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'All Things Must Pass'
All things will pass someday, including snow, icicles and possibly even the energy
V crisis.
Shapp lifts Lake Erie drill ban
HARRISBURG (AP) A ban on
natural gas drilling in Lake Erie was
lifted yesterday by Gov. Milton J. Shapp.
Conservation-minded legislators
immediately with furious op
position, although the directive does not
take effect until March 16.
Shapp announced his decision to end
the eight-year ban while addressing a
joint session of the legislature on energy
matters. The order would permit the
state to lease off-shore land to drillers.
He said the gas is needed to save the
Energy policy questions have no underlying forum
Kditor's nole: This is the second of a two-part series.
By JAMES DiPIETRO
Collegian Staff Writer
Although West Penn has been in operation in Centre County
<Jnce 1883, there doesn’t appear to be any existing forum for
the energy policy questions to be discussed. It is a new issue as
far as social issues go.
H. William Pripkey, manager of area transmissions for the
Allegheny Power System, said “It would be irresponsible for
us not to meet our demand and I suspect it would be illegal,
top. Since the energy crisis of 1974, we’ve been encouraging
Consumer conservation through our advertising campaigns.
“If people are saying that we are expanding capacity so we
can produce more and therefore make more money, that is
totally erroneous,” Prinkey said. “From a purely financial
standpoint, it is not in our best interest to encourage growth
that requires new plant equipment. Any energy supplier
today, being such large users of capital, finds themselves in a
bind. With high capital costs and with the other high costs of
construction and labor, it is just plain bad business to expand
right now. The most profitable thing for us to do right now is to
use existing plant and equipment to their maximum use.”
Although po\Ver officials emphatically say that the power
line is necessary to meet the load carrying capacity of the
Centre Region, there is no way to critically evaluate their
Tuition hike may be inevitable ,
Oswald informs USG Senate
By KATHY O’TOOLE
Collegian Staff Writer
University President John W. Oswald
told the Undergraduate Student
Government Senate last night that a
tuition rise may be inevitable.
“For the past five or six years we’ve
ended up with a gap between the
justifiable needs of the University and
what the state appropriates,” he said.
Three ways to deal with the gap are
attempting to cut projected ex
penditures to a minimum; shifting
monies within the University from less
priority to greater priority areas; and
raising tuition, Oswald said.
Oswald said a tuition rise would be the
last resort, but he-said he could not
guarantee anything. «
“I’m not optimistic,” he said. “The
state has had a serious falling off of
revenue this winter. ’ ’
If there is an increase, Oswald said, he
would make every effort to minimize it.
“Last'year we were pleasantly sur
prised to keep the increase to only 5 per
cent,” he said.
Oswald said he was particularly
concerned about the University’s
enrollment figures, which are expected
. , L j,- r^y-
state from a continuing energy crisis.
“It (the crisis) is a silent, insidious
creature slowly strangling our poor, our
elderly, our working people,” Shapp told
the lawmakers.
“I have for six years recognized the
public concern in northwestern Penn
sylvania with regard to proposals to drill
for natural gas in Lake Erie,” he said.
“Now the greater need of all our
citizens must outweigh those ob
jections.”
Some of the legislators angrily
to decline steadily until the 1.9805. He
said the University would not'set lower
admission standards to compensate for
enrollments.
Minority student enrollment was
making progress, Oswald said. There
was a 5 per cent increase of minority
students in the 1976 freshman class, he
said.
“The important thing that we have to
do is be sure to provide the programs
and the environment here that is con
ducive and supportive to students of all
races,” he said. “We’re beginning to
make headway, but what would really
bother me is if the 5 per cent in the fresh
man class became 3 per cent in the
sophomore class.”
Oswald also commented on the
likelihood of coeducational housing at
the University. “I’ve seen no recom
mendations that it has improved the
academic environment in universities
where it’s been tried, and it’s caused
problems with security and privacy,” he
said.
North Halls Senator Mindy Morrison
said coed housing has worked well in
North Halls interest houses where male
and female students live on the same
Photo by Edward Paisa Jr.
dissented.
“We’ve got hundreds of gas wells in
Pennsylvania that are capped;” said
Rep. John Laudadio, chairman of the
House Conservation Committee.
“I’ll show you 100 wells in West
' moreland County alone that- are not
producing,” he said.
statement,
A map of the grid network system of transmission lines in
Pennsylvania looks like a map of the highway system: the
network is that complete and interwoven. It is not uncommon
for West Penn to supply energy to Consolidated Edison in New
York or other power companies. During the recent gas
shortage, this grid network system enabled West Penn to send
energy to areas of the East coast, hard hit by the shortage.
Allen D. Brady, executive director of the Bellefonte-State
College Industrial Corporation, a group that tries to attract
industry into the area, said before industries settle in an area,
they assume that adequate energy is available.
“In terms of making this area more attractive to industry
the new line can’t help but make it more attractive,” Brady
said. “But anytime I’ve ever asked the officials at Allegheny
about the capacity for this region, they always told us not to
worry about it because we are part of a larger grid network
system and the energy flows where it is needed. This line is to
increase the capacity of the entire grid system, not just this
region here. But it is hard to say that it is not for this region
because we are all going to benefit from it.”
Carl F. Schlenke, division manager of West Penn Power in
Centre County, said “underlying this entire need controversy
is the growth vs. non-growth controversy.
“There are those who are calling for zero growth, but I can’t
agree with that philosophy,” Schlenke said.
floor, but different wings.
“The security is a lot better and the
rape incidents are lower than in other
dorm areas,” she said.
North Halls Senator Karen Shanoski
said possibilities for coed housing could
include different wings, alternate floors
or alternate rooms.
“All we’re asking for is an alter
native,” she said.
In formal action, the Senate approved
a resolution to raise the limit for USG
campaign spending from $350 to $4OO.
“It’s tremendously difficult to stick a
$350 limit and still get your message
across,” USG Vice President Dave
Hickton said.
“We're pricing the average student
right out of the market,” West Halls
Senator Bernie Campbell said.
Applications for positions on USG can
be picked up in 214 HUB beginning
March 10, USG Elections Commissioner
Jim Hoffman said. The deadline for
filing an application is midnight March
21, he said.
Petitions for candidates for State
College borough councilman, mayor and
district magistrate are available from
the USG Department of Political Affairs.
the
daily
Hike seen in Pa. safes tax
HARRISBURG (AP) Gov. Shapp is expected to ask
for a 1 per cent increase in the state sales tax today to
fill a $260 million hole in his 1977-78 spending program.
Sources indicated yesterday that Shapp will propose
increasing the 6 per cent tax to 7 per cent. It would be
the first sales tax increase in nine years and an alter
native to raising the personal income tax.Shapp goes
before the legislature at 1 p.m. to announce his budget
and tax program for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
State sales tax officials said a 1 per cent increase
would bring in an extra $270 million, enough to cover the
projected deficit.
A 7 per cent levy also would tie Pennsylvania with
Connecticut as the states with the highest sales tax.
However, comparisons on the rate basis are
misleading because of exemptions. The Pennsylvania
tax does not apply to such things as take-home food,
clothing, gratuities, repair and alteration of clothing,
Mideast
WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of
State Cyrus Vance intends to probe for a
lessening of Palestinian hostility toward
Israel on his six-nation trip to the Middle
East, U.S. officials said yesterday.
The Palestinian issue, these officials
said, has been insoluble until now, but it
may hold the key to-negotiations for a
settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Vance planned to take off shortly
before midnight and fly to Tel Aviv. His ,
subsequent scheduled stops are Egypt,
Lebanon; Jordan, Saudi Arabia and
Syria.
Reporters were told the ad
ministration has no blueprint for the
Middle East and has not concluded that
a Palestinian “mini-state” should be
created on Israel’s border.
Rep. Reid Bennett, chairman of the
Business and Commerce Committee,
agreed with Laudadio, adding that the
governor had not consulted lawmakers
on the proposal.
ppi cop/
Tuesday, February 15,1977
Vol. 77, No. 123 10pagos
*WPr ‘ 'sylvanlr
hostility Vance's target
Instead, U.S. officials said, Vance will
ask Arab and Israeli leaders how
Palestinians would “fit in.” They said
the secretary has no plans to meet with
any representative of the Palestine
'Liberation Organization.
Israel has refused until now to
negotiate with the PLO, which has
conducted terrorist raids against Israel.
The PLO charter also calls for the
destruction of Israel. Revision of that
charter when the PLO national council
meets next month could open new
possibilities for a settlement, one U.S.
official said.
Before Vance’s departure, the State
Department criticized Israel’s oil ex
ploration in the Gulf of Suez, saying it
was both illegal and “not helpful” to a
settlement.
Fulmer abandons Senate race
Centre County Republican
Chairman Eugene Fulmer dropped
•out of the race for the 34th District
State Senate seat yesterday because
of pressure put on him by leaders
within the GOP on both the local and
state level, according to sources.
State Readers were threatening to
support an independent candidate
over Fulmer, and local leaders were
suggesting showing support for the
Democratic candidate, G.M.
“It is not as though I’m deciding the issue for the entire
community, I don’t feel it is our choice to make. The choice
has already been made for us. Just the sheer number of people
out there makes it so,” he said.
“I’ve been accused of having limited abilities but on the
issue of what’s the answer for society’s energy problems, I’ll
have to admit that I don’t have the answer. We evaluate the
load on the current system and plan accordingly. In my mind,
we are doing this for the industry that’s here. It is not to supply
energy elsewhere and it is not to encourage new industry. It is
simply to meet the needs of the Centre Region,” Schlenke
said.
“The real issue here,” said James J. McClure, State College
Borough councilman, “is that the utilities have been wound up
to act in a particular capacity and although there have been
many changes in the energy situation, the utility companies
act as though nothing has changed. They act as though there
are no limits .to wealth and resources. They don’t answer to
anybody, they don’t answer to any planning commission. The
only people they answer to are their stockholders. ’ ’
“West Penn can’t act unilaterally on these issues,” Fred
Sovyak, division power engineer for West Penn Power, said.
“If the problem is that there is no national energy policy, it is
not our fault. We are engineers; we can’t be asked to solve
society’s social problems.”
“But if they are using our environment to make a profit,”
University President John W. Oswald spoke about commun
ication with students, tuition increases and coed housing at
last night’s Undergraduate Student Government meeting.
dry cleaning, utility services, household supplies, non
prescription medicines and medical supplies.
State Revenue Secretary Milt Lopus and the Penn
sylvania Economy League, a private organization, both
point to an Internal Revenue Service study which puts
Pennsylvania far down the sales tax impact list.
“Of the 46 states, including the District of Columbia,
which have sales taxes, the IRS shows ours is less
burdensome than 43 others,” Lopus said.
In addition to fewer exemptions, Lopus said some
states have local as well as state sales taxes.
Lopus did not say what Shapp would propose.
A 1 per cent sales tax increase would mean a family of
four earning $lO,OOO would pay an extra $l5 annually. A
family of four earning $20,000 would pay about $26 more
a year.
The figures are based on IRS allowances for tax
reports.
Israeli officials responded that the
project conforms with international law
and would not interfere with any
agreement. They noted that Israel
returned the Abu Rudeis oilfield to
Egypt as part of the 1975 Sinai accord.
Frederick, Brown, a department
spokesman, said Vance will discuss the
oil issue with Israeli and Egyptian of
ficials.
“Our legal view,” he said, “is that
Israel as an occupying power does not
have a right to exploit natural resources
that were not being exploited when the
occupation began.”
The Israelis have taken over the east
side of the gulf, which lies between
Egypt and the occupied Sinai. Geologists
say the drilling could lead to a new oil
discovery.
McCrossin, the sources said,
The sources also said the GOP
intends to hold, another meeting to
choose a replacement for Fulmer,
and all 43 conferees who were
originally involved with the selection
last Tuesday will be called again.
Fulmer defeated Rep. Walter F.
DeVerter of Mifflin County for the
candidacy by a vote of 22 to 21 in a
controversial contest for the spot.
Until the night of the selection,
Variable cloudiness, windy, and colder today and tonight
v with a few snow flurries. High today 26 and low tonight 8.
Partly sunny and continued cold tomorrow. High 19.
University Park, Pennsylvania
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
Shapp could have opted for increasing the income tax
from 2 to 2.4 per cent. That would cost the four-person
family earning $lO,OOO about $3O more annually. A
family earning twice that would pay an extra $6O.
But the income tax hike would bring in only about $195
million, $65 million short of the projected deficit..
But the income tax hike would bring in onl
The state is expected to spend about $9 billion in the
new fiscal year. Recent estimates indicated that $8.6
billion will be spent in the current fiscal year.
Those figures include more than $5 billion in the
general fund. The rest takes in special funds, like the
one financed by motor vehicle fees, and federal spend
ing t
Even without a tax increase Pennsylvania’s revenues
would most probably go up next year. That’s because
more people are paying larger amounts as their in
comes and buying power increase.
Milito said, “then the power companies have the moral
responsibility to make sure the energy is used carefully. They
should not have a rate structure which encourages more and
more use. As it stands now, the more you use, the less you pay
for it.” ' ' '
“It’s cheaper to supply large users than residential users,”
Schlenke said.
Discussion'continues on the power line proposal. To the
various people involved, it has come to represent different
things. In the meantime, everybody anxiously awaits West
Penn’s decision on the selection of the route. West Penn has
said it will come sometime in March.
Bob Horner of Boalsburg is one of those anxious to hear.
Horner’s stone farmhouse sits at the base of Tussey Ridge,
against a backdrop of woods.
“You know, you can’t hold up progress,” Horner said. “I
guess this is progress but sometimes it can be distasteful.”
Weather
Seated next to Oswald are USG Vice President Dave Hickton
and senate President Pro-Tern Jeff Tempest.
Brown, responding to questions -at a
briefing, said, “Israeli development is
not helpful to get peace negotiations
underway.”
Israel has refused to recognize old
U.S. leases granted by Egypt. An Israeli
flotilla forced an American drilling rig
out of the area last September. The
American rig tried to drill on a lease
secured in 1964 by a petroleum company
owned by Egypt’s government oil firm
and a subsidiary of Standard Oil Co. of
Indiana.
State Department officials take the
view that Israel’s drilling is a violation
of a 1907 Hague convention on rights of
ap occupying power. According to this
view occupation forces may tap existing
resources but are barred from
developing new ones.
Fulmer had remained silent as to the
identities of the 21 Centre County
conferees, whose votes totaled.one
short of the necessary majority, and
as to whether he would be a nominee
for the seat.
Despite calls for party unity made
by Fulmer, DeVerter, and State GOP
Chairman Richard Frame, delegates
from Mifflin and Clearfield counties
showed little enthusiasms over
Fulmer’s selection.