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Show poiniflOIn) Sun Advocate 14A Wednesday, August 13, 1986 Thwarting OPEC Oil prices on the worlds spot markets jumped 20 to percent last week after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced it would reduce production during September and October. Although previous OPEC efforts to control production always have failed, the cartels desperate need to boost oil prices has convinced some experts that 30 members wont cheat on this latest agreement. This vivid reminder of OPECs ability to disrupt world oil markets should strengthen American resolve to maintain a strong domestic oil industry. Never again should the United States become as energy dependent on OPEC as it was during the 1970s. The recent collapse of world oil prices, from $28 to less than $10 a barrel, has benefited nearly every segment of the U.S. economy. Gasoline is cheaper now than at any time since 1978. Lower energy costs have kept inflation in check and helped stimulate the nations economy. But the same market forces that produced the worldwide oil surplus and drastically lowered energy costs threaten again to make the United States overly dependent upon OPEC. Just as high prices encouraged the search for domestic oil during the early 1980s, recent low prices have brought U.S. oil exploration and drilling activity to a near standstill. There are fewer drilling rigs operating in the United States this month than at any time since World War still-sluggi- sh II. In 1979, U.S. oil imports peaked at 9 million barrels a day, or 48 percent of total consumption. Last year, imports had declined to less than 5 million barrels a day and represented only 31.5 percent of U.S. consumption. The key to this remarkable turnaround was conservation. From 1978 to 1985, the United States actually reduced oil consumption by nearly 17 per- cent. But if oil prices stabilize at $15 a barrel and federal energy policy remains unchanged, U.S. oil consumption is expected to increase by as much as 3 million barrels a day by 1991, while domestic production could fall by roughly the same amount. Thus, oil imports would increase by as much as 6 million barrels a day and account for 50 to 60 percent of U.S. oil consumption. Most of these additional imports would come from OPEC. Without a strong domestic oil and gas industry to counter OPEC, the energy crisis of the 1970s could be repeated. This disheartening scenario can be avoided if Congress acts to stimulate domestic oil production. Indeed, the Senate took an important first step in that direction last week by voting to.repeal the windfall-profi- ts tax on domestic oil, which was imposed in 1980 when Congress decontrolled the price of American crude. Because it doesnt take effect until oil prices exceed $18 a barrel, the government is not collecting a taxes today. dime in windfall-profit- s Continued energy conservation and a strong domestic oil industry are Americas best safeguards against future energy shocks. By using energy wisely and encouraging development of its domestic energy resources, the United States can reduce OPECs influence on the worlds economy and its energy policies. years and $160 million, a pilot plant at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is demonstrating that heat from deep underground can be used to generate energy on a commercial scale. The experiment indicates that mankind has more than one option for coping with the time when fossil fuels become prohibitively expensive. The technique being tested at Los Alamos is known as hot dry rock. Water under high pressure is forced hole. The water spreads down a through cracked rocks, which draw heat from the earths interior. The superheated water is returned to the surface through a second well and produces steam used in the generation of electricity. The procedure is relatively clean and could be used nearly anywhere in the world. It doesnt send particles into the atmosphere. There would be no danger of radioactivity or problems of waste disposal. but no major Scientists have had mixed results with synthetic fuels, organic fuels breakthroughs and devices to harness energy from the sun and wind on a large enough scale to be commercially feasible. While tapping the natural heat of the Earth isnt necessarily the solution to all the worlds energy problems, the success at Los Alamos puts mankind another step ahead. 14 (Reprinted by permission of the Omaha World-Heral- The same lesson For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost; and for want of a horse, the kingdom was lost. We are learning, once again, that Ben Franklin was the Challenger was lost. right. For want of an some rivets, the Titanic of want for turns it out, And, was lost. The indestructable Titanic was the biggest and the best, the peak of technology for her time. The shuttle Challenger was our space-ag-e equivalent. The crew of the Titanic ignored warnings of danger and an iceberg. the ship The parallels to the Challenger disaster 74 years lifter are inescapable and chilling. The space-agenc- y managers ignored warnings of danger, and the shuttle blew up when an failed, sending seven astronauts to their deaths at the bottom of the Atlantic. g, side-swip- - I'll never learn. Mom seem to always attempt to besmirch the candidate they are not supporting rather than speaking in favor of their candidate. Mud slinging is at a new high in Carbon By CHUCKZEHNDER Managing editor I never did listen to my mother. Mothers always offer good advice to their children and children rarely take that advice what she already has and offers to us, ' we have to learn. My mother always tried to get me to be It is a lesson quiet and she learned early in life and one which I still have failed to learn. Maybe some day I will. Anyway, my mother told me when I was still very young, two things to avoid talking about were religion and politics. I guess that made me want to talk about them. Reactions to these two subjects are always phenomenal. I love to discuss religion, and politics are only real fun in an election year. Those two I saw a gal subjects remind me of a in Market Dont recently wearing City take life so seriously its only tem- identify themselves. But there couldnt have been 100 people who turned out for the forum and, of course, far less who actually asked questions. But if you didnt go, you did miss some good information which will help voters decide who to vote for next Tuesday. Two 'races will be decided during the primary this year because the candidate who wins in the Democratic primary will run unopposed during the general election in November. The Carbon County surveyor will either be Art Barker, the incumbent, or J.R. Bob Olsen, the challenger. The county sheriff will either be Barry Bryner or Chuck Semken, both deputies in the sheriffs County. What happened to supporting a candidate instead of vilifying the opponent? There are some who continue to give good support to their candidate while others continue to sling mud at their candidates opponent. Todays letters to the editor will provide some insight. We actually had to eliminate some things from some of the letters because they were clearly libelous, while others were simply supportive of their candidate. It sure is an unusual year and this is just the primary! department. But I cant help but wonder if these comments, both telephone and letters, are from just a vocal few. Im sure most of you did not even bother to go to city hall to hear the candidates and have the opportunity to ask them questions. porary. The turn-ocould only be described as But people do take these subjects most and of the questions obviously poor seriously. This election year has been something. I came from family and close friends of the have gotten calls from people (before and candidates. I did appreciate the League of after my editorial opinion last week) that Women Voters ruling that questioners must The only reason, other than apathy, that I can see why there were very few at the forum, is that most of the voters in Carbon County are now Republicans and since they cant vote in the Democratic primary, they didnt show up. But I really find that hard to believe. Well, Mom, I did it again! I just cant resist discussing both religion and politics. I guess Ill never learn. irt Toward an answer 'After chucks waggin ed O-ri- ng ut mike royko List manhandles dirty Something was wrong with the air conditioner, so my wife said: Ill call the repairman. I said: You mean the repair person. She gave me a suspicious look. That evening, in a restaurant, she said: I need some water. See if you can catch the waitresss eye. I said: You mean the wait persons eye. All right, she said, whats going on? I explained that I was merely making an effort to grow in my profession, which is writing. And toward that goal, I had decided to take the advice of a womens group that is urging writers and educators to purge sexist words from our vocabulary. The group, which calls itself the Project on the Status and Education of Women, has just put out a Guide to Nonsexist Language. The guide tells writers: With a little thought, you can use accurate, lively, figurative language ... and still represent people fairly. And it provides a list of sexist words and the alternatives that can be used. And from now on, Im going to conform to their list. For example, the next time I get in a conversation about the Bears, I might say something like: Under the new defensive coach, the Bears will probably be using more zone coverage and less person to person. Thats right, man to man or man on man are considered sexist phrases and, according to the guide, should be repleaced by person on person. I intend to mention that to my sons, too, the n next time we have a talk. I might also suggest to our drama critic that he take a look at the guide the next time he does a review of Death of a Salesman. According to the guide, salesman is a sexist word, and not just when its used in jokes about farmers daughters. So it would be better if the critic referred to the play as Death of a Sales Person or Death of a Sales Agent. These are the phrases the guide person-to-perso- prefers. would also apply to referring to another play as That 3-let- The Ice Person Cometh, although The Bearer of Ice Cometh has a nice ring to it, too. It wouldnt be a bad idea for the editorial writers to give thought to revising their writing vocabularies. In writing about constitutional issues, theyre always referring to the intent of the Founding Fathers. That is a The guide suggests dropping Founding Fathers and replacing it with forebears, founders, patriots or colonialists. Im not no-n- o. sure I agree com- pletely. It seems to me they could compromise and allow something Parents. like Founding This, of course, isnt the first time that feminists have drawn up such a list. Theyve been doing it for several years now, and, unfortunately, it has often been met by hoots and jeers from some writers who are not as sensitive as they should be. I recall one of my colleagues making the derisive suggestion that we refer to manhole covers as personhole covers. Or that someone word ter who is a manic depressive be called a personic depressive. And even that the Mann Act be changed to the Person Act, the Communist Manifesto become the Communist and other such nonsense. But I think that this new guide is not to be laughed at and has Per-sonifest- o, some perfectly reasonable ideas. As it points out, we should not refer to anyone as a kingpin. Its not that they want us to or even say queenpin, which would personpin, sound silly. But they say that instead of referring to someone as, say, a Crime Syndicate Kingpin, we instead say Crime Syndicate Isnt that Key Person. punchy? One thing I might have trouble with, though, is referring to William (The Fridge) Perry as a line person. Somehow, that doesnt capture the essence of what he is and does. I wonder if the feminists would accept the Fridge as a line creature? |