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, Jun 5 1992 Date: Fri, 5 Jun 92 05:20:08 EDT Message-ID: 06-05 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update June 5-7, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network OIL HITS '92 HIGH: Oil prices mostly held their gains Thursday. Light sweet crude oil for delivery in July, which rose 32 cents the previous day, added another 5 cents to settle at $22.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a high for the year. July unleaded gasoline settled at 67.17 cents a gallon, off .14 cent. Natural gas for July delivery settled at $1.609 per 1,000 cubic feet, up 2.3 cents. YUCCA MOUNTAIN DISCUSSED: Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said Thursday he met with Linda Stuntz, the nominee to be deputy secretary of the Department of Energy, to make sure she understood Nevada has been deceived during agency efforts to study nuclear waste storage in the state. Nevada is upset with DOE's efforts to enact legislation that would strip the state of its right to issue permits to study Yucca Mountain. N-PLANT CLEANUP COSTS REPORTED: The Energy Department must do more to control the escalating costs of cleaning up the nation's contaminated nuclear weapons production sites, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, said Thursday. Glenn's comments came as he released a General Accounting Office report that criticizes DOE's ability to track, predict and control the costs of its massive clean-up effort. (For more, see special Report package below.) GROUPS WORK TO DISMANTLE DAMS: Congress began debating Thursday the possibility of dismantling two hydropower dams to save some fish. The Lower Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on Washington state's Elwha River generate a negligible amount of electricity. The dams have all but decimated the runs of salmon that swim upstream. With the federal licenses of the dams up for renewal, Congress is being urged to tear them down. `RISKY' PRECEDENT FEARED: Several lawmakers Thursday questioned the cost of dismantling the Lower Elwha and Glines Canyon dams (by one estimate, $30 million to $100 million), how widely the costs should be spread around, and whether removing them might set a "risky" precedent. Who knows whether "we'd have to do the same thing on the Columbia and Snake rivers system?" asked Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. FCC ASKED TO GIVE DETAILED PLAN: The U.S. Department of Energy recommended Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission publish a more detailed proposal before requiring electric utilities and others to change to a different radio frequency band for communications. The FCC proposal would reallocate a portion of the radio spectrum now used by energy firms and give it to new telecommunications technologies. KY. HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DECISION: The Kentucky Supreme Court Thursday upheld a lower court's decision awarding substantial price reductions to KU Energy under its contract with South East Coal Co., one of its former coal suppliers. KU Chairman and President John T. Newton said the ruling will result in $68 million in reduced fuel costs for KU's more than 400,000 customers throughout Kentucky. NUEVO COMPLETES HORIZONTAL WELL: Nuevo Energy Co. said Thursday that it recently completed the Victoria Pierce No. 1-H horizontal well in Fayette County, Texas, at an initial rate of 1,714 barrels of oil per day and 8,825,000 cubic feet of gas per day. Nuevo owns a 20% working interest in the well and has additional acreage in the area for at least two more locations. Torch Operating Company is the operator of the well. CONTRACT ON NUKE DUMP SIGNED: Martinsville, Ill., officials Thursday signed a $2 million contract with Chem-Nuclear Systems Inc. for a low-level nuclear waste dump that would accept waste including radioactive sludge from the cooling systems of nuclear power plants. Opponents of the dump say not enough is known about safety issues. WASTE FEES TO RISE IN S.C.: The South Carolina Legislature Thursday approved a $3.7 billion budget for the 1992-93 fiscal year that begins July 1. Included in the budget is a projected $72 million in revenue from increased waste fees for a low-level nuclear waste landfill. The state's public schools will receive about $75 million, a portion of which will fund a 3.8% pay hike for teachers. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON REPORT: NO OFFICIAL WORD FROM DOE: "I continue to be a strong supporter of the DOE's efforts to clean up its severely contaminated sites," Glenn said. "However, the importance of this program underlines the requirement that it is DOE's duty to use taxpayer dollars effectively and efficiently." An Energy Department spokesman said the department had just received the GAO report and had no official reaction yet. DOE ASSESSING CLEANUP: The Energy Department is in the process of assessing and cleaning up large quantities of hazardous and radioactive wastes that have accumulated at nuclear weapons sites, including plants in Fernald, Ohio, Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Rocky Flats, Colo., for more than 40 years. In 1988, the Energy Department estimated eventual clean-up costs could range from $35 billion to $64 billion. COSTS UP BY NEARLY HALF: The GAO report faults the Energy Department for not updating its 1988 clean-up estimate even though a comparison of DOE's five-year plans shows clean-up costs increased by 48% over the past two years. To contain costs, the GAO recommends the Energy Department adopt a process for consistently estimating project costs and for monitoring cost growth. REPORT DISCUSSED WITH DOE: The report indicates the findings were discussed with some Energy Department officials. The report notes that DOE officials pointed out the cleanup program, called environmental restoration, began in 1989 and that changes are being made when deficiencies are pointed out. "The clean-up program is in its infancy," Glenn agreed. "We still have time to make sure it matures responsibly." (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