European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 3, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday augusts 1990 the stars and stripes Page 7 by he Washington Post Galveston Texas a a working to mitigate an environmental disaster Salvage Crews wednesday had skimmed As much As 10 percent of the Oil that spilled from two barges that collided with a greek freighter. Coast guard officials reluctantly agreed to allow limited use of Oil eating microbes in areas where mechanical Salvage was not possible. Crews were aided by Good weather favourable winds and the apparent mysterious disappearance of a substantial portion of the spill. An estimated 500,000 Gallons of a cat feed Oil a a refinery Oil similar to no. 5 fuel Oil leaked from the. Barges after the Houston ship Channel Accident. Coast guard rear James Loy said that in a flight wednesday Over the 17-Milc-Widc Slick he was surprised to see that the heavy Black Slick was 20 percent to 25 percent of the size it was on tuesday. Salvage Crews have skimmed perhaps 50,000 Gallons of Oil he said. Owners of the three Barge Tow Apex re amp to towing inc. Of St. Louis said a substantial amount of Oil May remain in one tank of a half sunken Barge that May be raised As Early As thursday. But Loy and state officials said that would not account for the up to 10% of Houston spill missing Oil. A was to the missing Oil that is a dilemma that is puzzling All of us a Loy said _ coast guard capt. Tom Greene said it is unlikely the Oil Sank to the Bottom of Galveston Bay he said the corps of engineers took samples from the Bay Bottom up to a mile from the Accident site and found no Oil except in the immediate crash area. Greene said Louisiana state University is now calculating whether that much Oil could have evaporated so quickly. A if it Sank to the Bottom and killed Marine life we re in trouble a said Thomas e. Ryan of the Texas division of emergency management. A if it evaporated we re All right.�?�. The state meanwhile suspended All Oyster harvesting in the area until further notice. So far the Impact on wildlife has been minimal. Volunteers preparing to Rescue and clean Oil soaked Birds had found Only a few wednesday but environmentalists said it is almost unthinkable that the Long term effects of the spill will not be disastrous. Loy said they May be right. The Oil Slick has been tracked from the Northern Shore of cd Alveston through delicate areas of Salt Marsh around Pelican Island and up to Eagle Point. Such estuaries where Salt and fresh water mix arc nesting grounds for Birds and other wildlife. At least 100 species of Birds including the endangered Brown Pelican inhabit the area some parts of which arc so fragile that the coast guard says attempts to clean them would cause More damage than the Oil. Economic costs also May be heavy. The Houston ship Channel a 50-mile waterway that connects a dense concentration of refineries and petrochemical plants with the Gulf of Mexico was closed for three Days. In it was one damaged Barge perched precariously on a ledge Over the Channel with at least 60 ships backed up. The Channel was opened to inbound Barge traffic on tuesday and to outbound Barge traffic wednesday largely Clearing out the shallow draft backlog. However deep draft ships still cannot pass for fear their Wake would nudge the stranded Barge into the Bottom of the Channel. At Ellington fab to the North the coast guard and the National transportation safety Board opened hearings into Why the and the the acc Barge Tow collided on a sunny afternoon in the Middle of the Bay. A a 8 the no is Tor into orbit Cape canaveral Fla. Apr a Delta rocket thursday lifted into orbit a navigation satellite capable of telling military units their position to within 50 feet or less anywhere in the world. The unmanned rocket thundered off on schedule at 1 39 a.m., trailing fire As it headed out Over the Atlantic. The $65 million Nav Star satellite separated from the Booster on command about 25 minutes into the Light and settled into an orbit 10,898 Miles High. The satellite is the eighth in a series of advanced global positioning system spacecraft that will guide . And Allied warplanes ships submarines and troops. In some cases it is accurate to within 10 feet. The air Force plans to Send up 16 More satellites by Early 1993, three of them spares under the $8.5 billion global positioning system program. The first Nav Star spacecraft was launched in february 1989. The 3,675-Pound satellites contain an atomic clock with an error rate of one second every 300,000 years and can keep track of a military vehicles Speed and the time within a Millionth of a second. Military personnel tune in the networks coded radio signals with receivers As Small As a hand held Telephone. Boat and private aircraft operators also have Access to the system. Seven earlier less sophisticated navigational satellites still arc functioning a a a fluff i Xiv a a a a t leaving a Wake in their work Al Paul Hartley left and Jimmy Culli seem to enjoy skimming Over the police Jet ski unit which patrols bos Nane of the Boston metropolitan police Charles River As members of the metro tones Waterways and Beach Shore scolds demos for not offering deficit plan by the Iris Angeles times Washington a the Federal budget talks turned into a partisan Brawl wednesday As president Bush unleashed Republican lawmakers to attack democrats on Capitol Hill for failing to offer their own deficit reduction plan. At a White House breakfast with congressional republicans Bush expressed frustration at the stalled negotiations and vowed to veto spending Bills this fall if no Compromise is reached on How to slice about $50 billion from next year s deficit. Bush said House Republican Leader Bob Michel of Illinois is a a very kind gentle individual but brother he a got fire in his belly Over the Lack of Progress during nearly three months of budget negotiations. But in a bid to maintain the High ground the White House promised to continue the talks when Congress returns in september from a month Long break and held out the possibility of calling congressional leaders to Ken Nerbun spoil. Maine during Bush a vacation there. Bush a reached out a hand to be As reasonable and As decent As he could be Quot said assistant House gop Leader Newt Gingrich of Georgia a and the democrats bit his a at the same time however administration officials undercut gop lawmakers who told reporters that Bush was demanding that democrats present their own budget proposal within 48 hours to avoid Public sniping from the president. A White House spokesman said no deadline had been imposed. The White House has been under fire from democrats and republicans alike for its latest budget plan which Calls for sharply boosting taxes on alcoholic beverages limiting tax deductions for state and local taxes and cutting Federal Benefit programs. Democrats arguing that they prefer to wait until after the August recess to present their own deficit cutting measures continued to revel in the political advantages they foresee from the while houses current troubles. Despite the escalating War of words both sides still face the need to forge some sort of deficit Compromise this fall if they Are to avoid More than $100 billion in Domestic and military spending cuts scheduled to take effect in october under the Gramm Rudman budget Taw. A nobody took the August deadline seriously i cause the Only real deadline that matters is when Gramm Rudman hits in october a said Joseph White a Brookings institution scholar and co author of a recent to xxi on the deficit politics of the last decade. Unless changed the Gramm Rudman budget Law requires the while House to impose cutbacks of As much As 10 percent on a wide variety of Domestic and military programs on oct. 1. Worried that such spending cuts would let a political suicide budget negotiators share a common goal of reaching a Compromise that would provide justification fur legislation to again postpone Gramm Rudman s Day of reckoning. A a i he Only sensible thing is to avoid Gramm Rudman a said White. Quot but the More they lie and cheat about it the More loudly they have to proclaim their meanwhile lawmakers mane Vered to overcome the perennial impasse Over raising the limit on Federal borrowing. The Senate is not expected to act by Friday on a debt ceiling Bill approved by the House tuesday possibly requiring a rare saturday session to allow a ingress to vote a separate Short term increase in the ceiling
