Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.energy From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: energy Wed, May 13 1992 Date: Wed, 13 May 92 05:40:09 EDT Message-ID: 05-13 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update May 13, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network PRICE OF GAS JUMPS: The average price of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline rose 1.4 cents this week to $1.121 per gallon, the sixth increase in the seven weeks, the American Automobile Association said Tuesday. The price has risen 7.2 cents since March 24 to its highest level since Dec. 10 when a gallon of self-serve regular unleaded cost $1.126 per gallon. Prices increased in all regions of the United States. USA BACKS WARMING AGREEMENT: The United States this week backs a watered-down treaty to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases and President Bush said Tuesday he would go to the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, next month to sign the agreement, which was reached Friday at the United Nations. Federal energy policies that already have been adopted could bring the USA close to the agreement's goal. (For more, see special Agreement package below.) CRUDE OIL STOCKS UP: The nation's crude oil supplies rose last week, while heating oil and gasoline stocks fell, the American Petroleum Institute reported Tuesday in its weekly survey. The API said crude stocks rose nearly half a million barrels to 353.5 million. Heating oil stocks fell nearly 3.5 million barrels to 89.8 million barrels and gasoline inventories fell 73,000 barrels to 216.31 million barrels. HEATING OIL FALLS BACK: Home heating oil prices fell back Tuesday as traders cashed in on a rally Monday that left the refined petroleum product at a five-month high. The next-month contract settled .84 cent lower Tuesday at 57.52 cents a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Monday, the price of wholesale home heating oil for June delivery hit 58.6 cents a gallon Monday, its highest level since Dec. 5. OIL PRICES HEAD LOWER: In crude oil trading Tuesday at the Mercantile Exchange, light sweet blend for June delivery fell 4 cents a barrel to $20.96. Among refined products traded on the exchange, wholesale unleaded gasoline for June delivery declined 0.51 cent a gallon to close at 64.82 cents. Natural gas for June delivery closed at $1.543 per 1,000 cubic feet, up from $1.490 Monday. TVA TO BUY CREDITS FROM WP&L: The Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the biggest emitters sulfur dioxide, said Tuesday it plans to buy the right to pollute by buying credits from Wisconsin Power & Light, on of the cleanest utilities. The deal is the first of its kind under the Clean Air Act of 1990. That act allows power plants that pollute less than their prescribed maximum to sell pollution credits to other plants. WHOLESALE PRICES UP SLIGHTLY: Wholesale energy prices rose 0.5% last month, less than half the March rate of 1.2%, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. Gasoline prices were up 1.4% in April, following a March increase of 1.1%. Home heating oil jumped an even sharper 4.6% last month. Overall, wholesale price inflation edged up a slight 0.2% in April, the third straight month the Producer Price Index posted such a gain. PHILLIPS SETTLES WITH ALASKA: Phillips Petroleum Co. and Alaska's State Department of Revenue Tuesday announced a $165 million settlement that resolves a dispute over long-standing state income tax and production tax liabilities concerning North Cook Inlet gas production. Approximately $60 million of the settlement has already been paid. The remainder, plus accrued interest, will be paid on or before June 30, 1993. PANEL LOOKING FOR DUMP SITE: A panel attempting to find a radioactive waste site in Maine approved a list of 10 possible locations for a state-run nuclear waste dump. A further study to cut the list to three is expected to take six months. Meanwhile, talks continue between Maine and Texas over Maine's shipping low-level waste to a facility in Texas. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON AGREEMENT: AGREEMENT CAPS EMISSIONS: A Senate hearing Tuesday showed the debate already is shifting to whether the USA should try to beat the U.N. greenhouse gas emissions agreement's goal, and how much it will cost Americans in jobs and money. The agreement pledges that developed nations will try to cap emissions of heat-trapping gases at 1990 levels by 2000. But it does not bind them to do so, a concession Bush won. THREE GASES ARE TARGETED: The agreement is aimed at slowing the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which trap heat and can warm the Earth. The agreement requires developed nations to spell out plans to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. Under pending U.S. policies, emissions of the three main gases will rise 1.4% to 6% from 1990 to 2000. They otherwise would rise 8.4 to 17%. CUT OF 17% CAN BE REACHED: "We certainly recognize that achieving this future will require basic changes," said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists. But, he told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a study by his group shows the USA can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17% by 2000. Roger Dower of the World Resources Institute said the USA should tax the carbon content in fuels. CARBON TAX WOULD BRING CHANGES: A carbon tax would reshape the economy in fundamental ways because it would discourage the use of energy in some forms - like coal and oil - more than others like natural gas or wind. Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., cited a study released Tuesday by Consad Research Corp. of Pittsburgh that estimated a carbon tax could eliminate 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. (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