Executive Report

Afghan crisis affects energy research

Installation of a giant American-made generator in the Soviet Union as part of a U.S.-U.S.S.R. cooperative energy test program was delayed because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Kenneth Tempelmeyer, dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (SIU-C) and supervisor of the test program's American team, said federal officials have ordered the team to stop working with the Soviets until the project can be evaluated. The generator was to have been shipped to Moscow January 20.

The cooperative venture is aimed at developing an energy concept known as MHD (magnetohydrodynamics) which increases the efficiency of oil, gas or coal-fired generating plants while decreasing emissions from these plants. The project includes the U.S.S.R.'s Institute of High Temperature near Moscow; the Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne; and SIU-C, among other American universities. Tempelmeyer said MHD research began in the U.S. during the late 1950's, but dwindling funds hindered its progress in the 1960's. Soviet tests and developments have spanned the past 15 years.

MHD processing burns coal, oil or gas at a higher temperature than normal and by the addition of potassium carbonate removes sulfur dioxide. An MHD plant is being considered for Montana, but Congress has not yet appropriated funds for it. Tempelmeyer believes the availability of high-sulfur coal in the eastern U.S. makes southern Illinois a logical choice for the plant.

In other coal research developments, SIU-C's Mining and Minerals Research Institute distributed $451,000 in fedral research money to six Illinois projects: three of them at SIU-C, one at Argonne National Laboratories, one at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and one at the Illinois State Geological Survey. Illinois received the largest share of the $3.4 million research funds allocated this year from the U.S. Office of Surface Mining.

The Argonne project, the geological survey project and two of the SIU projects

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study the impact of coal mining on the environment. The third SIU project is concerned with recovery and use of fine coal particles that are now a waste product at coal processing sites. The UI project involves basic research into how Illinois coal got all that sulfur in it in the first place.

Jobs for youth?

The Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) will fund seven grants- totaling over $600,000 in U.S. fiscal 1980 to aid people between the ages of 16 and 21 find jobs. This is in addition to approximately $2 million that has already been committed to youth employment statewide through the CETA-funded governor's youth grant.

The Department of Commerce and Community Affairs will administer the grants. Downstate recipients are: the Rock Valley Metropolitan Council, Rockford, for a report on innovative youth employment programs that could be used statewide; the Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan and Regional Planning Council, Collinsville, to determine connections between youth training programs and the work of regional planning agencies; Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, to train youths to help disadvantaged senior citizens. Chicago projects are Trust, Inc., to study possibilities of cooperation between CETA and community economic development; the Neighborhood Youth Institute, to develop a small rehabilitation and environmental maintenance company; Youth Service Project, to train young people and find jobs for them; and the Chicago Economic Development Corporation, to give young people practical business experience and encourage careers in business.

Road plan projects announced

Projects to improve highway and transit systems in suburban Cook County and the collar counties over the next four to six years were announced in December. The improvements are part of the road plan approved by the General Assembly last September and will cost $2.2 billion. Included in the total funding is $1.1 billion that was originally earmarked for Chicago's proposed Crosstown Expressway but can now be released for other transportation projects.

Included in the package is an 18 percent increase in funds for local government transportation projects. Suburban Cook County will get $874 million; DuPage County, $396 million; and Lake County, $232 million.

New agency for volunteers

Illinois will receive $500,000 in federal grants over the next five years to establish a State of Office of Voluntary Citizen Participation. The funds come from Action, U.S. agency which runs VISTA and the Peace Corps.

The new office will encourage more volunteers to work for social service organizations, develop new programs and provide technical assistance to service organizations.

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