Nuclear plants:
By JAMES H. RUBIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON In a major setback to the
nuclear power industry, the Supreme Court ruled
yesterday that states can ban construction of new
plants until the federal government devises a
safe way to dispose of radioactive waste.
The Reagan administration had argued that
allowing states to prohibit new plants could
seriously jeopardize the growth of nuclear power
as a source of electricity.
But after the 9-0 decision, upholding a 1976
California moratorium on new atomic power
plants, industry spokesmen tried to play down its
impact.
"It's not the death knell for nuclear power,"
said Linda Hodge, counsel fonthe Atomic
Industrial Forum.
Robert Dobkin, a spokesman for the same,
trade group, said there is not likely to be any
immediate impact on the 57 nuclear plants
already under construction nationwide.
In the nuclear case, Laurence Tribe, the
Harvard law professor who represented
California, said the decision means states can
prevent plants already under construction from
beginning operations.
"The decision's underlying rationale is a total
victory for the states," he said. The states' power
under the ruling "plainly is independent of the
question whether the plan has begun construction
or not," he said.
Design change postpones
By KAREN KANE
Collegian Staff Writer
Slate officials yesterday outlined
revised plans designed to improve
safety and operational aspects of the
State College bypass.
As a result of the change in design,
bidding for the project will be.
deierred until late 1983 or early 1984
with completion 'of the western
section expected by the fall of 1984.
The change "will not have any
adverse effect on completing the
western section in conjunction with
the completion of the park Avenue
extension which is essentially what
we've always told the community
and all the local officials," said
Dave Zazworsky, assistant district
Reagan signs
Social Security
rescue plans
By CHRISTOPHER CONNELL
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON In a
celebration shared with adversary
and ally alike, President Reagan
yesterday signed a $165 billion
Social Security rescue plan that
"demonstrates for all time our
nation's ironclad commitment" to
the retirement program.
House Speaker Thomas P.
O'Neill Jr., D-Mass., agreed.'
"This is a happy day for
America," he said.
The president's stroke of a dozen
pens sealed the bipartisan
compromise to stave off
impending bankruptcy of the old
age trust fund by raising taxes,
freezing benefits for six months
and boosting the retirement age
by two years in the next century.
Leaders of Congress, members
of the blue-ribbon commission that
crafted the package, and htindreds
.of other guests applauded the
crowning act in a blustery
ceremony on the South Lawn of
the White House.
"The changes in this legislation
will allow Social Security to age as
gracefully as all of us hope to do
ourselves, without becoming an
overwhelming burden on
generations still to come," the
president declared.
"We have shared an historic
moment," he said at the end of the
15-minute ceremony, "for in
signing these amendments into
law, we've restored some much
needed security to an uncertain
world."
With leaders from both parties
and Alan Greenspan, the •
chairman of the National
Commission on Social Security
Reform, clustered around him,
Reagan signed the thick document
with a pen for each letter in his
name, excluding his middle initial.
Please see SOCIAL, Page 18.
Supreme Court rules that new plants can be banne.
However, Tribe) did not suggest that states
necessarily would try to block those plants from
beginning operations. To do so, they likely would
have to compensate fully the affected plant
owners.
To date, no state has tried to prevent a plant
under construction from eventually beginning
operations. There are two plants being built in
California that were exempted by the state from
its seven-year-old moratorium.'
The 80 nuclear plants already operating
nationwide are not affected by the ruling.
The immediate impact of yesterday's decision
also is muted because expansion of the industry
has slowed in recent years. No utility has sought
a license to build a new facility since 1978.
The industry's future has been clouded by the
high costs to build new plants and safety fears
raised by the accident that shut down the Three
Mile Island plant in 1979.
The Supreme Court, rejecting the position of ,
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the
California moratorium did not conflict with a 1954
federal law on atomic energy.
While the federal government has exclusive
power to regulate safety of nuclear plants,
Congress has allowed the states to make
economic decisions, the court said.
"Congress has left sufficient authority in the
states to allow the development of nuclear power
to be slowed or even stopped for economic
reasons," Justice Byron R. White said in his
majority opinion.
engineer for design of the
Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation.
An anticipated saving , of about
$500,000 in the Park Avenue
extension project will allow the
construction of a second bridge in
the western section of the . bypass,
„.-Zazworsky.sid..Current price
trends andincreased competition
among contractors allowed the
saving, he added.
The additional bridge over
Puddintown Road will be accessed
by a four-lane highway rather than
the intended two-lane temporary
roadway and will allow greater
traffic flow throughout the area,
Zazworsky said.
The western section of the bypass,
First Reagan budget yield
reflects domestic pressures
By DAVID ESPO
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON President Reagan, yielding to
rebellious Senate Republicans, offered a 1984 budget
compromise yesterday that provides more money for
domestic programs and slightly less for defense than
he originally wanted. The proposal keeps Reagan's
three-year program of income tax cuts.
Reagan dispatched three top aides to the Senate to
explain the proposal to key Republicans, and Senate
GOP Leader Howard Baker said he hoped agreement
on a tax and spending plan was within reach.
Several participants in the meeting, speaking on
condition they not be identified, said the biggest
stumbling block to an agreement was opposition by
conservatives to any tax increases during the next
three years.
"The hang-up is taxes," said one senator, adding that
the moderate Republicans at the session were
prepared to "swallow hard" and agree to Reagan's
new proposals for spending.
Presidential aides at the session included Chief of
Staff James Baker, Presidential Counselor Edwin
Meese and budget director David Stockman. Their visit
to the Capitol marked the administration's first serious
attempt to compromise with Senate Republicans who,
after rejecting Reagan's original budget, have been
arguing for weeks about how to revise it.
They met with Baker, Sen. Pete V. Domenici of New
Mexico, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee,
and others.
These are the.elements of Reagan's newly revised
proposal, according to documents obtained by The .
Associated Press
• Defense spending for 1984 would increase 7.5
percent after inflation, midway between Reagan's
original 10 percent proposal and the 5 percent the
committee voted for. During five years, military
spending would be about 95 percent of what Reagan
originally called for.
• Reagan would agree to accept about $l3 billion
more in domestic spending in three years than he
originally proposed, but the budget committee would
have to cut $35 billion through 1986 from tentative
spending plans already made.
• The plan assumes enactment of Reagan's
proposal for a one-year pay freeze for federal workers
and partial approval for his program to revise the Civil
Service retirement program. The budget committee
rejected both proposals in earlier votes. It also
assumes deeper cuts in Medicare and other benefit
programs than the committee originally voted for, as
the
daily
olle • ian
expected to cost $3.9 million, is a
2,000-foot stretch connecting the
hospital interchange of the bypass to
Benner Pike.
With the addition of the second
bridge, PennDOT will no longer
, need to construct temporary median
crossovers and median barriers to
separate east and westbound traffic
as proposed for the two-lane.
roadway.
"We think this is better all
around," Zazworsky said. "It will
• make fdr significantly safer travel
on the western section."
Under the original proposal, a
future addition of a second bridge
would have meant the removal of
concrete median barriers and-
well as further reductions in a broad array of domestic
programs
• On taxes, the plan would preserve Reagan's three
year program of tax cuts, as well as tax indexing
starting in 1985. The compromise provides minor
increases of only $B.l billion in the next two years.
However, Reagan's original "contingency" tax
increase of more than $5O billion to take effect if the
economy is flourishing in 1986 apparently would
become mandatory.
Tax indexing is the linking of income tax brackets to
inflation to eliminate "bracket creep," which pushes a
taxpayer into higher brackets if his income keeps pace
with inflation.
Several sources said Sen.' William Armstrong, R-
Colo., made a particularly forceful statement at the
meeting against tax increases, and had some support
from his colleagues.
Since none of the 10 Democrats on the budget
committee is expected to support the president's
proposals, all 12 Republicans must go along if the plan
is to be approved. Domenici arranged for the 12 to meet
today, when he is expected to press hard for an
agreement.
"We must continue to try to get a compromise, or the
deficits will threaten the economic recovery," he said
in a statement.
If adopted, the administration's proposal would leave
a deficit in 1984 of $182.7 billion, declining to $127.5
billion in 1986, the documents said.
Without any spending cuts or tax increases, deficits
would be well above $2OO billion a year. The
administration's budget update earlier this month
projected a $190.2 billion deficit for 1984 declining to
$144.6 billion in 1986, assuming its programs were
adopted..
Before agreement was readied at the, meeting of
White House officials with senators, the president's
chief lobbyist, Kenneth M. Duberstein indicated the
president was willing to stretch out his defense buildup
to increases, after inflation, to this schedule: 7.5
percent in 1984, seven percent in 1985, six percent in
1986, five percent in 1987 and four percent in 1988.
The administration's most recent projections of
inflation implied increases of 10 percent in 1984, 10.3
percent in 1985, 4.5 percent in 1986, 2.8 percent in 1987
and three percent in 1988. The percentages for each
year are based on multi-year spending authority in the
budget, not cash outlays.
California said its moratorium, was prompted
by concerns that future nuclear plants might one
day be shut down because the federal
government had not come up with a way of
disposing of radioactive waste. That would mean
interruption of elecricity in the state with drastic
economic consequences, state officials said.
Besides California, the eight states have
enacted laws or taken administrative steps to
prevent new nuclear plants are: Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Oregon, lowa,
New York and Wisconsin.
Four other states Maryland; Rhode Island,
Vermont and Hawaii have placed restrictions
on the development of nuclear plants.
President Reagan signed a law in January that
promises a system for burying radioactive waste
by 1998, but environmentalists contend no
guarantee exists under the law that a safe
method will found to protect the ecology.
In other decisions yesterday, the court:
• Declared unconstitutional a federal law that
banned demonstrators from the public sidewalks
surrounding the court's own building on Capitol
Hill. The justices said it violates free speech to
ban pickets from the sidewalks.
• Said government officials who are sued
successfully may be forced to pay "punitive"
damages to prevent future wrongdoing. The
court upheld a $30,000 jury award against a
Missouri prison guard who was sued by an
inmate who had been raped.
State College bypass plan
disruption in the community, he
said.
The Park Avenue extension, a two
lane roadway running behind
Beaver Stadium connecting Park
Avenue to the Diamond interchange
of the bypass at Centre Community
Hospital, is ready for bidding in
June, Zazwq,slcy.said,
• Funding Tor the project, estimated
•to cost $4 million, has been provided
by the Federal Highway
Administration.
The design , calls for a two-lane
roadway with a center lane for left
turns and traffic signals at strategic
intersections along the route.
Special provisions of the contract
include that no work be done from
the extreme east edge of the parking
The stretchout, with slightly higher increases in
future years, "is by and large a responsible program,"
he said.
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
A decade of decline
Orders
Cancellations
lot east of Beaver Stadium to
Shortlidge Road until after Nov. 12
the day of the Penn State-Notre
Dame football game, Zazworsky
said.
The contract also mandates the
completion of all work by Sept. 1,
1984, to allow the roadways to be '
totally operatiotial.for 1.984 football_
•
season.
"If that roadwork wasn't
completed, it would be totally
catastrophic as far as the access to
the stadium would be concerned,"
Zazworsky said.
The contract calls for a $5,000-per
day liquidated damages fee to be
paid by the contractor if the work is
not completed by the Sept.l
deadline. PennDOT regularly
April showers?
Al Lindsay of Trappe, Montgomery County, shovels snow that threatens to
invade a bed of daffodils. A freak snowstorm blasted through the eastern part
of the state yesterklay, dumping as much as 16 inches of snow.
inside
A White Hope aide says a is
former Cambodian leader is the
key to Asian stability Page 18
index
Opinions
Sports
State/nation/world
weather
Partly sunny today, high 45. Fair and cool tonight, low 32. Partly cloudy
tomorrow, high 51. —by Craig Wagner
Thursday, April 21, 1983
Vol. 83, No. 161 18 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University,
°None as o
charges $lOO to $3OO per day.
"It's very essential that the job be
completed on time because of the
ramifications involved with access
to the hospital, the,stadium and the
University," Zazworsky said.
Construction, expected to begin
this summer, will cut off the access
,ro4ll to_Centre,Community.. Hospital
-and force vehicles to use the,
temporary roadway that has been
previously used for football traffic
The road will be paved by the
contractor at the start of the
construction, Zazworsky said.
"People who want to go to the
hospital once the work is started will
have to come in off Orchard Road
and use that paved connector to get
to the hospital," he said.
AP/News Graphics