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Show Governor Scott M . Mathe -son has returned from Norfolk, Nor-folk, Virginia where he participated par-ticipated In the first annual UJS. - Japan Coal Conference. Con-ference. This conference was a milestone In the post - oil era. Japan and other Pacific Basin nations are joining the U.S. and Western Europe in their determination to kick , the Mideast oil habit. The Japanese want to purchase pur-chase western steam coal -particularly from. Utah. The export of western steam coal to Japan gives us an opportunity oppor-tunity to help the Japanese reduce their dependency on OPEC Oil. This will also help reduce pressure on global glo-bal oil Bupplles and the prices we all have to pay for OPEC oil. Our ability to export coal to Japan and other Pacific Basin countries can provide a shot In the arm to a depressed de-pressed coal Industry, a lifeline life-line to unemployed coal miners min-ers and other workers in Utah and the West and new .revenues for the state treasury. treas-ury. Matheson cautioned 'that coal sales will not come overnight, but that prospects are good for small scale I contracts for test burns or to test the infrastructure coal handling facilities and services. The Japanese utility leaders lead-ers said they want to make small scale arrangements , niaybe 2 - 3 million tons .between now and 1985, in order to uncover problems In the actual flow of coal and then solve the problems step by step. This is the way they developed de-veloped their coal trade with Australia and the Peoples Republic of China. PRC trade began in 1974 with 69,000 tons and was 230,000 tons in 1979. Australia began be-gan with 194,000 tons in 1974 and was 1.29 million tons last year. The Japanese want to take a deliberate step by step approach and that's just fine with us. It gives us time to get our house in order as we , gear up to export coal through west coast ports. |