European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 4, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday november 4, 1986 the stars and stripes Paga 9 bases in Germany can Stop using , Coal by Chuck Vinc Washington Bureau Washington Congress has granted the defense department Permis Sion to Stop using . Coal to heat bases in Germany if it would be cheaper to link up with local District heating plants. The fiscal 1987 defense authorization act basically tells us to go with what Ever is most Cost effective said Millard Carr assistant director of the defense Energy policy office. If connecting a base with the local German District heating system is cheaper than using . Coal we can convert Carr said. We can also convert to a local heating system if directed to do so by the German government. We re satisfied with  Carr said . Coal shipments to Ger Many will not cease completely because some bases can t be hooked up to local systems. And there May be some places where Coal remains the most Cost effective sys tem he said. Reversing the 25-year-old. $50 Mil lion a year requirement to heat . Bases in Germany with american Coal is a High priority for commanders of . Forces in Europe. They have been squeezed Between congressional orders and increasingly strict German anti pol Lution Laws. Richard Hurt . Ambassador to Germany told Congress ill will caused by the inability of . Forces to comply with local German Laws could have fur ther negative implications for .-Gcr Man relations. The military has been required to ship american Coal to Europe to heat its bases there since 1961, when president Kennedy ordered it to help the slumping Domestic Anthracite Industry. In 1972, Congress barred the military from converting from the world War a Vintage Coal fired boilers to More Modem plants fuelled by Oil or natural Gas. In 1985, Congress prohibited the Mili tary from signing any More contracts to buy heat from German District heating facilities and ordered it to add a year s Supply More than 500,000 tons of . Coal to its 100,000-ton Reserve in Europe As a strategic  a related Issue is the conversion of some . Military bases to Coal. The fiscal 1987 authorization and appropriations acts direct the defense department to use the most Cost effective Means of heating stateside bases whether by Coal Oil or natural Gas which gives defense officials a measure of flexibility can said. But the Pentagon remains bound to a provision in the fiscal 1985 appropriations act that set specific consumption targets. It called for the defense depart ment 10 increase Coal consumption by 1.6 million tons annually Over current Levels by 1994, Carr said. He said Pentagon officials Are not particularly perturbed about that target. But we Are very concerned about an other provision that said 300,000 of the 1.6 million tons must be Anthracite Coal he said. Jeffrey Jones head of the defense Energy policy office said the Law requires the defense department to buy the Anthracite Coal regardless of whether it can be  plan to continue in the direction of building up our capability to use Anthracite Coal but at the moment we re nowhere near the Point at which we can consume 300,000 tons of it per year Jones said. Between $10 million and $ 15 million will be wasted this year alone because of that  editor honoured for simplifying Usa eur Lingo by Michael Mowrer Heidelberg have you Ever picked up an army regulation or publication that made you do double take because it was so readable if so a Heidel Berg editor May have had his pen on it. Dwayne Viergutz who works in the printing and publications Section at he Usa eur received this year editor of the year award for Field commands army wide. Viergutz 29, edits Usa eur regulations pamphlets supplements and command letters for style clarity and grammar. One of the main reasons he won he believes is because he dramatically reduces the Reading Grade level on the publications he works on. Viergutz cited an example from the command letter that was entered in the Competition. One sentence read tax Relief May be afforded on any funeral Cost to be borne by an eligible individual since the Benefit is deemed to accrue to the living an not to the  the edited version went As Fol lows tax Relief May be granted to pay for  brought the Reading level from Grade 15.1, a Junior in College to 4.9, almost fifth Grade level. The wider the intended readership the More difficult Viergutz s task becomes because he must write the publication for the lowest Reading level that everyone can understand he  a publication comes in if its understand Able Clear Brief to the Point i la leave it alone he said. Fortunately that s almost never the Case or i d be out of a job.". First. I read the publication As if i d just received it in the mail As if i were on the distribution list. I ask myself whether or not i can understand it. If i can t understand it i assume no one else will and i work with the person who wrote it to get out what it could say. The Job description is writer editor he said so he s not reluctant to rewrite paragraphs or sections i they re terminal cases and can t be edited. Vie Tuu s computer measures the Grade level of written material but the indicators Are not 100 percent photo Lor Sis by Ltd Mcc Miick award winning editor Dwayne Viergutz at his desk in the printing and publications Section at he Usa eur. Reliable he  you Are trapped by terminology he said. Such As when Viergutz was asked to lower the read ing Grade level on the vehicle registration  term vehicle registration itself throws off the indicator he said. But by simply writing All usar eur personnel must Register their vehicles you be done a lot to lower the Reading level he said. You do everything you can to Knock off syllables without changing the  Viergutz said most publication writers Are grateful for his  writers show up at h