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Show GAS SUPPLY TO BE CURTAILED BY COAL STRIKE Columbia Steel Company, subsidiary sub-sidiary of U. S. Steel Corporation, notified the Mountain Fuel Supply Sup-ply Company of Salt Lake City that it will be forced to curtail the supplying of coke oven- gas to that company immediately be-oause be-oause of the threatened national coal strike. The gas, which is produced as a by-product of Columbia's coke over operation at Ironton, Utah, is supplied to residents and com-' com-' mercial users in the communities of Provo, Springville and Spanish Fork, Utah, , through facilities of the Mountain Fuel Supply Company. Com-pany. Columbia Steel officials pointed out that they have only enough coal on hand for fifteen days of operation if the plant was to be maintained at the usual operations op-erations of seventy-five coke ovens ov-ens a day. In order to continue supplying gas to the residents of this area for the maximum length of time Columbia's coke oven production pro-duction will be cut down immediately immedi-ately to thirty-six ovens a day, which should extend the production produc-tion of gas, on a reduced scale, to approximately 31 days. Further reduced production of gas is highly probable in the event the coal strike is of long duration. In this event, Columbia officials pointed out, it may be necessary to reduce operations to 18 ovens a day in order to barely maintain the coke ovens. At this rate of operation, the ovens could be kept heated for approximately fifty days but no gas would be available for public use. It was pointed out that this drastic step would be taken only as a final resort re-sort to protect the coke ovens from irreparable damage. "If the coal strike lasts in ex-( ex-( Continued on Page 10) I ,GAS SUPPLY TO BE CURTAILED BY COAL STRIKE (Continued from Page 1 cess of fifty days, we will be forced to close down our coke ovens ov-ens completely," Columbia officials offi-cials stated. "This means the ovens will crack while cooling and will have to be entirely rebuilt at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.. It would also require approximately a year to rebuild providing supplies are available." During this time, residents of the three Utah communities would be without gas,, Columbia officials said. |