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 Fri, May 22 1992
Date: Fri, 22 May 92 05:21:01 EDT
Message-ID: <ns.energy.1992May22.052102@AmeriCast.com>

05-22 0000
DECISIONLINE: Energy
USA TODAY Update
May 22-25, 1992
Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network
    
ENERGY BILL ON HOLD:
   The House, after briefly debating states rights - specifically 
Nevada's - against the national good, Thursday put its energy bill 
on hold until next week. Lawmakers amended the measure to bypass 
state and local permits while the Energy Department studies 
building a nuclear waste disposal site in Nevada. The House 
members cut out early Thursday to begin the Memorial Day holiday.
    
RESERVE'S TAB TO BE DEBATED:
   The House will take up the energy bill again next Wednesday, 
with the Energy and Ways and Means committees set to battle over 
who pays for an increase in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the 
country's emergency oil supply. While the House is likely to 
battle over whether the oil industry will bear the cost of 
increasing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, it won't debate 
off-shore drilling.
    
NINE MILE POINT A WORRY:
   The Nine Mile Point nuclear plant is growing increasingly 
troublesome to its neighbors in Scriba, N.Y. At least once a month 
recently, residents have been jarred with news of yet another 
mishap at the plant - from accidental releases of radiation to 
equipment shutdowns. "They're just playing games with our lives," 
resident Cindy Gagne says.
(For more, see special Nuclear package below.)
    
OPEC DOESN'T RAISE CEILING:
   Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries 
Thursday discussed production quotas for the summer, when demand 
generally rises, but they did not quickly agree to raise the 
output ceiling by 1 million barrels a day, as had been expected. 
The meeting in Vienna, Austria, continues Friday.
    
OIL PRICES CLOSE HIGHER:
   Speculation that OPEC might keep production down this summer 
pushed oil prices higher Thursday. Light sweet crude oil for 
delivery in July settled at $20.90 a barrel, up 50 cents, at the 
New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude got an added lift from 
unfounded rumors that King Fahd of Saudi Arabia was either dead or 
on his death bed, traders said.
    
NATURAL GAS DECLINES:
   Refined petroleum products posted gains Thursday at the 
Mercantile Exchange. Unleaded gasoline for delivery in June 
settled at 63.29 cents a gallon, up 1.02 cents. Home heating oil 
for delivery in June settled at 56.08 cents a gallon, up .88 cent. 
Natural gas prices were lower, with contracts for delivery in June 
settling at $1.685 per 1,000 cubic feet, down 10.3 cents.
    
TROLLEYS SWITCH TO PROPANE:
   Tourists in Washington - as well as San Diego, Miami and Key 
West, Fla. - will soon be scooting around in tour buses powered by 
propane. Old Town Trolley Tours runs the buses, which are designed 
to look like old-fashioned trolleys. The conversion will cut 
carbon monoxide emissions by 90%. More fleets like this will be 
converting from gasoline to alternate fuels to satisfy the 1990 
Clean Air Act.
    
CARBON TAX GETTING ATTENTION:
   A carbon tax, a form of energy tax, is being touted as one of 
the major steps the USA could take if it must curb fossil fuel use 
to stave off global warming. A carbon tax would discourage fossil 
fuel use, which accounts for 60% of the greenhouse gases created 
by human activity. A carbon tax of $100 per ton would equal: 30 
cents a gallon of gas, $13 per barrel of oil and $60 per ton of 
coal.
    
HOUSE BANS PRODUCTION LIMITS:
   The House put a crimp late Wednesday in Oklahoma's attempt to 
protect independent natural gas producers when it voted 238-169 to 
restrict how the state may implement its new law limiting natural 
gas production. The amendment to the energy bill prohibits any 
restrictions that artificially increase the price of natural gas. 
Both Oklahoma and Texas enacted "pro-rationing" laws last month.
    
SPECIAL PACKAGE ON NUCLEAR:
    
NRC REFUSES TO ALLOW RESTART:
   Living in the shadow of Nine Mile Point, one of the nation's 
worst-run nuclear reactors, has taken its toll on many who live in 
Scriba, N.Y. Homes are equipped with special radios in case an 
evacuation is needed. The latest problem: Cracks in backup cooling 
system valves. Wednesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
refused to allow a restart of the plant until repairs are made.
    
PLANT RANKED AS USA'S WORST:
   Plant operators say one of two reactors at Nine Mile Point - 
operating only sporadically since February - will be shut down 
until mid-July. The 23-year-old Nine Mile Point nuclear plant has 
had more than its share of trouble: In its report "Nuclear 
Lemons," the watchdog group Public Citizen ranked it as one of the 
nation's worst plants, based on safety and production criteria.
    
OPERATIONAL PROBLEMS CONSTANT:
   "It's an accident waiting to happen," says Ken Bossong of 
Public Citizen. Nine Mile Point I - the oldest of two reactors on 
the site - has been shut down nearly 83% of the time because of 
operational problems. Industry average: 11%. The NRC sent a 
special inspection team to the site March 2 after an electrical 
failure cut off power to the control room at the Nine Mile Point 
II reactor.
    
OPERATOR SEES IMPROVEMENT:
   For its part, plant operator Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. says 
radiation releases have been minimal and none of the incidents has 
ever endangered area residents. Both units were removed from the 
NRC's "watch list" for troubled reactors last year - proof that 
conditions have improved, says B. Ralph Sylvia, vice president of 
nuclear operations. "I'm confident we are improving," he says.
(End of package.)
    
ADVISORY:
   Decisionlines will not be published Monday, May 25, in 
observance of Memorial Day. Decisionlines will resume publication 
on Tuesday, May 26.
    
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