ML20126J227
| ML20126J227 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 10/30/1984 |
| From: | Jennifer Davis NRC |
| To: | Browning R NRC |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20126G220 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-85-170 NUDOCS 8506180563 | |
| Download: ML20126J227 (5) | |
Text
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., October 30, 1984 NOTE TO: R. E. Browning FROM: John G. Davis
SUBJECT:
PROGRESS OF AMFM PANEL Reference the note of October 25, 1984, on above subject.
I agree with Joe Bunting's recommendation. Please inform me by November 6 of actions taken.
8
^
l JohfG. Davis cc: D. B. Mausshardt J. Bunting e
9 h
8506180563 850423 PDR FOIA EYE 85-170 PDR
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F eralInds I c
- An exclusive news weekly on federal energy and minerals activities October 29,1984 DOE ACCENTS DISPUTE OVER COAL-RAll RATES Inside this issue .
Anticipating increased congressional .mterest tn the Staggers Rail Act next year, DOE has launched a study into the impact of railrcad Coal rates on the coal business to help form a Reagan administration stand
- A governor and industry leaders on the issue. In the meantime, the department will continue to serve as are among the first aboard Hodel's an intermediary between coal and railroad interests to encourage an end new coal council . . . . . . . . . 5 to their conflicts over rates.
Unless resolved, those conflicts could result in further damage to Nuclear Energy the coal business - beth here and abroad - and increased government
- Rep. Udallis circulating a proposal controls on railroads, DOE has been warning officials of those indus-to resolve an impasse among states tries. The department also is telling those industries that they probably over low-level. waste disposal . . . . . . 3 would be better served by a solution of their own making rather than
- State of Washington officials will one or_dered by Congress or the courts.
"We have sened, to this point, as an intermediary, ensuring that meet soon to decide' on Pnce. ,
(connnued on page :)
Anderson talks wtth DOE . . . . .
- A GAOreport gives a mixed U.S., CANADA FACE WESTERN BOUNDARY RIFTS review to DOE's waste program . . . . 7 U.S. officials want to settle the Beaufort Sea boundary dispute, 0,3 which would affect future offshore oil-and. gas drilling in the PaciSc
- OE pipelb.es 1. ave chelen;ed Northwest. But Canada may want to first settle the boundary dispute at a Jusuce Dept. report assessing Dixon Entrance. off Bntish Columbia, sources have told Inside En-competition in their industry . . . . . . 9 ergymuh federa! Lads.
ne m vement on the boundary disagreements between the two
- Governors have protested DOE's countnes follows the recent decision of the World Court at ne Hague,
' suspension of overcharge refunds which divided up territory at issue id the Georges Bank area of the to states . . .. . . . . . . . 7 North Atlantic (IE/fL,22 Oct.1). Much of the prcperty that went to C . :.' - 9 > um 4 'hnucht to hold valuable oil-and-gas re-Federal Lands sources.
in the Beaufort Sea dispute, the Canadians are clamung a mari-r es %;ng time boundary .ilung the Mlst rr.eridian Mr.t on land divides Alaska and l*. r-> m - -
- , g q ,,, 73. s y .. , y , hat line outward, while the U.S. wants
.. . . . . ... a .c - C c.4r. shores in the a hike in permit fees . . . . . . . . 11 (co% gj
- An OTA advisory panel met on a report dealing with reclaiming federal ~ ADVISERS MAY NOT PUSH PUBLIC WASTE CORP. )
coallands in the West . . . . . . .
- Bl.31 will notify holders of
(. 6 -
DOE's advisory panel examming-ehan;=c fa =-rf fiucl$
ar-waste repetitories may present Energy Secretary Donald Hedel with mining claims when the agency a " shopping list" of alternatives rather than a flat recommendation that assumes those claims are the program be run by a public corporation. Dan Schausten, the panel's abandoned . . . . . . . . . . . 14 staff director, said last week.
Although the panel voted 8-2 at its Sept. 23 session to recommend OCS the public corporation route. supporters wanted a consensus among pan-
- Some coastal state govemors el members on the proposal before making a recommendation to DOE.
are tipping their hands on what The panel met again last week. in hopes that it could fine-tune the idea share of federal revenue they want . . . . 12 for presentation to DOE next month, but it could not reach a consensus Onshore Oil and Gas on the public-corporation question, Schausten said.
The group will meet again Nov.1314 in Washington, D.C., but a
- Justice is expected to seek more final draft report will not be ready until "into December," Schausten time to respond to the Supreme sa d. He said the group will discuss next month whether to present the Court in the Fort Chaffee KGS case. . .. 16 pubh,e-corporation idea as a preferred alternative or as one of a set of al-ternatives for Hodel to consider. Eight members were clearly in favor of
e , . . - - . . - - - . - - -
a public corporation at the September session but three were opposed, Schausten said. The vote did not shift i icantly at last week's meeting, he said. There was not "the general unanimity we had hoped for," he said.
Other alternatives that the board has considered include a private corporation, government comnussion or Cabinet level panel administer the program. Another alternative is improving on DOE's present organization for waste management.
Schausten said that the panel remains committed to an idea approved at the September session for the ap-pointment of an advisory board on the siting of repositories. Last week, the panel agreed to recommend that the panet be installed immediately at DOE rather than after an alternative to the current waste-management organiza-tion is implemented, which could be months down the road.
The public corporation the panel has been contemplating would be a government-chartered entity with a five-to-seven member board of directors appcinted by the president. The president could appoint some federal repe-sentatives to the board of directors if he wished. The members would be confirmed by Congress.
The siting board would be made up of representatives of groups "with a stake"in the repository issue, in-cluding states, public. interest groups, Indian tribes and geologists, Schausten said. DOE's advisory group is desig-nated the Advisory Panel on Alternative Means of Financing and Managing Radioactive Waste Facilities.
-Vicky Stamas D_O,E ACCENTS DISPUTE OVER COAL RAll RATES . , , . begins on page 1 producers, transporters and consumers are able to analyze and comment on each other's position," Assistant Secre-tary William Vaughan told attorneys for the American Assn. of Railroads recently. "We will continue to serve in that role as long as such iterations are useful. However, we, too, are studying the issue, with a view towards taking a position from our perspective as advocates of a balanced and mixed energy supply at reasonable prices."
The DOE study is focusing on the impact of rail rates on coal-transportation costs, on electric utilities and on consumers, an ot?icial working on it said. "We're trying like mad to have a report out for at least internal use by early December," he added. That official and Vaughan, who heads DOE's Fossil Energy division, stressed that the department has not yet taken a position on rail rates.
DOE has been holding ongoing, informal talks with the coal, railroad and electric-utility industries on rail rato for moie than a year, odicials said. They began after railroad oriicials compiamed about remarks last year by Energy Secretary Donald Hodel suggesting that legislation was needed to lower rail rates for coal (IE/FL,3 Oct
-p Vaughan said he was against reimposing government controls on railroads but warned the railroad attorneys that "the pressures are building in support of it." He added: "Regardless of past lessons, there are still some in !
Congress who live by the axiom that they never met a problem they couldn't regulate out of existence Rail rates have a good chance, unfortunately, of becoming another example."
Vaughan also warned that the rift between the coal and railroad industries could help the cause of coal-use critics, which he said amounts to the same type of opposition that has stalked the nuclear industry. " Die same tac-
.. g:.: a u:!m p u -- 6: ta: tics cf insti'!ing f;.r and d::bt, af regulatcry uncertainties and delay -
the same tactics used to bring nuclear-power-plant construction to a virtual halt in this country are now used in the debates on acid rain and (carbon dioxide)," he said. "The tactics are the same. the opposition is the same . .
"Anj n. 2 the gabt!:s that have deseloped w thm the industry - between coal producers and coal haul-
-.i he hands J $e m ;- *:P : wes
- wnuH see coal follow the path of nuclear-
..g........ .-JE s.... a ; .m du rc.;. :..-. .y..;c .oga vr. n; .ist of energy issues apt to arise in the new Congress. "More than any recent energy-related action - with the possible exceptions of natural gas-and l
acid-rain legislation - the Staggers Act and its surrounding controversy have helped keep energy in the news,"
the assistant secretary said. A DOE lobbyist characterized the Staggers Act as one of three major er.ergy issues that Congress will concentrate on next year, the others being energy taxes and federal-lands issues.
DOE's stepped-up activity in the rail coal issue, along with Hodel's formation of a National Coal Council (related story elsewhere in this issue), also appear to indicate heightened departmental interest in coal issues in gen-eral. Of the rail-coal issue, the lobbyist said, "Hodel and DOE will be very much involved in shaping administra-tion policy on the Staggers Act."-BillLovele.tr A CHIEF CONCERN OF DOE'S ENERGY RESEARCH ADVISORY BOARD THIS WEEK will be long-range r&d strategy. The two-day meeting (Oct. 31 Nov.1) in Washington also will feature a discussion between the 25 member board and Energy Secretary Donald Hodel on National Energy Policy Plan V, due for com-pletion next year, and on international r&d collaboration.
The first day is to begin with a briefing on international energy r&d by Earl Gjelde, special assistant to Hodel. Next Dr. James Kane, deputy director of the Office of Energy Research, will explain how DOE re-sponds to ERAB reports.
Also slated for discussion the first day are progress reports on ongoing ERAB studies in such areas as international r&d, clean-coal utilization, and materials-r&d facilities. The clean-coal panel is headed by Erich 1
2 INSIDE ENERGY /with FEDERAL LANDS - October 29,1984
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