State & Local
iday. A.p
Page 2
The Battalion
Friday, AprilW
riol
Commission:
Explosion's
cause not yet
determined
AUSTIN (AP) — A deadly ex-
m
plosion near Brenham may have
resulted from a salt dome storage
facility being overfilled with nat
ural gas liquids and leaking, but
other possibilities haven't been
ruled out, the Texas Railroad
Commission said Thursday.
"This is only one possible ex
planation," based on preliminary
test results. Commission Chair
Lena Guerrero told a news con
ference.
She emphasized, "The investi
gation is continuing. We cannot
say for sure at this time what the
cause of this accident was."
The commission hopes to
complete its work within 45 days,
she said.
The April 7 blast killed three
people, injured 18 others and
caused at least $6.6 million in
property damage.
Railroad Commission spokes
men told The (Brenham) Banner-
Press on Wednesday they had
made a preliminary finding that
Seminole Pipeline Co.'s storage
facility was overfilled, and that a
check valve failed, resulting in a
release of liquified petroleum gas
product from the cavern that
touched off the fiery explosion.
"We want to ensure that no
false impressions have been left
by statements made," Guerrero
said.
The commission's investiga
tion first focused on an above
ground pipeline loop and valve
that remained on fire for days af
ter the explosion, Guerrero said.
The loop is in an area where
two, 6-inch pipelines jojn, one
owned by Seminole and one by
Coastline Gas Pipeline Co.
The commission as yet has
found no evidence to indicate a
drop in pressure, a leak, or a mal
function in either of those
pipelines before the explosion,
Guerrero said.
The commrssion also has no
data on any darpage to a 14-inch
Seminole pipeline that runs near
the storage cavern, she said.
ORTRUN GINGERICH/The Battalion
Human fly
Vanessa Armenteros, a freshman education
major from Heustorryffings herself onto the
"velcro wall” with the help of a trampoline outside
the MSC Thursday afternoon .
Texans collected $247,000 as informants for IRS
AUSTIN (AP) — If you missed this week's
Internal Revenue Service filing deadline, don't
let too many people know. They could turn
you in — and turn a profit.
Forty-six Texans took advantage of the
snitcher's reward and collected a total of
$247,000 last year.
Call it a finder's fee considering the IRS col
lected $7.4 million from those who were
turned in.
Of course, the IRS has a kinder word for
snitches — informants.
"Informants are often citizens who see their
neighbors with a boat or a couple of expensive
cars and suspect that they aren't paying what
they owe," said Jackie Antweiler, a public af
fairs officer for the IRS in Austin.
In the business world, companies have
been known to turn in their competitors and
employees have even ratted on their tax-dodg
ing bosses.
The Battalion
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Experts question 4ov
theory of oil's orig?°l€
ontinued
Researcher says unlimited supply exi
wmakers
laminates the hole. TheCffas re ^ ease
search concluded thatthei; House 5
al pumped into the liolew^atedly to
By Karen Praslicka
The Battalion
Texas A&M petroleum experts
are skeptical, but if Thomas Gold
can prove his latest theory, the
world's energy problem could be
over.
The Dallas Morning News re
ported Sunday that Gold has
found proof that oil and gas are of
non-biological — or abiotic —
origin.
Gold, a former professor of as
tronomy at Cornell University,
has said that all oil and gas on the
planet was trapped in the Earth
4.5 billion years ago during the
big bang, and there is an unlimit
ed supply for the world to use if it
can be extracted, he said.
Gold's theory has not been
well accepted since he first pro
posed it about ten years ago. But
during the past few years he has
gained attention after claiming he
has found oil where there should
not have been any.
Gold has persuaded the
Swedish government and United
States investors to drill a well in
the Siljan Ring area of Sweden,
the Morning News reported. The
ring is the site of a meteor crash
350 million years ago, and is
made of granite.
Since the drilling began. Gold
has found oil - the problem is, no
one is convinced the oil came
from non-organic rock.
The A&M Geochemical and
Environmental Research Group
(GERG) has analyzed Gold's re
search, but found no conclusive
results.
Dr. Mahlon Kennicutt, a se
nior research scientist with GERG,
said the actual drilling process
could have created what Gold has
found.
There were some hydrocarbon
gases found during the drilling in
addition to the oil, which would
add to Gold's theory, but the
drilling bit on the rock can pro
duce these same kinds of gases,
Kennicutt said.
"Tommy Gold makes lots of
claims, but the consensus is it
hasn't been a successful experi
ment," he said. "They have pro
duced some fluids that appear to
be due to other things."
An additive — usually an oil-
based mud — is pumped into the
hole during the drilling process to
control pressure or lubricate the
drill bit if it gets stuck, which con-
E. Bonior
Republic
had none a
Gold and his team discovei r» the list
"There was nothingp r( o rule of t
by the hole that wasn't a itives."
it," Kennicutt said. Iso accu:
Dr. Stephen Holditdi, 16 news r
fessor in the Texas *a of inac
Petroleum EngineeringDd* 6 reportii
ment, said that Golds* Foley s
might not be as controver- he release
seems.
"As with lots of 5c: f brings tc
problems, the truth mip lose t
somewhere in between,"he v hole m
"But there is strong geoloj'* 1 '"
deuce that lots of nydrociv A Just
are from source rocks. ^epartme
"Gold's theory is strict!- a PP°‘ nte d <
ry now, but I don't thinh§ at ! n g th e
has proved or disprovedit’^lP while
Holditch said Goldanii:? ern b ers n
search team probablyshotiTf 6 have
have used oil during the: ^ ans or
process since they werexil^ 5 moT
for oil or gas. F( q ev h
Holditch said, howevr .rv - v ..
tons of oil that Gold dar Gep^/d t c
traded from the graniter-)
ly not that much. Therearr*^ '
seven barrels per ton,so
tons recovered byGoldai
team is less than 100 barrels
The capacity of the ho* Gingrich of
to pump out the oil mighl®P(Gj n g r j c p,
100 barrels, which is an in.'the day to
cant amount that coulc said he wa:
come from the drillingpr^manded th
Holditch said. the ethics cc
Kennicutt said therecouHHAmong
some abiotic formatio: bers now in
petroleum, but there isal'f* Secretary R
dence for its biologicalfomi. 25; Labor S<
One piece of evidence 16; Agricult
volves the formation of oilin : R. Madigan,
ground's subsurface. Urban Dev
"Through drilling and e»f Jack F. Kem]
ration efforts, we've found oil- Former C
comes more prevalent in the: now servin
surface the deeper you go, e made the lis
the temperature gets hotter,"Xf Coats of Ir
nicutt said. Smith of T
Through studies invofving Bank Browr
depth, the conversion of organic ry E. Craig <
matter into petroleum because c'M. Jeffords c
the increasing heat can be ob The a mo i
served, he said. were not prc
The second piece of evidence Some of t
involved laboratoryexperimentiliundreds
using sedimentary rocks. U'i"abuser" li
sediments were heated in the tnumbers of
and they produced an oil-lik e( | on the n
substance. This supportsthefir! acC ount hole
piece of evidence concerningit£ xcee ded the
formation of oil, Kennicutt said maker's nex
The third piece of evidence-P p ar t
ads; Rep
SeeOi|/Page:Den-iocrats f
of the bank;
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Aggiela
Gfngrich fo
of his persor
r Rep. Cha
Illinois Den
earlier list o
Out of offict
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