer,” Mudgett says. APO has provided this service for several years, Mudgett says, and hopes to continue this “new Aggie tradition” in the future. “As a service fraternity, we try to help people in many different ways,” Mudgett says. “Parents’ Night Out is just one of APO’s ways of giving something back to A&M.” He says APO has more than 50 volunteers to help babysit. Fort Worth dubbed gang capital HOUSTON (AP) — The city of Fort Worth has the dubious distinc tion as the gang capital of Texas, with 154 gangs numbering about 3,000 members, according to a draft study by the state attorney general’s office. The study, obtained by the Hous ton Chronicle, shows Dallas No. 2 in the state, with more gangs but fewer gang members than its neighboring city. Kelly Fero, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said the re port, the first attempt to measure gang activity statewide, is prelimi nary and said the numbers could change. With too little jobs and too few youth activities, the report says “ur ban youth find the social cohesion and cultural bond of gang life allur ing.” San Antonio and Harlingen came third and fourth in the rankings. Houston, the state’s largest city, was fifth. :y are also respecting : same uni- ■ the estalt Police Dt- ■ansit, and ’s, and tht •nisthatre fleers A ■ in instani ether pari- laterial you -mit. ation sonJ ig lick rauVes art /ernan istetter MIDNIGHT YELL O PRACTICE OC (A&M @ U of H) under 21 wel con , e HOUSTON CASINO PARTY sl Covet Over Fyinofo P** 1 to J j a,I ^p% n OCTOBER 12, 1990 5 PM TO 2 AM @ JOHNNY B. DALTON S 13101 Kuykendahl (713) 873-2120 — free FOOD BUFFET - 7:00 - 9:00 PM Outdoors ~ CASINO TICKETS: (Student Rates w/ID) ADVANCE PURCHASE $5 AT THE DOOR $6 AVAILABLE AT: RUDDER BOX OFFICE 10/1 - 10/11 MSC & QUAD 10/8 -10/11 SBISA 10/9 - 10/11 QUESTIONS: CALL RHA OFFICE 845-0689 TAMU SPONSORED BY: TAMU YELL LEADERS TAMU RHA TAMU AGGIE PROFESSIONAL FORUM-HOUSTON s s s s s s s s s s N s s Si si 3 MEAT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE FRESH (NOT FROZEN) - BEEF RETAIL CUTS!!! ROASTS RIB CLOD EYE OF ROUND TOP ROUND CHUCK RUMP TIP BRISKET STEW MEAT STEAKS RIBEYE PRICE/LB. $3.79 2.25 3.29 2.90 1.95 2.85 2.85 1.99 2.29 PRICE/LB. STEAKS RIB STEAK EYE OF ROUND TOP ROUND BOTTOM ROUND TOP SIRLOIN STRIP BONELESS STRIP BONE IN TENDERLOIN TOP BLADE PORTERHOUSE PRICE/LB. $3.79 3.29 2.90 2.79 3.69 4.69 4.49 6.49 2.29 4.99 For a limited time, we are featuring fresh (never frozen) beef retail cuts along with our usual variety of vacuum packaged, frozen cuts. It is being made available during an extensive Meats and Muscle Biology Section Project to investigate the time involved in cutting beef wholesale cuts into steaks and roasts, therefore a larger amount of freshly cut retail cuts are generated. The fresh cuts will be available on the following dates: Oct. 11 and 12 Nov. 1 and 2 Oct. 25,26, and 27 Nov. 8 and 9 Please stop by and shop with us. The Rosenthal Meat Science and Technology Center is open Monday through Friday 9:00 am till 6:00 pm, and open on home rootball Saturdays from 9:00 am till 1:00 pm. 3BB>) V/SA l l % l s s N S .M S C. AfiGIE C INEM A Presents - nil Shows in Rudder Theatre Rdmission $2.00 Dead Poet's Society Friday G-Saturday 7:30/9:45PM Strange Brew Friday & Saturday Midnight Saturday--3:00PM Rudder Theatre Admission-$2.00- Children 13 & under-$1.00 ' r \\i *5'.ii£• [' rf •.;•;**'>?\ijj|f HJ •; ;j' j