Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.energy From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: energy Fri, Apr 3 1992 Date: Fri, 3 Apr 92 05:43:48 EST Message-ID: 04-03 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update April 3-5, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network ENERGY PRICES FALL BACK: Energy prices paused Thursday from a recent advance that has pushed crude oil near $20-per-barrel. Light sweet crude oil for delivery in May settled at $19.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, 4 cents lower than Wednesday's close. Analysts attributed the drop to a consolidation after a bullish phase that climaxed Wednesday when crude broke out of a narrow trading range. REFINED PRODUCTS LOSE GROUND: Refined products prices fell Thursday. Unleaded gasoline for May delivery lost 0.57 cent to finish at 61.72 cents a gallon. Home heating oil for May delivery shed 0.17 cent, settling at 54.28 cents a gallon. Natural gas prices posted minor declines also. The May natural gas contract settled at $1.352 per 1,000 cubic feet compared to $1.381 on Wednesday. INSULAR OIL SUPPLIES IN BILL: A national energy plan being pushed by House Democrats would double the funds for energy-related grants in the U.S. insular areas and would give the territorial governments priority in drawing on the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserves in the event of an emergency. The package reflects efforts territorial representatives have been pursuing for several months. (For more, see special Oil package below.) NRC DECISION UPSETS BIDEN: Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., ripped into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Thursday for not penalizing the operators of the Salem nuclear plant after an explosion there last year. An NRC investigation of the blast revealed that improper maintenance and operator error contributed to the accident in the Salem II reactor but did not penalize Public Service Electric and Gas for them. INDEPENDENT BODY TOUTED: Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said Thursday that Public Service Electric and Gas failed to correct problems at its Salem II reactor after it had been warned by NRC inspectors a year before a November 1991 explosion there. Biden said the NRC's failure to penalize PSE&G points up the need for an independent body to investigate accidents at nuclear generating plants. GAS PUMPS TO BE REFITTED: The Environmental Protection Agency this week approved rules for Stage 2 recovery devices - boots for gas pump nozzles. Stations in 55 metropolitan areas in 27 states will be required to install it within three years. The boot works with a second hose on the pump to channel back to the service station's tank the vapors displaced from your tank when it's filled. BILL ON PUBLIC SAY UNVEILED: Rep. Peter Kostmayer, D-Penn., unveiled legislation Wednesday designed to guarantee public participation in the nuclear power licensing process. Energy Secretary James Watkins warned he will recommend that President Bush veto the bill, which ensures citizens living near nuclear power plants a hearing if safety concerns arise after a plant has been built but before it begins operation. ZURN TO BUILD 40-MW POWER PLANT: Zurn Industries, Inc. said Thursday that it has received a power plant engineering and construction contract from Alternative Energy, Inc. (AEI) of Bangor, Maine. The contract, valued in the $35 million to $40 million range, calls for Zurn:NEPCO to design and build a 40-megawatt power plant in Ashland, Maine. The power plant will provide electricity to Central Maine Power. DUMP SITE FINDERS THREATENED: Two North Carolina officials in search of a nuclear waste dump site have received death threats, and others are being verbally abused, the state Highway Patrol said Thursday. The Highway Patrol has stepped up its presence in Richmond County, where a site is being considered for the regional low-level radioactive waste landfill. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON OIL: EDITING TO BEGIN WEDNESDAY: House Interior Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., says his committee is only dealing with those portions of the energy package over which it has jurisdiction. The entire package will be reassembled when various House committees have reviewed their respective parts. Miller said he expected his committee to begin editing Interior's portion of the plan April 8. FUNDING WOULD BE DOUBLED: House Democrats have served up a much different plan than the Senate and the administration. The White House still hopes to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while Congress seems bent on killing the proposal. Under the House version, energy grants for renewable energy projects in the insular areas such as Guam and the Virgin Islands would rise from $500,000 to $1 million. AREAS NO LONGER `STATES': Under the House energy bill, insular areas would no longer be classified as "states" for purposes of negotiations by the U.S. Nuclear Waste Negotiator's Office, which is charged with trying to find suitable repositories for nuclear garbage. Insular areas would be accorded special status for purposes of oil supply emergencies - they would get preference to Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil. INSULAR VULNERABILITY ADDRESSED: The language is designed to address the insular areas' unique vulnerability to oil supply disruptions. Unlike the mainland states, which can have oil shipped in on trucks or trains or pipelines, the insular islands have no recourse to interrupted supplies. The measure would let an insular government's ship load ahead of other tankers at the SPR's terminal in the Gulf of Mexico. (End of package.) Energy Editor: William Snoddy. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM