European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 4, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday december 1987 the stars and stripes Page 3 Coal War in Congress May balk conversion of Usa eur heating plants by Wendy a Oakland and Chuck Vinc stuff writers haggling Between Senate and House committees Over pending legislation could prevent Susareu from converting the last of 96 major Coal and Oil plants to More modern plants burning cleaner cheaper fuel. It s Slit an Issue said a Myrd Corr chief of Energy policy under the Deputy assistant Secretary of de sense. There arc still some bases Over there per haps a half dozen or so that we would Lite n see converted but Haven t been yet. They could become problems if Congress puts a ban into  the fiscal 19s7 defense authorization act gave the military the go ahead last year to convert Coal heating systems to local German District heating systems or natural Gas if conversion would be cheaper than Burn ing . Coal. This reversed a 25-year-old, $50 million per year requirement to heal . Bases in Germany with american Coal. Ninety contracts to convert 78 Coal and 12 Oil plants have been signed so far said Dennis Cannon usar eur chief of utilities and Energy. He said Only six plants await conversion in Germany five to natural Gas and one to District heat. Natural Gas conversions Are scheduled for a housing area and ammunition depot in Worms at Kreuzberg Cavern in Owci i 3l9% major importers of . Coal in millions of Short tons for 1985 Canada a 1 6.11japan _. Chicago Tribune repute by Kevin Boyd so woo . Department of come wac Bruch Ken at Miclau army depot and atthe service support Center in Friedrichs fold near Mannheim. A conversion to District heat under an air Force contract i scheduled for Kaisen Lauvern Germany. But this year the House appropriations committee has included a provi Sion in its version of the defense appropriations Bill that would bar the Start of any additional conversion projects. The appropriations Bill is stalled in con Gress although president Reagan is Call ing for passage of the Bill by dec. 16. Carr said White most of the bases that Dod wanted to see converted in Europe already have been converted the remaining bases might find themselves squeezed Between that ban and German environmental regulations and have no recourse because of this stupid self serving  German Law requires Coal fire plants to meet new clean air standards within five years. A letter from usar eur officials reprinted last year in the congressional record said it would Cost si40 million to bring existing army Coal plants up to that Standard. The military had been required to ship american Coal to Europe to heat its bases since 1961 when president Ken Nedy ordered it to help the slumping Domestic Anthracite coat Industry. Most Anthracite Coal is mined in Pennsylva Nia. In 1972, Congress barred the Mili tary from converting the world War ii Vintage Coal fired boilers to More modern plants fuel Edby Vifor natural Gas. But last year Congress gave the department of de sense permission to Slop using . Coal to heat its German bases if it would be cheaper to Hook up to local District Healing plants. However the move to convert the plants has run into opposition from Coal state legislators. Cannon said. Rep. Joe Mcdade a Republican from Pennsylvania a major Coal producing state sits on the House appropriations committee subcommittee on defense. And sen. Arlen Specter r-pa., is on he Senate appropriations committee although he s not on the defense subcommittee. Both have been opponents of conver Sion for years Capitol Hill and Dod suffers said. Special interests have precedence Over savings Cannon said. Coal is the most expensive Way we have to heat. It s twice the Cost of District heat or  and the Coal Industry in t playing fair Cannon said. It made a Deal in fiscal 1986 with defense department officials to leave Europe out of the Coal wars. We said leave Europe alone and Well try to Burn More Coal in the . The Coal Industry liked that Cannon said. A provision in the fiscal 1985 appropriations act top ten Coal states in percent of demonstrated reserves Montana i 24.6% Illinois Wyoming 16.2% Kentucky 8.2% West Virginia i 8.0% Pennsylvania i 6.1% Ohio Colorado i Texas 2.8% Indiana Chicago Tribune graphic source Energy information administration -. L set specific consumption targets calling Tor the department or defense to increase Coal consumption by 1.6 million ions annually Over current Levels by i994. But they hit Dod with restrictions on convening to District heat and with a requirement to buy More Coal Cannon said. Thai was a double Cross. They had agreed to let Usa eur off the  Mike Clark head of he Anthracite Industry association declined comment on the situation but can non said the Industry s main argument to natural Gas heating of american bases overseas is the tact some of the Gas comes via pipeline from the soviet Union. The German Gas network gels 8 percent of its Gas from the .s.r.," he said. The Coal Guys Are going with this emotional russian Issue. Arc we going to bum russian Gas persian Gulf Oil or Good old . Coal Cannon said that the remaining 82 percent of Ger Many s natural Gas is imported from All Over North Africa saudi Arabia quite a bit from the North  the Price of american Coal almost triple Safly ship Ping costs Are tacked on. It costs $ 139 a ton to ship it to Europe. The same Coal in the . Costs Iso a ton Cannon said the 90 converted american plants Wilt save the government s750 million Over 25 years he said. A Rosens fir 3d up Over  heating plan by da8yle. Green Kmim Bulerin Bureau pirmasen5. Germany congressional wrangling might have stalled the filial phase of a Usa eur wide pro Gram converting Coal fired heating sys tems to cheaper cleaner Gas or Oil sys tems but one Community already has made the transition and did it with a special twist. What s unique about our system is we did t pay Tor it said maj. Francis x. Gillis director of engineering and housing Parma sons military Community. The District heal program in the bunk or Hill housing area in Pir Masens brings the military Community on line with the rest of the civilian Community for heat and hot water. The system uses Gas or Oil to provides cleaner More efficient heal ing system than the Coal system it re placed. Usa eur has contracted for 90 Power plan conversions the Parma Sens project is one of those but the final tin conversions Are on hold pending passage in Congress of a defense appropriations Bill. Various versions of the Bill which Are supported by the Coal Industry and legislators from major Coal producing areas Call for a ban on con version of Coal fired plants. In Pir Masens the program is expected to save the army Money on Utility Bills. But one of the most innovative aspects of be project is the Way it was paid for according 10 Gillis. And the first step was having Strong ties with the Community. What we did is we went under con tract with the German government local City officials because we have Good relations and that s the Only Way this happened Gillis said. The military Community convinced the City of Pir Masens that it was in the Best interests of both to arrange some Type of Deal. We told them that we want this heat ing system and normally we would buy it if we had the Money Gillis said. However we did t have he Money and if there was any Way they could build it for us and maintain for us we would pay a usage fee. We Call that profi Nance. The City bought the Deal because in creased use of its heating system makes i More Cost effective and because of con Cern for the environment. By doing so providing heat to the american Community they have Butler efficiency of the Plant said Friedr Schwitzgebel of stad Werke Parma sons which is responsible for the Healing sys tem. The second pan is thai we want to heal All the buildings with environmentally Friendly Type of  less than five months after the project started in april Bunker Hill had a new heating system in place that will Cost the . Government 5510,000 a year for the next 10 years. More than half of that approximately 1280,000 goes to usage fees while the other $250,000 pays for the project. Annual usage fees labor and trucks Cost 1970,000 when the system used Coal according to Norbert a Becker Environ menial Engineer. I masons. And having benefited from the pro Gram the Parma sons military Community plans to use the refinance plan in As Many new project As possible. S the Only Way to go Gil is said