The Bakersfield Californian from Bakersfield, California • Page 25

Tuesday, May 25, 1976 ghr tMrrrfirio (Califamten Insurance firms face court review WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court yesterday agreed to review three cases involving tax breaks for life insurance firms. The court agreed to decide a life insurance company must count as part of its total reserves the amount of accident and health insurance policies for which it bears the ultimate risk although those policies were turned over by another company. If the life insurance firm must include those policies as part of its total reserves, some life insurance firms would no longer be eligible for certain tax breaks. The Internal Revenue Code makes tax breaks available to firms whose life insurance reserves make up more than half of their total reserves. The court agreed to review the question in government appeals from U.S.

Court of Claims decisions in cases involving the Penn Security Life Insurance Co. of Missouri and the Consumer Life Insurance Co. of Arizona. The third case is an appeal brought by the First Railroad Banking Co. of Georgia which is challenging a decision by the U.S.

Circuit Court in New Orleans. Solicitor General Robert H. Bork said the question is involved in about 90 pending cases "with more than $28 million of taxes at Federal agencies seeking public input By LOUISE COOK Associated Prets Writer Now is the time to get your two cents' worth in on proposed government rules and regulations affecting everything from airport safety to antacid side effects. Federal agencies are seeking comments from consumers. If you have an idea, a complaint or some information to add, you can let the government know by following a few simple steps.

Here are some proposed regulations and directions on how to make your views heard: ANTACIDS The Federal Trade Commission has proposed that advertisements for over-the-counter or nonprescription antacids carry the same types of warnings now required on the labels of the products. The warnings generally deal with possible side-effects or suggest asking a doctor's advice about use. The Ftc says many consumers don't read the labels and instead rely on advertising for information about antacids. Among the questions the commission is asking are: Would warnings in advertisements affect the ability of turers to communicate the therapeutic effects of the product? What sort of warnings would be appropriate? June 11 is the deadline for comments which should be sent to Special Assistant Director for Rulemaking, Federal Trade Commission, Washington, DC, 20580. Identify the comment this way: "Proposal Identifying Issues of Fact Antacid Rulemaking." AIRPORTS The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed requiring major airports to have a detailed medical plan for coping with accidents and other emergencies.

The plan would have to spell out facilities and personnel needed to accommodate the maximum number of people who might be on board the largest aircraft authorized to serve the airport. Among items that would have to be included are: name, location and emergency capability of participating hospitals and other medical facilities; designated areas for sheltering passengers and crew members; the number of surface vehicles and aircraft to be provided by cooperating agencies. Present rules require airports to provide medical serv- Company's ads assailed EPA, U.S. Steel argue firm's pollution record PITTSBURGH (AP) Opinion is divided on U.S. Steel environmental record the federal government says the nation's larg- est steel producer is among the worst polluters, the company says it's doing quite weH in cleaning up the air.

"U.S. Steel has compiled a record of environmental recalcitrance which is second to none." John R. Quarles, deputy administrator, the Environmental Protection Agency. "A vicious attack. Our record in this field is admirable." Edgar B.

Speer, U.S. Steel chairman. The arguments will be brought out in court again this week as a struggle continues over air pollution from a U.S. Steel coke plant. Several states have pollution suits pending against U.S.

Steel, including Indiana, Alabama, Illinois, Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania. But the heart of the current issue is the firm's nearby Clairton Coke Works, a sprawling operation in the Monongahela Valley which makes coke from coal to fuel blast furnaces. Neighbors complain they can't sit on their porches for any length of time because of the dirt spewing from the works. They say that gardens won't grow and that their health is affected. Last summer, U.S.

Steel was charged with 241 violations of a 1972 consent decree over Clairton and the state and Allegheny County filed suit for million in damages. After numerous court proceedings, delays, a change of judges, appeals and counter appeals, the matter is stalemated and six months' of negotiations on a settlement have been broken off. EPA Regional Director Daniel J. Snyder III said last week the negotiations broke down when all sides agreed that a draft agreement prepared by U.S. Steel was unacceptable because it reversed previous progress on many points.

Judge Henry Ellenbogen of Common Pleas Court has ordered U.S. Stell to show cause tomorrow why it should not be held in contempt for failing to provide written areas of agreement and disagreement before the talks broke off. Thursday, a twoday meeting is scheduled in Washington between county, state and federal officials and U.S. Steel. U.S.

Steel has purchased eight full-page ads in the twoccity daily newspapers at a cost of about $60,000. In its first two ads, the company warned that Pittsburgh should not ignore the good U.S. Steel does because the result could cost jobs. The ads said, "Clairton is one of the cleanest coke- making operations in the nation," and "U.S. Steel can't make steel in Pittsburgh without coke from Clairton.

Period." The ads said that U.S. Steel has spent about (100 million for pollution control at Clairton. The response was chilly. Radio talk shows received numerous calls from irate listeners and the papers printed numerous letters to the editor critical of U.S. Steel.

Last November, Pittsburgh had an air pollution crisis, and an EPA report later linked the pollution with 14 deaths. The EPA said both U.S. Steel and the county acted too slowly to avert the crisis. Both the EPA and the county agreed on one thing, though: The pollution was concentrated over the Clairton Coke Works. Further delay seen on air bag decision Oilfield news Valwood Company plans to production a deep wildcat four miles southwest of Buttonwillow and in the meantime has spudded in to drill another hole.

Gas is the target for the company's Valwood-Hedges No. 1 on Sec. 30, 29S-23E, located from the northwest corner 2,172 feet south and 931 feet east. The objective is the Etchegoin formation; a depth of about 9,200 feet is expected to return an an, swer. The drill site lies approximately 2,000 feet west and slightly north of the Valwood-Berke No.

54-30, which went to 16,016 feet. Valwood landed five and one- half inch pipe at 15,852 feet, perforated about 120 feet, and moved the R. B. Montgomery Drilling, Incorporated, rig to the Hedges loca- tion. Valwood plans to move in a production rig to test for production.

If the deep well comes through, it will prove up a discovery two and one-half miles north of the Tule Elk field, the well is a followup to Valwood's Hedges No. 1-30 which went to 14,848 feet last year. The latter well yielded some oil from the Stevens sand, but the rate was not commercial. Standard Oil Company of California staked location for another followup to a "no dope" wildcat that was test: ed recently for an apparent gas discovery near Woodland. The followup is Amstar No.

3 on Sec. 26, 10N-2E, Yolo County, located from the northwest corner 2,000 feet south and 200 feet east. The location falls one mile southeast of Standard's Amstar No. 1, which went to approximately 7,800 feet. The rig was released at the end of March, but no details have been reported on the interval in which the well was completed or on rates.

The well lies three miles east of the Woodland gas field. Standard's first Momp is the Ajnatar No. 2. located By BILL RINTOUL Californian Oil Editor Production seven-eighths of a mile southeast of the apparent discovery well. HunnicUtt Camp's Rig No.

3 drew the contract drilling assignment. The Dow Chemical Company also plans a follow- up to the Standard well. Dow will drill Wauhab No. 1 on Sec. 9, 10N-2E.

lying two and one-half miles norhtwest of the discovery well. Abandonment claimed Horace Steele's No. 34-1 on Sec. northwest of the Tejon Hills field, at 1,200 feet. In the gas country, Capitol Oil Corporation abandoned Merwin No.

1 on Sec. 36, 7N-3E, Yolo County, at 7,805 feet and Atlantic Oil Company's Burmah Glide No. 1 on Sec. 20, 7N-3E, Yolo County, at 7,574 feet. Capitol was looking in the Clarksburg area, Atlantic in the Saxon area.

A Southern California Petroleum Contingency Organization to be responsible for oil spill containment and cleanup activities should a spill occur has been formed by oil companies which will be operating in the recently- leased Southern California Outer Continental Shelf area. J. B. Hundley, Atalantic Richfield Company, is chairman of the founding group. C.

D. (Chick) Barker has been appointed manager of the organization. Barker fomerly was superintendent of utilities and general services division with standard at the El Segundp refinery. The SC-PCO will operate in the offshore area from Point Magu to the Mexican border and seaward including the Tanner-Cortez Banks area about 80 miles from shore. The organization is making immediate plans for acquisition of oil spill containment and cleanup equipment including booms, skimmers and other specialized material.

FDIC again bails out bank DETROIT (AP) The federal government has stepped in again to save the shaky Bank of the Commonwealth from going out of business. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. tentatively agreed Saturday to extend for five years the repayment deadline for a $35.5 million loan granted in 1972 to keep the bank afloat. In addition, the bank received a promise that unnamed "Mideast financial institutions" and chief bank stockholder Ghaith Pharoan of Saudi Arabia would underwrite a $10 million common i' stock offering to beef up the MCllTlGS bank's capital base. The FDIC said the interest rate on its extended loan would be boosted from 5.5 per cent to 6.6 per cent, but repayment terms will be softened.

Louis Soucie, son of Mr. and Mrs. August Soucie, 2931 Peerless, has been appointed vice president of the First National Bank of Daly City. He is manager of the Millbrae branch and has been with the bank since 1972. San Diego cows said top rated SAN DIEGO (AP) -Are San Diego cows the best milk producers in the United States? A University of California farm adviser claims they are.

Herbert Weisheit released new figures showing dairy animals in San Diego County produced 17,534 pounds of milk on the average last year, or the equivalent of 9,496 quarts apiece. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has yet to release the nation's milk production figures for 1975, or the breakdown for individ ual states and counties. But California led the nation with an average of 13,301 pounds in 1974. In that year Arizona dairy cows were second with 13,065 pounds, on the average, followed by Washington ulth 12,773 pounds.

"I think we're the No. 1 county in the country," Weisheit announced at a meeting of local dairy cow owners He said mechanization and other modernizations were responsible rather than the climate or any regional rea son. DETROIT (UPI) Transportation Secretary William T. Coleman Jr. yesterday said the long-awaited decision on air bags for U.S: cars won't be made in the near future.

Coleman said air bags, first proposed by the government in 1969 for installation on 1972-model cars, still need more study. He said he would outline on June 7 his plan to "handle that tough problem." "It's a tough question," Coleman told a news conference prior to addressing the Economic Club of Detroit. "If you order air bags on automobiles, you're increasing their cost by $300 a car. And that affects everyone." The Transportation Secretary, while refusing to say he might order the mandatory use of seat and shoulder belts instead of in installation of air bags, indicated it would be a less costly solution. He said the present restraint systems add less than $75 to the cost of current automobiles and, if used by 85 per cent of American motorists and their passengers, would be just as effec- tiye as the air bag.

Coleman called for an end to government regulatory policies that are burdonsome or too costly and said he wouldn't make a final decision on the air bag "before the public and all concerned have had ample opportunity to influence the decision." Detroit automakers have won one delay after another since air bags were first considered as a safety item to reduce injuries and fatalities in automobile accidents. The current timetable calls for their installation on 1978- model cars, but even that is in limbo until the Department of Transportation rules on their feasibility. The air bags, stored beneath the dashboard and in the steering wheel, are passive safety devices because the driver and passengers don't have to do anything to be protected in an accident. Seat belts require the action of buckling up something surveys show the majority of Americans are not willing to do. "I think the American people have to get more involved in these-issues," Coleman said.

ices in emergency plans, but do not describe specifics. June 1 is the deadline for comments which should be sent to Federal Aviation Administration, Office of General Counsel, Rules Docket, AGC-24 800 Independence Ave. S.W., Washington, D.C., 20991. The Federal Trade Commission is holding hearings around the country on the first phase of proposals to set standards for nutritional claims in foods ads. (Nutritional claims on food labels already are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration; the FTC plan deals with advertising only.) The hearings will deal with voluntary claims on natural and organic food; energy and calories; fat, fatty acid and cholesterol content; and health or related claims.

Among the things the FTC is trying to learn is whether consumers understand terms such as "organically grown" and "health food." Here is the hearing schedule: San Francisco, July 12, Room 12138, Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Cvenue Contact: Kerner G. Propert at the federal building address, San Francisco, 94102, by June 22. Telephone: 415-556-1270. Chicago, Sept. 13, Room 347-A, John C.

Kluczynski, Federal Building, 230 S. Dearborn Street. Contact: June Alvord, FTC, 55 East Monroe Street, Chicago, 60603, by Aug. 24. Telephone: 312-353-4423.

Dallas, Oct. 12, Room 452-B, 500 South Ervay Street Contact: Rosanna Nardizzi at the hearing address, by Sept. 21. Telephone: 214-749-3176ATCHBOOKS The Consumer Product Safety Commission has proposed mandatory safety standards for matchbooks. The standards, which would not apply to wooden matches packaged in boxes or to "strike anywhere" wooden kitchen matches, would require that the striking surface be located on the outside back of the mchbook and would set certain performance standards.

Top official sees no oil price hike WASHINGTON (AP) The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is meeting this week and a top Treasury Department official feels its member countries will hold the line oh oil prices. "Based On the discussions I've had I think the likelihood is good that they will hold the price," said Gerald L. Parsky, assistant secretary for energy and international affairs, in an interview. But there are differing opinions in other quarters. James E.

Akins, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, has predicted a 10 per cent price increase. Iran's interior minister and Venezuela's vice minister of mines and hydrocarbons both have argued publicly for higher prices without specifying the size of any increase. Parsky says any extension of the current freeze "beyond its July 1 expiration date could be temporary. But the fragile nature of the worldwide economic recovery is likely to prompt moderation, he said.

"I think there is a growing awareness of the impact a price increase could have on economic recovery that's taking place worldwide. I know the Saudis have expressed an understanding of the impact it could have on demand," Parsky said. A 10 per cent price increase on imported oil, which accounts for about 40 per cent of U.S. heeds, would add a penny a gallon to the consumer's price of gasoline if oil firms passed along the entire increase. Steel, ship new leader Commonwealth has piled up heavy losses in four of the last five years and in the first quarter of this year.

In last month's annual report, the bank's outside auditors, Cooopers Lybrand, warned that the bank's ability to stay in business depended on receiving added financing. Under terms of the renegotiated loan, interest will be payable only in years when the bank earns at least twice as much in net profits as the amount of interest due in that year. Interest that is not paid in bad years will be canceled instead of being carried over. At 6.6 per cent, the yearly interest on $35.5 million is $2.3 million, so the bank would have to earn $4.6 million to be liable for the full interest payment in any single year. Repayment of the loan would begin in 1979 if the bank is sufficiently profitable.

Commonwealth stockholders cannot be paid until the loan is erased. SAN DIEGO (UPI) Roland A. Kjelland, a vice president of Kaiser Industries, has been named president of National Steel Shipbuilding Kaiser Industries one of NASSCO's two parent firms, said Friday. The announcement said Kjelland would remain in Oakland. He succeeded John Banks, who has been president and chief executive officer of NASSCO Since Jan.

22, 1973. Banks became NASSCO's vice chairman of the board, and S. A. Girard remained chairman. Clarence L.

French moved up to executive vice president at NASSCO and was designated general manager of operations at San Diego. He had been serving as executive vice president for operations since December. Earlier this month, Kaiser Industries, equal with Morrison Knudsen Co; in ownership of NASSCO, announced its intention to sell its interest in NASSCO, possibly to Kaiser Steel. We Buy Trust Deeds Elmer F. Karpe, Inc.

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