5770 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS March 18, 1980 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS JOHN A. LUKE DISCUSSES WEST­ been doing. Let me· say right at the start ufacturing locations. We have targets and VACO'S ENERGY PROGRAM: that we hardly profess to know all the an­ we work toward these targets. One of the COAL CONVERSION, D.E­ swers and while we feel we· have had some techniques we use is to continually compare successes, we're a long way from being com~ each of our operation's results with that CREASED DEPENDENCY ON placent. As a matter of fact, we are very... which we believe represents the best in per­ FOREIGN OIL, FUEL CONSERVA­ very restless and are looking very hard at formance. TION, COGENERATION, AND other things we can do, for more progress to This isn't the forum to share all of our de­ NATURAL GAS EXPLORATION make. We hope you will find our activities tailed conservation steps. We all know of of interest, just as we are intensely 'interest­ many things that can and are being done. ed in your progress and your ideas so that For this morning, I'd just like to register HON. JENNINGS RANDOLPH we can benefit from them. Surely no one that conservation represents a key part-a OF WEST VIRGINIA has a monopoly on all the answers to the basic cornerstone-of our total energy pro­ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES energy problem. gram that includes thipgs l•ke process and So, here's our energy story. In the early plant design, infrared scanning to identify Tuesday, March 18, 1980 1970's, well before the Arab embargo of sources of heat loss, the addition of insula­ e Mr. RANDOLPH. Mr. President, 1973, the senior management of Westvaco tion and the reduction in our fresh water re­ this Nation's paper mills represent a became concerned about our country's grow­ quirements·so that we can maximize the use very energy-intensive industry. West­ ing dependence on foreign sources of of warm recycled water. That is stresses the energy. We saw this as a challe~ge that application o~ advanced technology to moni­ vaco Corp., a major producer of paper, would call for plenty of good old American tor and control the performance of our packaging, and chemicals, has reduced ingenuity, large capital expenditures and equipment. We are working hard at conser­ its dependence on foreign oil and is restless determination. Interestingly vation, and I believe effectively. utilizing and finding alternative enough, our early insights were gained Beyond conservation, we have also made sources of energy. through data from the Department of the very important progress in switching from An innovative company, Westvaco Interior, indicating that the same informa­ the use of scarce and costly fuels to ones has been a leader in the environmen­ tion existed in the hands of our Federal gov­ which are lower in cost and more readily tal field and has many firsts within ernment-information that was also being available. Through these programs we have the paper industry. discussed by the API Raw Materials Com­ reduced our oil consumption at our domes­ mittee and Ron Slinn. In this light, what tic mills to a point where it represents only America's industries are talking has transpired since 1972 certainly cannot about 8 percent of our energy needs. about the problem of energy supply, be saJd to have been a surprise to our &ov­ At our Charleston mill, we have reduced but Westvaco is doing something posi­ emment. oil COilBumption by 50 percent through the tive about- it. Westvaco has been a While this Interior Department data did recent conversion of our largest power leader in this field in the la.St decade not cause concern in the Federal govern­ boiler from oil to coal. With this step, alone, and has an innovative program for the ment, it was of concern to Westvaco and so we have already started to save oil at the future. we began to contemplate a variety of things ra,te of. 30 million gallons per year. which could mitigate the impact of short­ Coal Ia already the primary. fuel at three The American Paper Institute held ages or higher prices of energy for West­ its 103d Annual Paper Week earlier other domestic mills, and at a time when oil vaco. Here are some of the things which we CO$ts have been increasing steadily, we've this week in New York City. Attention started to consider. pretty much stabilized our costs at each was focused on the various problems First, we began to consider how we might one. At one of these sites, we have devel­ the industry faces. conserve energy on the assumption that a oped our own captive supply of coal-our John A: Luke, executive vice presi­ rising level of imports would bring with it own mine which we operate, and it's only dent of Westvaco, presented Westva­ higher prices. two miles away from the mill's bunkers. co's energy program. John Luke noted Secondly, as a cushion for emergencies, we At our· remaining domestic mill in Wick­ that the company does not profess to decided to establish centrally located corpo­ liffe, Kentucky, we have just completed the know all the answers and while some rate reserves of oil in storage. tanks which mstallation of a new $25 million power progress has been made Westvaco is a could be drawn on· to supplement local boiler to bum bark and other wood wastes supply deficiencies which might be encoun­ in plaee of the oil and gas which had been long way from being complacent. tered at any of our individual plants. This this plant's traditional energy source for I note with particular interest that proved very valuable til the 1973-1974 short­ ·steam generation. This step is reducing this Westvaco, with 3,000 West Virginians age, and our tanks are full right now. mill's dependence on oil and gas by the on its payroll, has made the ·decision Thirdly, we began to do some preliminary· equivalent of 20 million gallons of oil per to move to coal from imported oil, not thinking ·about the possibilities of fuel year. because of Government intervention, switchirtg. By this, I mean switching to .ma• Another important .achievement has been but because it is economic to do so. terials which could be more secure in the recovery of materials previously left in This can serve as an example to the supply, and potentially lower in cost such as the forest after the completion of normal coal and other domestic or regenerable ma­ logging operations. We have found an eco­ rest of the industrial sector of what terials. We also began to contemplate what nomic way to recover this biomass refuse fuel savings can result from the direct we could do to bring some energy sources and to convert it into a viable energy re­ use of coal initiated of their own under our own captive control-:-energy such source as boiler fuel. Our initial work in this accord. Westvaco's conversion from oil as coal, el~ctricity and gas. area is being done near our Charleston ioca­ to coal is of immediate importance, Finally, we decided -to undertake a stuc;ly tion. We'll be expanding this program at but I am also interested in the natural to investigate whether there might be de­ Charleston and we'll take biomass recovery gas exploration program in Mineral posits of fuel either under timberlands to our other locations. We're sold on the County, W. Va. Westvaco is in the ·which were already under our ownership or, concept, and we have the source. Our objec­ alternatively, which might be in locations tive is to take full advantage of the yield process of construction of a pipeline near some of our major consuming oper­ from each forest acre...... for pulping, for saw from its gas fields to its mill in Luke, ations regardless of whether we owned the timber, for specialty chemicals, and for Md., just across the Potomac River particular energy-bearing lands or not. We energy. And we are very positive about the from West Virginia. This is indicative used an experienced consulting geologist to impact of this program on site productivity to Westvaco's commitment to help help us evaluate these potentials. in contrast to the impact from .conventional insure its energy supply. From this framework, shaped ·back in the site preparation. · Mr. President, I submit for the early 1970's, we believe we have developed a Some years ago, we. also did some in-depth RECORD John Luke's address: very comprehensive, a V~}' timely and a studies on the outlook for electrical very environmentally sound: energy pro­ energy-and these indicated that· utility WESTVACO'S ENERGY PROGRAM gram. I would like to comment on our prog- power could be very tight in certain areas It's a great pleasure to be with you today,­ ress in each of our objectives. · given the problems that have plagued the and to talk about Westvaco's energy pro­ To conserve energy, we initiated extensive development of nuclear energy. Because we gram. We've been asked to share what we've energy-savihg programs at_·each of our man- have been trying to look ahead here, just as e This .. bullet.. symbol identifies_ statements or insertions which are not .spoken by the· ·Membet: on the floor. 1.'1farch 18, 1980 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 5771 we've been looking at oil supplies, we are control through both ownership and leas­ been restless.