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Show THE SAN JUAN RECORD Thursday, January 8, 1981 - Page Public warned of defective thermostats are dependent on foreign sources not only for fuels but for many of our strategic metals. We White-Rodge- used on liquid propane (L.P.) gas White-Rodge- ers are not involved in the recall, and no replacement of natural gas thermostats is planned or necessary. Physical damage to the therm- ostats gas control knob could cause the safety valve to stick in the open position, allowing L.P. gas to escape. Since L.P. gas is heavier than air, it tends to accumulate near the floor and may explode when exposed to an open flame, electric spark or other ignition source. Since 1968, L.P. gas water heaters with rs thermostats have been involved in 23 explosions involving five deaths and sixteen In most of serious injuries. these cases the gas knob of the thermostat apparently had been damaged or abused, allowing gas to escape. If consumers believe their L.P. gas water heater has been purchased since 1961, they should rs hotline call the toll-fre- e, (or collect from Missouri, Alaska and to arrange Hawaii at 314-for replacement with a new modified thermostat free of charge. The new thermostats will be inWhite-Rodge- White-Rodge- Over 600,000 thermostats installed on liquid propane (L.P.) gas water heaters between 1961 and 1980 are being replaced free of charge because under certain conditions they may lead to explosion and serious injury. Of the thermostats pictured here, the one on the left, or one very similar to it, should be replaced. The thermostat on the right is equipped with addi tional safety devices and bears a consumer warning label. If your L.P. gas water heater is equipped with a thermostat like the one shown at left and the pilot flame goes out, do not attempt to relight it yourself. Instead, call your gas supplier or plumber immediately. Then call contains a knob and collar which are much more resistant to damage during the life of the product than earlier models. The new thermostat also contains a gas rs inlet filter which believes will prevent contaminants from interfering with proper operation of the thermostats safety valve. The program will include L.P. gas water heaters, manufactured by A.O. Smith under such brand names as A.O. Smith, American Standard, Continental, Glascote, Kee, National, Minnegasco,NOR-GA- S and Homart, along with water heaters manufactured by other companies. The program is part of a settlement with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission which rs to also requires White-Rodge- White-Rodge- White-Rodge- toll-fre- rs e. pay a fine of $420,000 and mail safety alert notices to the estimated 15 million U.S. households that use L.P. gas. The agreement with the Commission states that the replacement program is being conducted, because it is in the public interest to minimize any possibility of injury due to abuse or any rs other cause from in thermostats used L.P. gas water heaters. White-Rodge- The Commission also notes that the companies involved do not admit any violation of the Consumer Product Safety Act and in agreeing to pay the settlement claim, White-Rodge- rs states that it did not violate the reporting requirement of the Act. 63 stalled by a qualified service representative working under an with arrangement White-Rodge- rs. ment Each of the replacethermostats will bear a warning consumers against forcing, hitting or damaging the thermostats gas control knob. Under no circumstances should someone owning a L.P. gas water heater equipped with one of these thermostats attempt to relight the pilot flame if it has gone out. Instead, they should call their gas supplier or plumber immediately. The thermostat currently being rs manufactured by sticker White-Rodge- Speakers at the American Mining Congress (AMC) held in San Francisco this September, warnand lack ed that of a national mineral policy by our government is resulting in declining production of many critical minerals. In addition, lack of available capital investment, high costs of meeting environmental regulations, and uncertainties about availability of land for exploration and mining all discourage the development of our own resources. It was pointed out that Federal agencies currently control about 760 million acres, about one third of the land area in the United States. Much over-regulati- on water heaters are being replaced, because under certain conditions they may lead to explosion and serious injury. The involves replacement thermostats which were manurs befactured by tween 1961 and 1980 and sold to A.O. Smith corporation and several other water heater manufacturers for installation on more than 600,000 L.P.gas water heaters used primarily by rural homeowners. Natural gas fueled water heat- contribute to metals crisis Over-regulatio- ns Thermostats manufactured by rs Division of the Emerson Electric Company and of this land, including area of high mineral potential, has been withdrawn from mineral exploration. The Bureau of Land Management is now reviewing the withdrawn areas, but the process is expected totakeuptotenyears. Consequently, it costs less today to import a large percentage of our metals from other coun- many of which are politand economicaUy unstable. ically It was a very similar situation which led to our energy crisis: it was cheaper to import oil than to develop our resources at home. tries, J. Allen Overton, Jr., president of the American MiningCongress, pointed out in his opening speech at the AMC that new investment money is now going into the development of mineral fuels and synfuels rather than the search and development of mineral fuels and development of sources of critical metals. Our frantic efforts to reduce our overdependence on foreign oil are increasing our over -- dependence on foreign metals. Of course, ores for some metals are not found in the United States, or are found only in limited, scattered, or low grade deposits. In 1979, we imof our needs for ported 100 cesium, columbium, corundum, rutile, scandium, strontium and of our tantalum. We im96 ported 93 of our alumina from Jamaica, Guinea and Surinam; 90 of our chromium from South Africa, the Philipines, USSR and Turkey; 90 of our cobalt from Zaire, Belguim - Luxemburg, Zambia and Finland; 77 of our nickel from Canada, Norway, New Caledonia and the Dominican Re- public; 89 of our platinum from South Africa, USSR and the United . The Cottonwood Wash bridge was officially opened when Johnnie Johnson drove his jeep across it. The bridge was the last section of Route 163 to be completed, poto and caption by Alvin Reiner 13 of our tin from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Kingdom and 81 Bolivia. While Utah does not produce any of the above minerals, at least some of the following strategic metals are found in our state: Utah has large Aluminum in Piute and alunite of quantities could be which Beaver counties of aluminum. used as a source The largest known Beryllium world the in is at Spor deposit Mountain. The percentage of our needs that is imported is withheld. Besides Bingham Copper the largest single copper Canyon, mine in the world, Utah has many and ranks smaUer deposits second in production of copper in the U.S. Our reserves are large, but wiU be increasingly costly to recover. In 1979, the United States imported 20 of its copper from Canada, Chile, Zambia and Peru. Utah ranks second in Gold production of gold in the United It has many deposits, States. once considered uneconomic, that are now being studied as the rising price of gold makes them more attractive. In 1979 the United states imported 60 of its gold from Canada and the USSR. Iron Utah has several deposits containing more than 10 million tons of iron in the Iron Springs District and a number of smaller deposits. Total reserves are estimated to be about 500 million tons containing 55 iron. In 1979 the U.S. imported 28 of its iron ore from Canada, Venezuela, Brazil and Liberia. Foreign ore costs less and is of better grade. Utah has many Manganese relatively small manganese deposits, at present uneconomic. Manganese reserves are on the order of 10,000 tons of 40 manganese oxide ore, and millions of tons of manganese carbonate ore which contains base and precious metals. In 1979, the U.S. imported 98 of its manganese from Gabon, Brazil, Australia and the Republic of South Africa. Utah has very Mercury limited mercury resources; several mines have produced a total of less than 4,000 flasks. In 1979 the U.S. imported 62 of its mercury from Algeria, Spain, Italy and Canada. Titanium -- - Utah has known reserves of about one million tons of black sandstones contain- Ti02, but deposits are small and recovery difficult. The ing 18 percentage of imported titanium is withheld. Tungsten sten in Utah and low grade ing less than are produced Our Crystal Offer Ends January 15th! are high. Our exquisitely detailed French Lead Crystal Tumblers and Stem-war- e, Access- ories wont be available much longer . . . come in now before they disappear . . . Most of the tungoccurs in small deposits contain1 W04. These only when prices In 1979 the U.S. im- ported 59 of its tungsten from Canada, Bolivia and Korea. Vanadium Vanadium is primarily recovered asaco-produ- ct of uranium; it is also found in phosphatic shales, but recovery is considered uneconomic at present. There are perhaps sev- eral thousand tons of vanadium in the uraniferous sandstones and tens of thousands of tons in the shales. In 1979, the U.S. imported 25 of its vanadium from South Africa, Chile and the USSR. Zinc and Silver Utah has three districts that contain serves of at least half a rjjuffljlftjTeFTrstSecurityCorportionisarnember of the F D.I.C. Each individual depositors account is insured to $100,000 by the F.D 1C. remil- lion tons of zinc or 25 million ounces of silver. Production has slowed because of high costs, and pollution -low prices problems with smelters. In 1979 the U.S. imported 62 of its zinc and 45 of its silver. |