‘Hog fuel’ too costly
Physical plant seeks new fuel
By Steve Hooka
Ofthe Emerald
Faced with a drastic increase
in the price of “hog fuel," or
processed wood chips, the
physical plant is looking in
to processed solid waste to fire
the University's electric gener
ator
The nuts and bolts of this
project, as well as the direction
of Lane County's fuel-from
waste program, were the topics
of a Survival Center-sponsored
discussion Thursday in the
EMU
The University paid 25 cents
per unit of hog fuel (five cubic
yards) in 1955 but now must pay
$48 for a unit of spe
cially-processed wood chips
because little hog fuel is availa
ble, said Harold Babcock, phy
sical plant director
Even the price of hog fuel has
recently jumped to the $40
range, he said
The physical plant is studying
a joint project with Lane County
to use the County's resource
recovery facility to convert solid
waste into refuse-derived fuel
(RDF) for the physical plant
power station, Babcock said
The project would require a
$2 5 million loan — with possible
state financing, he said About
$1 million would be needed to
modify the Lane County facility
to convert waste to fuel, and the
other $15 million would modify
the University's power genera
tor to use RDF.
The money sunk into the
power plant would upgrade one
of the boilers and a filter system
so the plant could comply with
pollution standards when burn
ing the RDF, Babcock said
The resource recovery facility
has been plagued in the past by
explosions in its shredding unit
and failures in other equipment.
Its original builder, Allis
Chalmers Corp , no longer
makes parts for the facility, said
Jim Guthrie, a Survival Center
representative
The $1 million would improve
the efficiency of the facility by
25 to 30 percent, said Craig
Starr, head of the county's solid
waste division New technology
will make it safer from potential
explosions and the facility will
not become obsolete because
other companies manufacture
parts that may be needed, he
said
Starr says he hopes sales of
RDF to the physical plant can
help pay off the county's share
of the loan The amount can be
recovered "within a reasonably
short period of time,” he said
Opponents of the proposed
project say the county would be
better off converting the re
source recovery facility into a
"source separation" recycling
facility The source separation
method “has saved an incredi
ble amount of resources" and is
‘‘vastly more efficient and ef
fective," Guthrie said
"The alternatives we re sug
gesting cost more in the line of
U.S. arms increase
deters Soviet threat
The nuclear arms buildup is a
tragic — but necessary — waste
of resources, says William
Taylor, director of pol
itical-military studies at the
Georgetown Center for
Strategic and International
Studies
"The arms buildup is lamen
table and increasingly danger
ous," says Taylor, who is also a
member of the Council on Fo
reign Relations. "But given what
the Soviets have done in the last
10 years, the course the United
States has taken is perhaps the
most effective
"Nobody can afford to take
unnecessary risks The U S.
must have bargaining chips ”
Taylor says nuclear disar
mament is a "morally impecca
ble goal," but a goal that must
be reached through an under
standing of the threat the Soviet
Union produces.
"Nuclear disarmament is a
goal we all ought to pursue,
everyone agrees with that," he
says. "The argument is not over
the goal, but over the means we
should use to reach it
"Until we can be assured that
disarmament is possible, we ll
have to fund programs that we
hope we ll never use We need
them to leave some room to
negotiate with the Soviets "
Peter Jones, a journalist ac
tive in the European Nuclear
Disarmament movement, says
there is no reason for the buil
dup of nuclear arms
"We see the Cold War as a
kind of addiction for America
Both of them (the superpowers)
are locked into a numbers
game ”
Jones says the buildup of nu
clear arms in Europe is the re
sult of the United States' desire
to have first-strike capability
against Russia
The 13,000 tactical nuclear
warheads in Europe are meant
to be used for a limited nuclear
war, says Jones While America
wouldn't feel the effects of a
Russian retaliation — because
tactical weapons are short
range only — one third of Eu
rope would be wiped out
"The opposition (to nuclear
arms) in Europe is because we
see ourselves sandwiched
between the superpowers," he
says
"We just want to free our
selves from the two blocs. It’s
not anti-American Nobody can
be anti-240 million people "
Both Taylor and Jones will
speak at the National Security
Conference, which began
Thursday and continues
through Saturday night
TOBAPHIUH
M MT ARTE 3MEPAJ1J1
AND RECYCLE IT TOOI1
one-half to one-fourth of what
they (the physical plant and
county) are suggesting,” he
said.
David Shellabarger, a
member of the county's Re
source Recovery Advisory
Committee, has studied im
plementing a comprehensive
county-wide recycling program
and converting the resource
recovery facility into a source
separation facility and self-sup
porting recycling center
Modifications in this area
would include adjusting the
facility to service self-hauled
waste as well as commercially
transported garbage, Shel
labarger said
But, Shellabarger said, even if
a "massive amount of recycla
bles” can be handled and
processed, a market may not
exist. "Recyclers are hanging
on by their fingernails” finan
daily, he said.
Babbock said those involved
with planning the recycling pro
gram should not take an
"either-or” position when
studying options. Cooperation
is essential to find working re
sults, he said.
Money earned to pay off the
loan for the plant modifications
could come from selling surplus
electricity to the Bonneville
Power Administration or the
Eugene Water and Electric
Board, he said. By selling ex
cess electricity to the BPA the
$2.5 million could be paid off
within five years, Babcock said.
As far as what the University
would get from the project with
the county, “that’s pretty ques
tionable," he said. The physical
plant "won t get five cents out of
it,” but heating costs for the
dormitories and the EMU would
be reduced, Babcock said.
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