Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

,.7 I 1 1 WEATHER 4jSLT Sunny, warmer, XS high near 40 A2 FOREIGN 1 1 NATIONAL 1 1 1 Unending Clinton glows at forum Dio A4 -m, i SPORTS I Heisman pose? J'W -Dl untie Founded in 1891 Wyoming's Statewide Newspaper; Congress sends $270 billion defense spending bill to Bush Nunn says legislation loaded with pork Casper, Wyoming restart production of the F-l 17A fighter, a stealth aircraft he called the star of the Persian Gulf War. "I predict that we will see the day when we will regret this decision," said Nunn, calling the fighter important for any future war in which the United States might become involved. The overall measure boosts spending on the anti-missile Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly known as Star Wars, and continues production of the Navy's most modern strategic nuclear missile. But it halts, for now, production of new radar-evading B-2 bombers. The legislation also speeds up troop cuts, provides a 4.2 percent pay raise for all members of the military and offers new financial incentives for mid-career servicemen and women to make an early exit from the armed forces.

The bill provides the funds for military programs authorized in separate legislation that was sent Please see DEFENSE, A12 24, 1991 i.i. s- i- vV Snow I WASHINGTON (AP) Congress gave final approval Saturday to a $270 billion military spending bill for 1992 that preserves most of the nation's big weapons programs but leaves in doubt the future of the embattled B-2 stealth bomber. The Senate passed the defense appropriations bill on a 66-29 vote and sent it to President Bush, who is expected to sign it. The House had passed it by voice vote Wednesday. The action came despite bitter objections from members of the Armed Services Committee, including Chairman Sam Nunn, that the bill had been loaded with pork-barrel spending.

In a dramatic and rare challenge to Sen. Robert C. Byrd, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Nunn charged that an agreement between his committee, which authorizes defense programs, and Byrd's, which provides the money, had been broken. A companion 1992 budget bill 4. i i Bill WiilcoxSlar-Tribune surfin' i Western governors don't want region to become nations's nuclear waste site Sunday, November Smith backs Sullivan's approach to spending By KATHARINE COLLINS Southwestern Wyoming bureau ROCK SPRINGS State Treasurer Stan Smith told a state woolgrowers' meeting Saturday that Gov.

Mike Sullivan is "not blowing smoke" in reining in state spending, placing a freeze on hiring and curbing out-of-state travel. Smith addressed the "state budget crunch" at the 88th Annual Wyoming Woolgrowers' Association convention, finishing up its three-day program in Rock Springs. I commend (Sullivan) for the agitation, and the attention that this effort of his may bring with some agencies," Smith said. But the governor may not be SMITH able to achieve the hoped-for $150 million in cuts during the rest of the current biennium and the 1992-93 biennium, Smith cautioned. "Many of the cuts proposed as part of the 12 percent each agency is asked to come up with are statutory Smith said.

"So, unless the Legislature changes the law, some cuts just can't be put into effect." For example, within the state treasurer's office, there are tax refunds and tax exemptions for the elderly and disabled which will have to continue under law, Smith said. Another hurdle in reducing expenditures, he said, is that "so much of the expenditures of the state are not really controlled by Legislature," referring to quasi-independent agencies such as the Game and Fish Department and the Highway Department. "There are those that think that's good because a board or commission that's closer to the problems, is better able to allocate those funds," Smith said. But "why doesn't the Legislature try to get a tighter grip on our expenditures?" Smith questioned. "I think the compromise is the Legislature should let those boards and commissions function as they are now, but put a cap on them, and not let them fluctuate so wildly from one year Please see MEETING, A12 INDEX Casper Area A3 Classified C6-12 Community CI Enterprise B8 Landers, Omarr B3 Letters A9-11 Markets B6-7 Movies C2-3 NYT Crossword C2 Obituaries, Diary B2 Opinion A8 Premier Crossword C3 Sports DI-8 Weddings B4-5 Wyoming Bl Old Grouch I bet you a few people out there think those rules are just a waste of time.

RESULTS The Star-Tribune Classified Section is not just for selling unwanted items! If there is something you would like to buy or trade for, don't wait for someone else to place a 'For Sale' ad in the running your own advertisement in 136-Want to BuyTrade. Right now, you can buy a classified ad there for just $6 for 7 daysl Just call 266-0555 or 1-800-442-6916 (in WY toll-free) for more details! 11 1 8 sadness LAS VEGAS AP) The governors of 12 western states voiced opposition to a federal plan to store nuclear waste from the East in their region. The Western Governors Association adopted a policy Friday opposing construction of a facility that would temporarily house nuclear waste until Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan, a Democrat of the association. association's 1 8 governors attended which was hosted by Nevada Gov.

hope to open a permanent dump nuclear waste by 2010 and plan to site by 1998. 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, site under study for the permanent facility. County, N.D., and an Indian tribe in voiced interest in becoming host site. Snowboarder Riley Ningen braved Saturday's cold temperatures to catch some air on Casper Mountain. The forecast calls for warmer weather through Wednesday, but cooler on Thanksgiving.

permanent storage can be built. "The West shouldn't be targeted as a waste site and shouldn't be accepting waste that isn't generated in the West unless they've looked at eastern Wyoming urged to upgrade oilfield waste regulations Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission finds state lacks written rules for the Pentagon, a $291 billion blueprint produced by Nunn's Armed Services panel, had received final approval just a day earlier. The bill passed Saturday provides money to carry out the programs and policy set by Nunn's bill. The agreement not to fund programs that aren't authorized "has not been lived up to," Nunn said during a tense confrontation. The exchange was a sign of growing resentment of the Appropriations Committee and Byrd, who has already more than made good on a pledge to take home $1 billion in federal projects to West Virginia.

The bill also contained up to $30 million to begin a consolidation of CIA offices that could create a large new complex for the agency in Byrd's state. Byrd said he was confident that the selection of the site, which had been made in secret, would withstand public scrutiny. Nunn complained, as well, that the bill included no money to SULLIVAN authority over oilfield exploration and production wastes. "The report points out that the oil and gas commission is doing a good job of regulating the oil and gas industry they found no serious flaws in the commission's activities," Robitaille said. "It did point out a few things we've been working on and encouraging, and some we really haven't thought about." Kessler, however, an official observer of the team that compiled the report, gave an entirely different view of the findings.

"There is so little documentation of how the program is actually doing its job and protecting the environment and human health," Kessler said. "There's no compliance records, no inspection records. The rules that are applied in the field aren't written down so that you'd know a specific facility meets the criteria. There are few penalties imposed, so you don't know if enforcement is occurring," she said. The Wyoming oilfield waste program "is essentially a program with very little documentation that could make it accountable to the states," said and chairman Twelve of the the meeting, Bob Miller.

Federal officials for high-level open a temporary Yucca Mountain, is the only Grant New Mexico have to the temporary tions, and for Oilfield carrying aimed problems Heading oilfield a State other control over oilfield wastes, a Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman said. The report also broadly criticized current Wyoming law that does not require the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC) to protect public health and the environment in making decisions about the siting of oil and gas disposal facilities. Only the prevention of water pollution is specified in current state regulations, the report says. The state receives overall high marks for a solid "data base" on oil and gas opera By KATHARINE COLLINS Southwestern Wyoming bureau ROCK SPRINGS Wyoming needs to update its program regulating oil and gas exploration and production wastes, according to an independent review team. The team's report generally criticized oilfield waste regulation in the state because of a lack of clearly written, enforceable regulations.

Permitting and compliance decisions are too often made by regulatory staff on the basis of their own field knowledge and expe rience with the operators, rather than against a set standard of operation, the report says. The independent team of industry and environmental representatives and government officials that issued the report operated under the auspices of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC). Their work is part of a national study effort, which made Wyoming its first study site. A prime goal of the nationwide study is to promote the upgrading of state oilfield waste programs in order to ensure that states, rather than the federal government, retain primary including production and inspection, having in place the "essential technical components" of a waste disposal regulatory program. wastes consist typically of water petroleum or drilling mud contamination.

Regulation of oilfield waste is at preventing the creation of pollution through the disposal of the wastes. the team reviewing Wyoming's waste program was William Bryson, of Kansas corporations official. The three members were James Erb, an Please see WASTE, Al 2 Oilfield waste report draws different interpretation from WOC, industry Activist says federal action required to control wastes waste treatment in Wyoming, said the state-run review process is "too severely limited to substitute for a federal program." Reviewers spend only one week in each state, and thus far have reviewed only Wyoming's program, with only four or five more reviews planned for the coming year, Shuey said. "At this rate, a minimum of six years will be required to review the prdgrams" in the 29 oil and gas producing states, he added. Additionally the reviews are voluntary, and "peer pressure is the only tool IOGCC has to force the states to improve their programs," he said.

Shuey said he also speaks in behalf of the National Citizens' Network on Oil and Gas Wastes. He urged the Senate panel to include "stringent requirements for the treatment, storage and disposal" of oilfield exploration and production wastes in a new version of the RCRA law. "The current lack of requirements in the statute for oil and gas wastes is perhaps the most gaping loophole in RCRA's regula-Please see FEDERAL, A3 By KATHARINE COLLINS Southwestern Wyoming bureau ROCK SPRINGS Spokesmen for the oil industry and the state's regulatory agencies hailed the recent independent review of oilfield exploration and production wastes in the state as evidence that Wyoming is performing well in that area. However, Wyoming Outdoor Council Executive Director Stephanie Kessler said the "Wyoming State Review" paints "a fairly frightening view" of oil and gas waste regulation in the state. Rick Robitaille, Petroleum Association of Wyoming executive director, said the report is "not a negative report in any form or fashion," while state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Supervisor Don Basko called the recommendations in the report "pretty innocuous." State Department of Environmental Quality Director Dennis Hemmer said he hasn't had time to read the final draft of the report and declined comment.

The DEQ and the OGCC share regulatory By KATHARINE COLLINS Southwestern Wyoming bureau ROCK SPRINGS The "force of federal law" is needed to push states to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of improper management and control of oilfield wastes, according to an environmental organizer who recently testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee. Chris Shuey, a water quality expert at the Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque, testified in September before the subcommittee on environmental protection of the committee on environment and public works. The panel is considering the reauthorization of the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the federal law that regulates hazardous wastes. Current law provides exemptions for oilfield wastes.

Shuey, who was a member of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) review team (see related story above) that just issued a report on oilfield public." Robitaille, however, insists that wastes generated in the oilfield are not hazardous and should continue to be exempted from federal regulation under the 1976 federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). In the first place, he said, "they are not hazardous wastes," although "you may deal with a small percentage of waste that could be considered toxic over some period of time." Additionally, "the greatest part of our drilling fluid is water, and the greatest part of the remainder is bentonite, which are natural elements." If, however, the oil and gas industry loses this debate, and "Congress in its infinite wisdom decides to reclassify oilfield waste as hazardous you will essentially shut down the oil and gas industry in Wyoming," Robitaille warned. On-site draining and evaporating moisture, and burying of drill cuttings current methods of disposal of the bulk of oilfield wastes costs about 1 to 1 .50 per bar-Please see OFFICIALS, A3.