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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 1980)
daily Emerald Vol. 82, No. 35 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Wednesday, October 22, 1980 Hnn.tioH Wood fuel prices ■■ sap campus energy By ALLYSON BARRICHLOW For tho Emorald An unstable economy, the slashed University budget and the crisis in the lumber industry have combined to wreak havoc on energy production at the University. In trying to meet its energy needs, the University is forced to work within the dictates of a budget drawn up three years ago, says Ray Hawk, University vice president for administration and finance. The budget, however, does not account for the slowdown in the lumber industry and the sub sequent drastic increase in hogged fuel prices. Hogged fuel is the wood waste burned by the physical plant to produce electricity. The price of hogged fuel has risen to three times what was expected, Hawk says, adding that the price rise is coupled with a 25-percent price increase for the electricity purchased from EWEB. The EWEB electricity satisfies 40 percent of the University’s electricity needs. Hawk predicts the University will suffer a $600,000 to $700,000 deficit in its energy budget by the end of the year. Because the University cannot cuts its energy consumption to make up the deficit, it has reduced physical plant services such as main tenance and janitorial work, Hawk says. "It's been a disaster,” says Harold Babcock, physical plant director "It’s not exactly true that there have been no losses on campus. We h^ve been hit very hard." Twenty-four employees have been laid off at the physical plant, and an additional six positions also have been lost, Babcock says. "Ten percent of our people are no longer with us.” Although the University has had trouble buying wood waste fuel in the past, this year it's available, Babcock says. But next year the University can do no more than speculate on the effect the slowed con struction industry and the crippled lumber in dustry will have on wood waste availability, Hawk says. There will probably be less and less wood waste on the market because mills are beginning to recycle hogged fuel, not discard it, he says. Faced with a diminshed energy budget, Hawk says the University has taken several conserva tion measures, including: •Installation of a new stack emissions control device that recovers the 500-degree Fahrenheit gases escaping through the heat stacks of the physical plant. •Insulating all pipes to reduce heat loss. •Possible formation of a special patrol to survey the campus every day at 5 p.m. to make sure lights are off in all the buildings, windows and doors have been closed and all appliances have been turned off. •Tapping the millrace water for use in air condi tioners instead of using artificially chilled water for seven to eight months out of the year. And as an alternative to wood waste, Hawk says the University is exploring “refuse-derived fuel.’’ In addition, Babcock says requiring custodians to work during the day and consolidating evening class functions into certain buildings would be an effective conservation measure. It shouldn’t be necessary to turn off the heat in campus buildings during the day, as was proposed last year, Babcock says, as long as the University complies with the federal mandate that buildings must not be over 65 degrees Fahrenheit in their coolest place. jfflfik T.ffiTir Citizens offer strike solution By RICHARD WAGONER CM the Emerald Striking Sacred Heart General Hospital nurses could be back to work today if hospital administrators agree to a proposal submitted Tuesday by a local citizens group. James Gallagher of the Concerned Citizens for Quality Health Care said Oregon Nurses Association officials have agreed to go back to work immediately if the hospital accepts the binding arbitration proposal and takes back all striking nurses without loss of status or employment position. The citizens group delivered the arbitration plan to ONA and hospital adminstrators Tuesday following a public meeting Monday night to discuss solutions to the 69-day-old strike. The plan calls for the remaining strike issues to be submitted for binding arbitration by a three-member "blue ribbon" panel of community leaders. Members of the panel would be Acting University Pres. Paul Olum, Lane County Commissioner Otto t’Hooft and Eugene Mayor Gus Keller. Gallagher, a member of the University Labor Educa tion & Research Center, says he and other members of the citizens group steering committee met Tuesday with hospital Administrator Sister Monica Heeran to deliver the proposal. He says Sister Heeran indicated the hospital will review the plan and respond within 48 hours. “Up to this point (the strike) has concerned only two parties," Gallagher says. "The important thing shown by this citizens group is that a third party — the public — is involved, too.” Gallagher says the panel is a "fair and equitable process” that provides no advantage to either the nurses or hospital administration. The citizens group proposal suggests that, if neces sary, one or two persons from the ONA and the hospital administration could be appointed to the arbitrating panel to provide information to the three other members. ONA negotiator Connie Weimer says citizen invol vement is an indication the community sees merit in alternatives — such as arbitration by a panel — to peaceably end the strike. Hospital administrators were unavailable for com ment. Graphic by Sioux Anderson Carter, Reagan agree to debate WASHINGTON (AP) - Pres. Carter and Ronald Reagan agreed Tuesday to face each other Oct. 28 in a 90-minute debate in Cleveland, a week before the election. They will be questioned by a moderator and four panelists to be chosen by the League of Women Voters, which is sponsoring the 9:30 p.m. EST debate. The agreement about the format, date and site of the debate was reached by negotiators for Carter and Reagan after more than six hours of talks during two days in the league offices. “We had a lot of areas of disagreements, but never a lack of cordiality in dealing with them,” said Robeit Strauss, chairman of the Carter Mondale committee. "We each gave up some things.” Asked about that, James Baker, the chief Reagan negotiator, said "a little bit of this, a little bit of that.”
