The Tyler Courier-Times from Tyler, Texas • 4

1 Tyler Conrler-Tlnlei-Telegrapli -'SUNDAY, SEPTEMBERS, 1993 3 4j -Sec. 1 II EDITORIAL mm ihbw -ill 1 1 I 7: I wJV.nrUA kAiv. 1 1 i IKvl VNmmvY) uv ft 4Uf VIUM Ji 1 nf i I I It. Ill II Environmental Regulations To Cost Oil Industry Billions; Consumers Pay icx wmDM might affect the industry. Government regulations already cost many Ameri- -can families more than they pay in taxes, and there is fair warning that the situation will only get worse.

One Buch warning: is a report released the past tmi VI li I I Ir.T "ii .1 I mT4iT ti. VW in ri SK IM I Yf CTTC week that the oil industry would have to spend a minimum of $166 billion over a 20-year period to comply with existing and anticipated environmental regulations. A study of the situation shows that the petrole-. um industry expects to pass on costs of up to 16 cents more for a gallon of fuel by the year 2000 to pay for stricter environmental regulations. The National Petroleum Council's two-and-a-half year study of domestic refining operations said" regulations that would force the industry to be cleaner would cost $37 billion, in 1990 dollars, to meet requirements from 1991 to 2000.

"That is about $6 billion more than the current value of American refineries, said Kenneth Derr, an industry official who presented the study to Energy Department Secretary Hazel O'Leary. Den. that aounrbf etr a spending means the cost of products for consumers will increase, with the average increase for all products to be about six cents per gallon in 1995, and 10 cerks in the year 2000. At the pump, the costs for a greener gasoline will be even higher, the study said. Unless the public is ready to get the rest of their teeth knocked out from the impact of things like this, they: might want to get them pulled while there is no law in Texas governing dentists.

Costs are gofng to go up at every level, and it will not be a graduated step by step increase over the next Despite the size of the expected expenditures, environmentalists contend the money must be spent. "It's too bad, but those expenditures have to be -made," said Edwin Rothchild, energy policy director for Citizen The report noted that "it is by no means certain" that companies will be willing and able to make those kind of expenditures for all facilities. One estimate said the industry could lose 10 percent of its refining capacity as a result of that kind of required payout. Fewer refineries almost certainly would translate to increased imports of oil products. And the resulting higher prices for domestic products also will favor increasing imports.

That will put the country even more at the mercy of the big foreign oil producers. The oil industry is just one area being hard hit by what some term "compulsive environmentalist. Earlier this year the New York Times said; "Much of America's environmental program has gone seriously awry," and "has too often evolved largely in reaction to popular panics, not in response to sound scientific analyses of which environmental hazards present the greatest There seldom is any. real effort to determine if the regulations are effective enough to justify huge new costs, opyetfif they are making any difference. -sJrlatest report on the ridiculous cost facing the oil industry to meet environmental regulations trates again that in spite of President Clinton and his mixed bag of cabinet level people trying to create class division through edict and taxation, the bureaucracy is the biggest enemy of all people in every class and.

at every level. Some days about the only good news out of Wash-' ington is that the administration is sadly behind the normal pace in appointing its new selections for critical policy making jobs. MkM AM MWYTY- 5. a) 2." S1 1 W. I fci) of Ik 20 years.

The Energy Department had requested the study in order to evaluate whether the industry could imple-' ment environmental and safety regulations mandated by the federal-government, and how such laws- r-m ma mm am mw Km muwt 'y' tyoKfs. vwyr v.t Nationalization Not Solution U.S. Must Protect Domestic Oil Supply Paul Harvey r. The United States, with all those drilling rigs sitting idle, continues to import from overseas more than half of all the oil we are using. While our stateside oil industry is being dismantled, we continue to result of diligent efforts pursuing defaulters, eventually nine out of 10 students repay their loans.

But progress in the area of student loan defaults could be snort lived if the federal government takes over the program and initiates direct lending. He said that direct lending would eventually eliminate banks and guarantors, which have been the primary gatekeepers in screening scam schools from the program. "We seriously doubt the government will have either the incentives or the resources to pursue defaulters as persistently and successfully as guarantors have done," Nicholson said. He also noted that the same legislation that authorizes direct lending also creates new loopholes for scam schools. Fear was expressed that "the relatively few schools that exploit students and rip off taxpayers have tapped a new pipeline to the federal treasury.

Just when the Department of Education can point to the positive effects of weeding out disreputable schools, the new legislation inexplicably takes a giant step backward." A more vigorous enforcement policy, and not nationalization, is endorsed as the best approach to solving the defeault problem, short of total abandonment of the program. Optimism has been expressed in the persisting battle against student loan defaults, but at the same time there is concern that proposed nationalization would be a turn for the worse. The nation's largest guarantor of student loans, USA Funds, cited a Department of Education report that the nation's average cohort default rate had dipped to 17.5 percent in fiscal 1991, from 22.4 percent in fiscal 1990, and that costs had dropped to $2.5 billion in fiscal 1992, down by more than $1 billion, from $3.6 billion in fiscal 1991. Roy A. Nicholson, chairman of the USA group, applauded the Department's action to hold program participants accountable for defaults.

He emphasized that responsible guarantors have screened out disreputable schools for years. The Department, in a recent news conference, named 900 schools, primarily for-profit trade schools, that stand to be excluded from the student loan pro-, gram because of their excessive default records. That announcement follows passage of a 1989 law that disqualifies schools that post cohort default rates of 30 percent or more for three consecutive years. While the average nationwide default rate of 17,5 percent is still too high, Nicholson said that as a their oil use by a million barrels a day. Twenty years fcgo, oil-fired generators produced 17 percent of our electricity; today, just 3 percent.

Most electricity is now generated from coal and nuclear energy, But oil and gas are still important to our nation's energy mix. We need both for transportation, chemicals, plastics, fertilizer and industrial processing. But natural gas prices are up 42percent in one yar. SuppUes stored for delivery are down 17 We have Slept through two wake-up calls: the oil fem-T bargoofthe'70sandtheGulfWarofthe'90s. Both demonstrated that we depend too much on foreign oil.

Worse, the area of the world on which we most depend for our oil is the least stable, the most volatile. Nowhere in the world are we more likely to find ourselves in another war "to protect our vital oil supply." The oil supply we should be protecting and developing is offshore and in Alaska and in Texas, California, Oklahoma, Illinois and Kentucky, where our own government presently conspires to make drilling impossible or unprofitable. President Clinton's Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary haspromised a new domestic oil policy by Labor Day. That's none too soon. The administration's much vaunted defense of our environment is eoing to have to include our ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT as well.

1893 Creator Syndicate, Inc. spend twice as much for imported oil as we do for Imported cars. Since the big oil embargo 20 years ago when the Middle East nations had us over a barrel, waiting in line at gas stations, we have continued to sleep through repeated warnings. In the first 10 years, we so curtailed stateside exploration and drilling for oil that 400,000 Americans lost their The number of oil and gas rigs presently operating is one-fifth what it was. Our nation is more than ever vulnerable to being held hostage by Middle East nations which could cut off our supply without warning.

Just last year, we spent $49 billion on foreign oil, increasing our reliance on the world's least reliable neighbors. Our nation! electric utilities have been trying to wean themselves -away from oil and have actually reduced TP W) VMS At Wit's End Special Children Deserve Special Mothers EDITOR'S NOTE Ermt Bombtck on raoation. Sht aft hind ftw of th "ciuutx" that tr mott olUa nquttd bjr "I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she'll handle it. "I watched her today.

She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has his own world. "She has to make it live in her world and that's not going to be easy." "But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you." God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that.

This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness." The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child nttfifltnnnllv. nriaH never mirvivA. Yen there ia Most women be- mmmm come mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit.

trrna i.ffin7ear' Bombeck' 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever LACKING PART I wish to respond to the letter (Aug. 20 TyJer Courier-Timea-Tele-graph) in regard to Money maga- line's report that Tyler's least favorable rankings were in leisure and arts as reported in "Best 300 Places" to live. I heartily agree that Tyler should rank higher in the arts with the availability of symphonies, theaters, concerts, Rose Festival, speaker's bureau, etc. What is lacking is the "leisure" part of this ranking.

A place for organizations to meet, activities for everyday living are almost non-existent for senior citizens and retirees. Tyler Area Senior Citi-1 zens Association, is a new organization whose primary goal is to raise funds to build a multi-purpose activity center for senior citizens of the Tyler area. With the help of all residents and businesses of Tyler, we will build an activity center which will give seniors the choice of daily activities: i.e. cards, games, dominoes, arts and crafts, pool, exercise, dancing, swimming, an opportunity to meet friends and socialize instead of bore- dom, depression and a rocking chair. Let's help keep seniors healthy, mobile and alert and reap the har tion of data out of context, use of inappropriate measures, non-random (biased) samples, and omission of data that does not support the de-sired conclusion.

Information needed to make informed judgements is not always provided. Just as a case can be made to support the concept that guns cause crime, so can the same methods be applied to prove that matches cause arson and medical hospitals cause death. I have not personally Been any statistical evidence to support the notion that "gun control" measures, including waiting periods, restrictions of retail sales and private ownership by lawful citizens, are reduction factors in violent crime. FBI uniform crime statistics show the opposite to be true. Implementation of gun control measures are often accompanied by relative increases in violent crime rates (see current versus pre-gun control implementation homicide rates for Washington, D.C.; New York, N.Y.j and the State of California.

The problem with using gun control measures to reduce violent crime is that hard data indicates it just doesn't work. BillS.BessonettJr. Tyler vest of 'their knowledge and experi- ence in their volunteer work for the community, providing leisure activities at the same time Land has been purchased for the building site. TASCA needs your support this must be a community effort. E.H.McLeroy Tyler FACTS REVIEWED The concept of gun control as a means of reducing violent crime cur-.

rently holds favor with many intelligent and reasonable people in this country. It is easy to understand why people believe this. On the surface, it seems like a plausible solution until the facts of this matter are reviewed. I have noted that the news media and television programming appears to utilize semantics, statistics and selective information sharing to imply a cause-effect relationship between guns and crime. If people are told that guns cause crime often enough, without any conflicting data, that idea may be adopted as a belief whether it is true or not.

Most of us have heard that anything can be proven with statistics. This is achieved through presenta- wonder how moth- 1 era of handicapped children are chosen? Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, be instructs bis angels to make notes in a giant ledger. "Armstrong, Beth; son; patron saint, Matthew. 'Forrest, Marjorie; daughter; patron saint, Cecelia.

'Rudledge, Carrie; twins; patron saint give her Gerard. He's used to profanity- Finally, he passes a name to' an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child." The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy." Exactly," smiles God. "Could I give a handicapped chill a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel." "But has she patience?" askB the angel, whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied.

She will never take for granted a 'spoken She will never consider a 'step ordinary. When her child says 'Momma' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people, ever see my creations. "I will permit her to see clearly the things I see ignorance, cruelty, prejudice and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at herside every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side." i "And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in midair.

God smiles. "A mirror will suffice." Unharul Pratt Syndicate 1 President Should Beware Price Controls AS YOU SEE IT 13 Scripps Howard Do Parents Have Right To Ban Materials From School Use? able rejected for use in public schools, or is this unacceptable censorship? Readers are invited to offer comments on this issue for use in the "As You See It" reader forum to be car-' ried in the Monday, Sept. 13, Tyler public schools its most fertile battleground and its best opportunity to influence the minds of society's next generation and, in turn, society it- Phyllis Schlafly, head of one of the conservative groups most actively involved in attempts to remove some By Scripps Howard News Service President Clinton's partial retreat from price controls as a means of containing medical costs is welcome news for the country and for him. His overhaul of the American health care system, due to be unveiled later this month, would have faced certain defeat had it relied on this discredited policy. Indeed, the mere likelihood that Clinton would support price controls endorsed by his health care adviser, Ira Magaziner has given his critics a field day.

Because they are arbitrary, disregarding the true economic cost of goods and services, politically capped prices usually trigger shortages, a form of rationing. They command inflation to cease but leave its causes intact. The wellspring of present medical inflation, analysts of all persuasions agree, is "third-party Neither doctors nor patients have much incentive to be cost-conscious when employers, insurance companies and the government are picking up the bill. There are secondary causes of rising prices, such as excessive malpractice costs, Americans' insistence on the latest technology, and needless paperwork, often required by government regulation. All these must be tackled in any serious reform.

But the engine of medical inflation will keep chugging till the system as a whole places greater reliance on efficiency-rewarding competition and consumer choice. The bad news is that, while Clinton has apparently renounced the purest price controls detailed prescription of doctors' fees, hospital bills and drug prices -1 he still embraces government curbs on health insurance premiums. Andhe has long championed "global budgetf ing," by which Washington would fix total spendinfon health. As if central planners could map a sector that absorbs about 13 percent of the Gross National Product. Health care specialist Alain Enthoven, of Stanford University, has likened global budgeting to "bombinir from 35,000 fteet, where you don't see the faces ofithe people you kill." The president on other points, a'fan of Enthoven's should take heed.

A group identified as a const itu-, tionai liberties organization has issued a report on what it calls censorship in public schools of Texas and other states. Theteport from People for the American Way said that only California and Pennsylvania surpassed Texas in attempts to remove auricular material from public schools. It mentioned exclusion by some schools of some novels, plays and sex that had been chal-lenged as objectionable for class use. The report cites "the network of far right and religious right leaders and groups" as having 'found the morning leiegrapn. To allow processing time for inclu- sion in the Sept 13 issue, comments should be received at the newspaper office by Thursday, Sept.

9. Comments should be sent to: As You See It, Tyler Morning Telegraph, P.O. Box 2030, Tyler, Tx. 75710 classroom materials as objectionable, defended such actions. "I think the parents have the absolute right to veto anything that's given their child," she said.

Do you think there is justification for parents and some groups to try to have materials they find objection i..