®I|f (EuUfgiatf
A NEWSPAPER OF IDEAS
FEBRUARY 10,1977!
Viewpoint
Allied Ducks Heavy Penalty
T t’s not hard to see why environmentahsts lose so
many court fights these days. Monied influence is
constantly working against them. An example can be
made of the following case.
Two months ago a federal judge in Richmona,Vii^
ginia fined the Allied Chemical Corporation a record
$13.5 million. Allied had pleaded nolo-contendre (no con
test) on October 5 to 940 counts of violating federal
water pollution laws. The giant multi-national corpora
tion had been responsible for discharging the toxic
chemical Kepone into Virginia’s rivers and estuaries.
The waterways were closed to commercial fishing. Last
week, the same federal judge, Robert R. Merhige Jr.,
reduced the fine to $5 million. Allied had asked that the
fine be reduced to $1.4 million, citing the fact that they
had already contributed $8 million to an independent en
vironmental foundation. Judge Merhige did reduce the
fine and remarked that Allied had shown itself to be
“contrite and sincere.” They were sorry.
We wonder if Allied has really seen the error of its’
ways. The $8 million contribution to the independent
foundation is tax deductable; a fine is not. Alexander
Trowbridge, vice-chairman of Allied’s board of direc
tors, said the contribution will save Allied nearly $4
million in taxes. So much for “sincerity and contrition.”
The Allied experience is all too familiar a scenario
for environmentalists. They realize, after many long
court battles, that money can buy influence in a court of
law. We’re not talking about bribery, just influence. By
reducing Allied’s fine, the judge, as a representative of
the larger judicial system, said in effect that you can
break pollution laws provided you have the money to
bail yourself out. The basic problem with that set-up is
that once ecological damage has been done, it is often
impossible to repair. It is insignificant whether the guil
ty party pays $5 or $5 million.
Stirrings in Little Rock
rkansas’ state legislature passed a law last week
making it illegal to have intercourse with domes
ticated animals. It sounds like they’re doing some im
portant things in Little Rock. Although we realize the
problem of people becoming overly attached to their
pets is a growing one, we wonder if the legislature’s
time could not have been spent more wisely. The educa
tional system in Arkansas could stand some attention,
it’s one of the lowest rated school systems in the coun
try.
The Problem of Oil Spills
BvMlCH.\EL WALKER
Recently, we witnessed the
largest oil spill in American
history. An old Liberian tanker
spilled millions of gallons of oil
into the waters off the New
England coast. The oil killed
much wildlife. Dead seagulls
washed up on shore, their bodies
covered with oil. Eyewitnesses
said the gulls who were still alive
would land on solid surfaces and
skid for yards. When they finally
stopped, the seagulls would eat
the oil from their bodies in an
attempt to clean themselves.
The huge oil slick was headed for
some of the most fertile fishing
grounds on the east coast,
foreshadowing large-scale
ecological disaster. The few-
clean beaches of industrial .New
England were threatened by this
huge mass of black filth.
Had the slick washed ashore,
the tourists would no longer have
visited those beaches. Local
citizens who relied on the tourist
industry would have suffered.
Many area fishermen would
have suffered. All those who
appreciate the natural beauty of
the shore would have suffered.
So these people who must rely on
Mother Nature, and who know
her true value, turned to her that
night.
They prayed for her to con
tinue her northwest winds in
order to blow the oil slick away
from their land. Meanwhile,
Americans stood helplessly by,
praying along with these people
that nature would once more bail
man out of the dangerous
situation he had gotten himself
into. If nature would not help,
the economy and the ecology
would suffer.
But where were those
enlightened souls who have cried
out for so long, "Nature needs
man to keep her in check, to
maintain her balance." Where
were they during this man-made
crisis? Were they too sitting in
front of their television sets,
an.xiously waiting for nature to
bail us out once more. Did they
feel for those people in New
England who have had to rely on
nature for their food and
livelihood all their lives? Are
they still convinced that nature
really needs man?
It seems to me that nature
does not need man. It is foolish
and egotistical on our part to
think so. She survived billions of
years before man ever made his
appearance; long after man is
gone, she will continue to evolve
and flourish. It is not nature who
needs us. but we who need
nature. We must realize that it is
imperative to our survival as a
species to preserve nature, not
destroy it.
Aquaculture: Farming the World’ Oceans
A Possible Solution to World Food Shortages
By DANIEL W. LINDLEY
(CPS) — Oceanographic
researchers at American
universities are cautiously
optimistic that a more direct
manipulation of the sea by
mankind will help alleviate the
suffering that may result from a
combination of dwindling
terrestrial food, fuel, and
mineral resources and a rising
population. At present, however,
wide-scale fish-farming and
deep sea mining have been
unattractive to most U.S. cor
porations due to the generally
low profits they provide and the
high risks they entail.
Still, university marine
studies programs, which do not
have to be profitable, are
registering quiet advances,
especially in the area of
aquaculture, and are getting
financial shots in the arm from
federal agencies such as
SEAGRANT, a division of the
National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration.
The Scripps Institution of
Oceanography in San Diego, for
instance, last year had a budget
of around $36 million, roughly 80
per cent of which was provided
by U.S. government agencies.
The school, one of the most
prestigious of its kind in the U.S.,
operates a fleet of six large
oceanographic research vessels,
which in 1973 cruised nearly
148,000 nautical miles to
locations as diverse as the
Amazon River Basin in Peru and
the Gulf of Alaska.
Domestically, a spokeswoman
says that “some aquaculture is
going on here, especially with
shrimp and lobsters. We’re not
doing anything with deep-sea
mining technology, but we are
studying the formation of
manganese nodules.”
Several multi-national cor
porations, including Kennecott
Copper, Inc., are exploring the
possibility of large-scale mining
of the nodules, which are found
deep on the ocean floor and are
rich in manganese, nickel,
copper, and cobalt. Some ex
perts estimate that the ocean
floor may hold as much as 50 per
cent of the world’s remaining
minerals. A team led by an
assistant professor at Oregon
State University plans to use a
submersible starting this Feb. 8
near the Galapagos Islands to
study the hot ocean springs there
which have temperatures ex
ceeding the boiling point of
water and which may be in
strumental in forming metal-
rich deep-sea sediments.
Two OSU research vessels
currently are operating off the
coast of Peru to study the effects
of coastal upwelling, a process
that occurs in some areas where
water from the sea bed, rich in
phytoplankton, is brought to the
ocean surface by a combination
of winds and currents. The
process is such a boon to fishing
that artificial creation of up-
welling has been attempted on a
small scale in some spots.
Researchers at the University of
Texas Marine Science Institute
Marine Laboratory at Port
Aransas, for example, have been
shelling out $300,000 annually
over the past eight years in an
artificial upwelling project in
the U.S. Virgin Islands. They
have been pumping nutrient-rich
deep-sea water to artificial pools
which they have constructed on
shore. The phytoplankton they
keep in the pools have required
only the seawater to survive,
and are used subsequently to
feel infant shellfish nurtured in
holding tanks.
American lobsters, once
plentiful in the waters off the
Northeastern United States and
in high demand on the retail
market, have been raised
successfully at the Bodega Bay
Marine Laboratory, which is
sponsored and utilized by the
nine University of California
campuses. Still, Business
Director Cadet Hand says that
commercial culture of lobsters
is not yet feasible, due to their
expensive diets, preference for
warm waters, and propensity for
devouring one another in cap
tivity. Hand sees the day,
however, when the crustaceans
will be fed from relatively cheap
grain and meat offal deriva
tives; he thinks that by genetic
breeding, a non-cannibalistic,
faster-growing lobster will be
developed.
“The genetic method takes
time, though,” he patiently
observes.
Undaunted, however, are the
intrepid University of Maine at
Orono marine researchers, who
have had some success in
raising oysters in some pockets
of the Maine Coast. Waters there
are so cold that gonad produc
tion is inhibited, and the oysters
do not spawn naturally;
however, they grow faster. With
significant state pride, the Main
researchers have constructed a
warm-water oyster hatchery
within state lines where they can
set breeder oysters to produce a
generous supply of oyster seed
by regulating water tem
perature.
“Out-of-state seed can always
carry disease and pollutants,” a
wary University of Maine
spokesman intones.
Some commercial oystc
hatcheries are alreaf
operating profitably in Maii,
and in California. And despi‘-
the occasional professioti
jealousies and lack of tnisti
have become evident as li
secrets of the deep gradiiai
have unfolded, Dr. Handdj,
Bodega Bay Lab, and mami
his colleagues, are sure l)t
aquaculture will find its placet
the stomachs and minds rfik
American culture.
“Nothing human is alien to me.” - Karl Marx
Students Activily
Fee Debated
They’re trying to makt
federal case out of the collecE:
and distribution of cote
student activity fees.
A proposed amendmenili
U.S. Senate Education
sponsored by Sen. AlanCrans:
(D-Calif.) would eslaWs
federal standards to insureaft
process for allocating actir;
fees among studc
organizations on a campus,li
bill would also set up
mechanism by which a majc
of students could, by petitior.
vote, collect an additional
which would be refundable
those not wishing to pay.
This second point of '
amendment is supported:
Ralph Nader who testified ft
shidents should have tlie
portunity to “tax themselvs
and use the university as
collecting system.
founded IN 1927
FREDERICK CLARIDGE
Editor
+ + +
MICHAEL WALKER
Associate Editor
ttOBERT WILSON
Business Manager
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DOUGLAS HACKNEY,
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Photographers
GUY HYATT.
RUSSELL RAWLINGS
Sports Writers
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SPENCER SMrrH
BRIAN HUNT
Feature Writers
DALE ADAMS.
TERRY BOSLEY
Proofreaders
MILTON ROGERSON
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