The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-03-09
Natural Gas Bill
Big Steal Of 1850
Senators Will Say

Senators Will say
Washington (LPA) = A lot of
Senator'S are watching their mail
carefully these days, to see how to
vote on the natural gas bill pro-
posed by Robert Kerr Or, Okla.) /.
This measure would increase the
Igas bills in every major city using
natural gas to heat it's homes and
fuel. its industries.
With the amount of natural gas
used at least doubling between
l947 and 1852, and with expansion
of the pipe lines carrying gas from
the oil fields of Texas and six adj
jacent states going on apace, the
issue of whether the federal gov
ernment can regulate the rate
charged by gas producers who don't
own their own pipe lines is a cru
cial one.
A five-cent increase in the price
of natural gas, probable if federal
regulation is lifted by passage of
the Kerr bill, could cost gas users
in Ohio $l1,441,000 a year; in
Pennsylvania $8,556,25 a year; in
Illinois $4,768,S00 a year; and in
Michigan, $3,744,500. This money
would be paid by household users
and industries in those tastes, and
| it would go to swell the Golfers of
a small group of powerful COM
panies - Standard Oil, Phillips
Petroleum, Skelly Oil, Continental
and Gulf--which made fabulous
profits equal to about one-quarter
| Of their assets in 1948 alone.
The "a large producers whose
gas sales would be subject to no
federal controls if the Kerr bill
passes, are among the most spec
tacularly profitable outfits in the
country. In l948, they had total as
sets of $l4 billion, and income of
I$12k billion. They now enjoy spec
ial federal tax provisions which
allow them to charge off to "de-
pletion" each year 27H per cent
| of their income, a loophole which
every recent president has asked
Congress to plug, but which is still
wide open. Treasury statistics show
the big companies are escaping
taxes on about half billion dollars
a year in profits from this provis-
ion alone.
The Kerr bill, already passed by
the House, will be fought by a
group of Senators including Doug
las Cd, Ill.,, Myers Cd, Pa.), Kef-
auver Cd, Tenn.) Humphrey o.
Minn.), Gillette Cd, Iowa), Aiken
Or, Vt.). 1t is expected to come to
the floor around March 8 or a.
The bills supporters claim that,
if passed, the bill will receive Pres
ident Truman's signature. How
ever, opponents point to the ex-
preston of disapproval of the ori-
ginal Kerr bill by the Presidents
Bureau of the Budget in hearings
on the measure and claim that any
changes since then have not chang
ed its "big steal" character.
Federal controls over non-trans-
mitting producers of this basic ma
tural resource have been challeng-
ed on several occasions in the past.
These efforts were largely unsuc-
cessfnl because of the able battle
by Leland Olds, then chairman of
the Federal Power Commission,
who saw how essential to consum-
ers of gas was some effective reg
ulation. of rates in the public inter-
est. 1t was this issue which led to
the successful fight to block his
confirmation for another FPC term
last summer.
p Nothing but federal controls on
prices charged by non-transmitting
producers will protect the public,
opponents of the Kerr bill insist.
They point out that the pipe lines
which carry the gas are expensive;
once line is established from a |
producing field to a city like Cleve-
land, or an area like upstate New
York, the city's consumers and the
pipeline owners are at the mercy
of the producer. If they don't like
his prices they can't pick up their
pipe line and move to another field
where competitor will sell at a
lower price.
And city officials and consumer,
spokesmen including the unions
look with deep suspicion on the
claims by Kerr and others that
state price regulation will prove !
effective. The gas is highly con-
in seven states-Texas,
Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Kansas, and Ne
Mexico. The oil producers in most
cases virtually elect and run the
in these states.
Twelve big companies, out of the
500 producers who would be affect
ed by this bill, sell over half of the
gas in the US.
The Panhandle and Hugoton
fields in Texas, Oklahoma and
Kansas produce one-quarter of all
the natural gas.
The US Conference of Mayorsl
and the Municipal Law Officers|
Association both are fighting hard