Word: coal
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...nearly 20 years it has been burning-and fuming On the surface, at least, Centralia looks much like dozens of neighboring towns in the hard-coal country of eastern Pennsylvania. A casual traveler topping the hill where Route 61 swings up from the south can take in the entire community at a glance, from St. Ignatius' Catholic church at one end of town, past the wooden row houses and empty storefronts in the center, to onion-domed St. Mary's Russian Orthodox church at the other. But a more careful look reveals something else: acrid-smelling steam coming...
Faced with an OPEC oil embargo in 1973, the country found enough willing sellers who were not members of the cartel to keep going nicely, while developing its coal and nuclear power. Within two years, thanks to conservation measures and its growing program to convert coal to oil, South Africa will meet 60% of its needs for oil and gasoline. Nor are international economic sanctions likely to give pause to the rulers in Pretoria. One ironic reason: although neighboring black nations would want to go along with a boycott, they could not for long because they depend so heavily...
...rules calling for custom-tailored educational programs for handicapped students are being reviewed. The Department of Health and Human Services regulations that impede the speedy testing of new consumer drugs are also under study. At the Interior Department, rules that drive up the cost of strip-mining coal are being rethought. The Administration is also looking into possible changes in the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, which increases the cost of Government construction projects by forcing businesses to pay the prevailing union wage even when less costly workers are available...
...pollutants that has been killing fish in many wilderness areas, will be another of the major battlegrounds. The causes of this problem are not yet well understood, and there is some suspicion that the Clean Air Act itself may have contributed to it. Reason: the law has led coal-burning plants to install taller smokestacks that carry particles high into the atmosphere, where they help to form the acid rain...
Burdened by sporadic worker walkouts and bumbling bureaucratic mismanagement, Poland's economy is in a shambles. Industrial production is down 10% from a year ago, and coal exports to the West, one of the country's most important sources of trade revenue, are off 29%. As a result, Poland last March failed to make scheduled payments on the staggering $27 billion debt that it owes Western governments and banks and technically went into default. Moreover, the Poles urgently need as much as $4 billion in new loans merely to keep up with interest on their current debt...