European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 22, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 a the stars and stripes sunday december 22, 1991cia wary of Trade collusion among nations by the los Angeles times Washington a the Central intelligence Agency will intensify scrutiny of the Trade and economic policies of America s major allies to assure that they do not violate International agreements or harm . Commercial interests Cia director Robert m. Gates said last week. While rejecting outright spying on foreign corporations Gates said that foreign governments a even Friendly governments a colluding with their industries to the detriment of american interests Are a fair games a for . Espionage efforts. A the Basic message to others around the world is if you intend to cheat the United slates we re going to be looking a a Gates said. He said the Agency had uncovered cases in which foreign governments have made foreign policy concessions to other governments in Exchange for purchases of products of private corporations. But he declined to identify any countries guilty of such  in an interview with the los Angeles times the new director explored various topics from nuclear proliferation to the future of the new soviet Commonwealth to changes within the Cia because of the cold wars end. He said the dialogue is part of a new a openness Quot he intended to bring to the Agency. Gates said the Cia has not yet seen evidence that soviet nuclear technology and know How Are being leaked to other nations although the possibility of that remains a concern. Nor has . Intelligence detected efforts by rogue nations to recruit soviet weapons scientists he said. But he said that thousands of soviet experts on nuclear chemical and biological weapons Are facing unemployment and food shortages and May feel compelled to Market their expertise to third world nations seeking unconventional weapons capabilities. The spy chief said the cold wars end Means the number and size of . Covert operations overseas will diminish but that secret foreign operations remain a an instrument of foreign policy that is available to the government. I think there will continue to be some selective use of it but i think it will be very  Gates expressed optimism about the Progress so far toward devising a new form of government in the dissolving soviet Union praising russian federation president Boris n. Yeltsin s courage and political skill. But he said the Outlook for democratization and economic Reform in the new Commonwealth a depends on what happens during the  while not predicting widespread famine Gates said a poor soviet Harvest and a broken food and fuel distribution system would produce a severe local  a prototype for umps new electric vehicle the Impact which it says will go 80 to 100 Miles without recharging. Electric cars getting slow Start by Matthew l. Wald the new York times Washington a for 20 years the people who pioneered electric cars believed that the Price of the vehicles would decline to reasonable Levels if a mass Market developed. Now even though 12 states have mandated such a Market the technology is lagging. Ford motor co., for instance plans to begin Selling its electric costar Van to utilities in Early 1992. But the vehicle can go Only about l m Miles in City driving before needing about six hours to recharge its sodium Fulfur Battery. In the last month More states have climbed aboard the a flow emission vehicle express aiming to put As Many electric cars on the Road in 2 m 3 As there were Honda accords sold in America last year. California which was the first state to adopt such a program and nearly All the states in the Northeast a Delaware Maine Maryland Massachusetts new Hampshire new Jersey new York Pennsylvania Rhode Island Vermont Virginia and the District of Columbia a joined in the Effort. That Means that about 70,000 electric vehicles must be on the Road in six years. Other Large states and cities Are considering the idea. If they actually commit to it about 500,000 vehicles sold in the nation will have to be pollution free by 2003. But automakers Battery scientists and marketers question who would want a vehicle that costs far More to buy and operate than a gasoline Model and Only runs 100 Miles or so before it needs Quot several hours to recharge its batteries. A a it a a mandate to sell not a mandate to buy Quot said Ric Geyer who is in charge of marketing electric vehicles at Ford. What the car makers need is something better to sell. Some of the Cost problems Are Likely to be solved easily like using electronic controls that Are Akin to computers and Likely to fall in Cost. But Mak ing suitable batteries to to scr electric cars has vexed everybody since Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. A it is a misconception that there is some kind of invention lurking in the wings waiting to be introduced Quot said Robert Nichols a spokesman for the United states advanced Battery consortium. The consortium is a research partnership formed last month by Ford general motors corp., and Chrysler corp. And partly supported by the department of Energy. But the consortium a goals assume an ambitious accomplishment producing a Battery by 1994 that stores 150 to 200 Watt hours per kilogram of weight about twice the level of one of the most promising batteries today. That would seem a difficult task considering the state of Battery technology. A Standard Lead acid Battery stores about 33 Watt hours per kilogram of weight Nichols said and a sodium Fulfur Battery a a Type invented by Ford in 1965 that shows Promise now a Only stores 85 Watt hours. The drawback is that sodium Fulfur batteries Cost More than twice As much As Lead acid batteries. Gasoline is cheaper weighs less and takes up far less space than batteries a kilogram of gasoline stores 12,000 Watt hours. Even adjusting for the fact that electric motors use Battery Power More efficiently than gasoline engines use the Energy in Gas gasoline still stores Energy in roughly 80 times less weight than conventional Lead acid batteries do according to engineers. By volume gasoline takes up 60 times less space. Lust january general motors announced that it would sell the Impact a sporty electric two seater beginning in the mid-1990s. But John r. Dabels Gmys director of Market development for electric vehicles wonders How it will happen. In Normal use pm estimates that the Impact will go Between 80 and 100 Miles before needing a recharge of about three hours to restore 80 percent of its Power. It can go 60 Mph and its acceleration is impressive 0 to 60 Mph in about 8  renters far outnumber available units by the new York times when Harold Coleman a 23-year-old chefs assistant sketches his family a budget two figures command attention. He brings Home $596 a month. And he pays about $480 for rent and utilities in Charlotte . This make the Coleman part of a Large and almost certainly growing number of poor americans who pay More than half their income for rent and utilities a condition that is changing the Way that poor people live. A report released last week is the latest in an Avalanche of studies that paint a grim portrait of affordable housing for the poor. The study by the Center for budget and policy priorities and the Low income housing information service said 56 percent of poor renters about 10 million people pay More than half their income for shelter. It said 47 percent of the nation s poor renters pay More than 70 percent of their income for shelter. The government considers housing affordable if it consumes no More than 30 percent of a family s income. The report contended that the problem failed to improve during the seven years of economic growth that ended in 1989 and can Only be expected to Worsen As the recession drives people out of jobs and slows the construction of new housing. Since housing problems Are caused not just by High rents but also by Low incomes they can be found with dismaying geographic diversity a in the High priced Northeast As Well As in the inexpensive South. Coleman earns $5 an hour making salads at a Radis son hotel in Charlotte a City that is full of empty luxury apartments but Short on inexpensive housing. Of his $596 take Home pay $415 goes to rent and about $65 to utilities leaving him a Little More than $100 a month. A so once you pay the diapers and bus fare and electricity and the phone Bill there a nothing left a he said. In the past several years the Coleman have been evicted twice and arrested once for pirating electricity from a neighbors outdoor outlet. Coleman said he ran an Extension Cord to the outlet to plug in his alarm clock after his own electricity was shut off. Victoria Coleman Coleman a wife said she is not working because the Cost of Day care would equal the amount she would expect to earn. Coleman feeds the family on $323 a month in food Stamps. The National problem has three main causes the number of people needing Low rent apartments has grown. The number of those apartments available in the private Market has shrunk. And Federal housing assistance has failed to keep Pace with the change. Since 1970, the report said the number of Low in come renters grew by 41 percent to 9.6 million in 1989. The study defined Low income As any household earning less than $10,000 a year in 1989 terms. But Over the same period the number of inexpensive units available in the private Market decreased by 14 percent to 5.5 million. They were defined As those costing less than $250 a month. While in 1970 there were actually 400,000 More units than there were poor renters the report said by 1989 the situation had dramatically reversed with 4.1 million More poor renters than affordable units. At the same time Federal Aid slackened. From 1977 to 1980, the report said the Federal government added an average of 290,000 new families each year to its list of those receiving housing assistance. In the past 10 years however the government has added an average of Only 78,000 new families each year