fricJay, march 13, 1981
lincoln, ncbraska vol. 106, no. 45
.41
O fo
Commoner: Oil companies foster dependence
liy Kim li;ichiy;i
;iihI Bel h iicaririck
The I ' 1 1 i l e c I Slates' creeping dependence on foreign oil
is caused by the U.S. oil companies, environmentalist
Harry Commoner said Thursday night.
Commoner, who has written several hooks on energy
and politics and was the Citizen's Party I'M) presidential
candidate, spoke to about X00 persons in the Nebraska
Union for a ( IPC Talks and Topics lecture.
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My "renewable energy" Commoner said he refers to
sola i eneigy (which includes wind, sun, hydroelectric
power and grain alcohol) or breeder reaction (fission)
nuclear energy.
Hut hieeder reaclois are a long way off, he said. The
United Stales could be manufacturing ethyl alcohol,
something that Hiail is doing now. Hy ISS4 Hiail will
piodiice enough ethyl alcohol to inn all of Hs cars, he
said.
"Hul we're not doing this because maximum piofil
tor the stockholder's investments is the ciiteiia foi ihe
decision inakeis." Coinmonei said.
At a piess conference earliei in the day. Commoner
suggested that the United Stales w ipe out its whole mil
itary budget and divert the money to mass tiansporl
ation and urban development.
"Just think of the insanity of putting billions of
dollars into a rail system to carry MX missiles around the
southwest desert for no constructive purpose when that
money could be used to run cities and keep them from
deteriorating,'" he said.
Commoner asked reporters if Reagan won in Ne
braska. "He did? You'll regret it. You'll regret it when he
guts the agricultural programs and when he guts alcohol
(fuel) programs. If I were a Nebraska farmer. I'd want
to take my vote back. Nebraska will regie! electing
Reagan. So will the rest of us."
Commoner said research clone at Ins Ceniei for the
Hiology of Natural Systems has shown that alcohol pro
duction can be done in ways which will not cut into the
use ol grain for food bill will give agiiculture lull use of
Iced giains and offci a surplus loi alcohol synthesis.
At a lectuie given as part of the Architectural College's
Hyde Speaker Series. Coinniouei predicted drastic changes
would be made to incorporate solai eneigy. bill he said
it must come as an organied effort, not the "heller
skeltei plan we now have."
"The economy ought to be run tor the benefit ol
the people lalhei than for the benefit of those who are
wealth) .
"Reagan's philosophy is that the economy grows by
macho male entrepreneurs taking economic 'risks' by tak
ing dollais from the poor, giving it back to these macho
types so they can rebuild the economy and give jobs
back to the poor.
"That won't work. What this is is anarchy for the
rich. We've elected an anarchist who's dismantling the
parts of the government which get in his way."
Photo by Jon Natvig
Barry Commoner
lie said American oil companies shifted oil exploration
efforts abroad in the 1950s after they had fixed the cost
of oil in the United States.
He said it became increasingly ?xpensive to drill for
domestic oil and this decreased the profits made from the
oil once it reached the market.
I:ach time a barrel of oil is taken out of the ground, the
next barrel of oil will be more difficult (more expensive)
to drill for. be explained. Soon the energy it takes to ex
tract the oil will exceed its value.
In the 1920s and '30s there was a glut of oil on the
market, he said. The oil companies were upset by this, so
the Texas legislature set quotas on oil production so it
would equal the demand. With the prices fixed by the oil
companies. Commer explained, anil as oil production be
came more expensive, the companies' profits decreased.
U.S. oil companies then went abroad where, once
again, it cost pennies to drill for oil, w hich was sold at the
fixed high prices. Commoner said this information is from
the National Petroleum Council's report, U.S. l:'ncrgy Out
look. Commoner said the reason the cost of oil production
escalates, which is the essence of energy crisis, is that oil
is a nonrenewable energy source.
The United States needs to find a source of renewable
energy now, in order to prevent further inflation caused
by the cost of energy production, he said.
"When former President Jimmy Carter said. 'We're
running out of oil' that's true. It's also irrelevant. We've
been running out of oil since 1X59 when the first hole
was drilled." Commoner said.
J fx JlW I
Photo by Mitch Hrdlicka
The Lincoln High bench agonizes as the final seconds John Matzke (12), Assistant Coach Kevin Albers.
tick away in a 64-56 double overtime loss to Omaha Head Coach Alden Johnson, and Assistant Coach
Benson in the opening round Class A game of the Bill Zuspan.
state basketball tournament. Seated left to right:
Run-off election results threatened by complaints
liy I). Trie kircher
I wo complaints that could invalidate
some i osi ills ol the laich II nui-olT elec
tion will be ruled on In the Student Court
on Apnl I .
I'm Higgins and Steve McMahon both
of whom were piesidential candidates
complained that Rick Mockler and Dan
Wedckind the ASUN president-elect and
first vice president-elect, respectively vio
lated an act passed by ASUN that pro
hibits the use of "ASUN facilities" for
campaign purposes.
Mockler and Wedckind are alleged to
have used an ASUN copier for campaign
purposes. In the complaint. McMahon
wrote that Mark Hirschfeld. the ASUN
first vice president, observed the alleged
violation.
The complaint asks the court to re
quire the electoral commission to de
clare Mockler and Wedekind ineligible to
hold office or any appointed position in
ASUN" for one year.
Higgins. McMahon and Tom Vergith filed
the same complaint with the Mectoral
Commission on March 9. but the commis
sion decided it lacked jurisdiction to rule
on the complaint. The commission advised
Higgins and McMahon to take the com
plaint to the Student Court.
"I guess I don't have any other purpose
than to see justice upheld," Higgins said.
"We're just following through to get the
tnith out."
Higgins didn't know whether another
election would be required if the court
ruled there was a violation.
"I really don't have any comment on
the thing." McMahon said. Vergith may
place his name on the complaint, he said.
In the other complaint. Willie Watters.
McMahon' s former campaign manager,
complained that the electoral commission
acted wrongly when it declined to rule on
the "use of ASUN facilities" complaint.
Watters said that, after the commission's
action, he studied ASUN bylaws and de
cided it should have acted on the com
plaint. "My suit, really and in fact, is against
Kim Weiland." Watters said. Weiland is the
.ASUN electoral commissioner.
"She is the election commission."
Watters said. "When she snaps her fingers.
most of the others line up."
Walters' complaint asks thai the com
mission apologize publicly . that the run-off
election be declared "null and void." and
that the future commission members be
aware of their duties and "possess a desire
to fulfill their responsibilities."
Watters said he didn't know if a ruline
to
in his favor would require another run-off
or if ASUN would have to hold another
general election.
"I'm trying to encourage them to tell
die electoral commission to be more
prudent." Watters said.
The electoral commission has three days
to reply to the complaint, but Weiland said
it probably would ask for an extension.
"We still stand by the decision that we
made," she said. "It looks really obvious
that it's just an attempt to call the elec
tion." "We thought it was not in our jurisdic
tion," Glenn Poppert. an electoral commis
sion member, said.
The court dismissed on March 11 re
quests to temporarily restrain the commis
sion from counting the votes and releasing
the results.
Another complaint to be beard April 1
involves Dan Renn's charge that Mike Krai
ville illegally removed campaign posters.
After Renn presented the complaint to the
commission, the commission brought the
charge to the student court.
The complaint asks that Kratville not be
allowed to hold any ASUN office or posi
tion for one y ear.
Mockler and Wedekind were not avail
able for comment.
mc?n-
ffriday
The Smaller the Better: People earning
degrees to teach elementary school
appear to favor the lower grades, or
"little people" Page 6
Oriental Vision: Visiting artist Li Shan
describes his native China and how it
inspires his work Page 8
Trotter Tradition: Some of its comedy
may be the same, but other aspects of
this basketball team have
changed Page 10
