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Show i SO: I CIRCUCATIR I u- -- -- o': . ' nvrj: i ' GXQChXM)RQj0CR9 0. 25 Cents Per Copy AUGUST 3, 1970 VOLUME 2, NUMBER 23 Amacoeda gives tap iat face of ecology baffle By John Bolinger Montana Correspondent Mont. The Anaconda Company has withdrawn its request for access d land for open-pi- t to HELENA, state-owne- mining operations on a scenic are near Lincoln, sending a shock wave through Montana's political establishment. The Anaconda request for on 680 acres of d land had brought conservation from protests groups, fishermen, hunters and surprised. Anderson said it, Montanas political atmosphere had been intensely charged by the fight over the proposal. He bemoaned the fact that the environmentalists and had action could mean loss of 500 become a hot political issue. jobs in the state economy. You arent going to have Gov. Forrest H. Anderson, who had supported granting the industrial development in easements, said he was not Montana if people dont want easements state-owne- Anderson said, adding, ...God help us if we cant hire people. But the announcement by Anaconda that it was pulling away from its bid for the state-owne- d land fell far short of saying it was abandoning plans for mining around Lincoln, located north of the state capital P. Largey MacDonald of Butte, general business manager of Anaconda's Montana operations, said in his statement announcing the request withdrawal that any open-pi- t mine near Lincoln will exclude any state land. The State Land Board split on Continued on Page 5 Federal, state officials to tour Utah, Colo., Wyo. oil shales Some three dozen federal and state officials are taking a three-da- y tour of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming oil shale lands this week. The tour is a special study on possible centering development sites for the areas oil shale reserves and to determine what measues are necessary to protect the areas be Laurence J. Burton, The remainder will be state and federal representatives. Some officials are asking if this trip is really necessary considering Gov. Calvin ll Ramptons view that the oil shale question has been studied to death, and it's time to get on with the development of the oil shale industry. Gov. Rampton has threatened to sue the federal government if there is no immediate decision on Utah's claims to oil shale lands within its borders. Utah has requested 120,000 acres of federal land to which it is legally entitled, but because the land, worthless now, has great potential value as s source Rep. h. environment. The study will begin in Utah, then move to Wyoming and Colorado on successive days. Thursday the group is scheduled to visit The Oil Shale Corp. (TOSCO) plant, which is mining shale in its operation to extract oil. Friday, the officials will meet in the Denver Federal Building to discuss observations. of petroleum, the federal Accompanying the party will government is believed reluctant Oil participation programs gain acceptance of investors Until the late 1960s, drilling gas filed were with programs were primarily sold on drilling programs the Securities and Exchange their obvious tax advantages and Commission for an aggregate on the personality of the offering of slightly under $85 Operator. At given times, certain million. In 1969, nearly 150 new program features would drilling programs were filed with come into vogue and place the Commission for a staggering temporary favor on the sale of a total offering of nearly $1.7 given kind of program, such as mutual fund billion. While no one can the estimate what 1970 will bring, type of offering. However, the Tax Reform Act of 1969 left throughout this period, it was the oil and gas drilling program extremely difficult for the relatively untouched, while average investor to analyze the In 1964, 34 oil and so-call- ed making significant adverse relative 9m merits of these programs, either before or after changes in other tax sheltered the fact. the investments. Accordingly, Tax advantages have been registration and sale of drilling both in interests 1970 the. blessing and curse of may program well equal or exceed the the drilling program. These phenomenal record set in 1969. opportunities for tax savings are Another encouraging sign for clearly both a benefit and a the future of drilling programs is necessity for such an investment. the apparent coming of age of However, the strong emphasis on this industry. The role played by the tax shelter aspect of the Oil drilling program has led to the newly-forme- d Investment Institute could be ignoring the fact that, if the drilling does not result in the important. to agree to Utahs claims because it might be considered a giant giveaway. Colorado has 80 per cent of the rich oil shale reserves in the United States, but almost all of it is federal land. Colorado has no state lands with oil shale deposits so they are almost completely tied to the federal governments program. Utah, though it has less shale land, has highly selective shales well located. Some of the state shale lands could be developed without the federal government having any say about it. Unfortunately, the state does not have a single large enough contiguious land parcel for feasible commercial development. discovery of adequate oil and gas reserves, the investor has not made a profitable investment, no matter what his federal income tax bracket might be. Recently, there has been considerable discussion on the profits made through an exchange of the investors drilling program interests for common stock of the program operator or some other company. It has been suggested that the investor would make money through such stock exchange, irrespective of the operators oil finding abilities. Until 1970, this statement might well have been considered true: companies with rather mediocre finding records often did manage to bail out their investors through stock exchanges which were followed by a rapid appreciation in the value of the stock. This was particularly true of conversions Continued on Page 2 |