ABC Evening News open - 1977-07-11

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:06] This is the ABC Evening News with Harry

[0:09] Reezner and Barbara Walters. Good

[0:12] evening. Our top stories. General Motors

[0:14] predicts no 1978 cars unless clean air

[0:17] standards change. The postal service

[0:19] moves ahead toward 13 cent first class

[0:21] mail for individuals, 16 cents for

[0:23] business. Also, transportation secretary

[0:26] Brock Adams says no oil will flow in

[0:28] Alaska until he's sure it's safe. And a

[0:31] sixth name has entered the sweep stakes

[0:33] for FBI director. I'm Howard K. Smith

[0:36] and tonight I'll have a comment on will

[0:38] the Soviet Union survive till 1985.

[0:42] >> There's the possibility tonight of a

[0:44] head-on collision between Congress and

[0:46] the auto industry. General Motors, for

[0:48] one, says unless the clean air law is

[0:50] changed and quickly, it's possible there

[0:52] may be no 1978 model GM cars. We have a

[0:55] report from Greg Dobs in Detroit.

[0:58] >> The key to the problem is this. In 1970,

[1:01] Congress told automakers to clean up

[1:03] auto exhaust. The deadline under that

[1:05] law applying to 1978 models. The

[1:08] industry said back then that

[1:09] technologically the deadline came too

[1:11] soon. And now with 78 models due to be

[1:13] built within a month, the industry says

[1:15] it still can't obey that law.

[1:18] >> Uh we can't build or ship automobiles

[1:21] unless they comply with the law and uh

[1:23] and we're not prepared to do that.

[1:25] >> That was the president of General Motors

[1:27] saying in effect, "These 1977 cars may

[1:30] be among the last GM turns out if

[1:32] Congress doesn't soon soften its clean

[1:34] air standards." The other US automakers

[1:36] say they share his fear. The urgency

[1:39] comes with the timing. Congress could go

[1:41] into its traditional summer recess early

[1:43] next month without giving the industry

[1:45] new clean air standards to build by. And

[1:47] then based on anything we know today,

[1:50] there's no alternative except to close

[1:52] our plants, lay our people off. And of

[1:54] course, we think that's absolutely

[1:56] unnecessary and uh and it shouldn't

[1:59] happen and hopefully it won't.

[2:01] It appears right now that the automakers

[2:03] are holding a gun to Congress's head and

[2:05] that it may go off and then there would

[2:07] be massive plant closings across the US

[2:09] and the nation's economy may be

[2:11] seriously disrupted.

[2:13] Greg Dobs, ABC News, Detroit.

[2:16] >> A spokesman for Ford acknowledged that

[2:18] the situation presents a major problem

[2:20] for most 1978 models. Although Ford will

[2:22] make some new small cars and simply

[2:24] label them 77s to get around the hangup.

[2:27] A Chrysler official wouldn't predict how

[2:29] production might be affected and said,

[2:31] "We'll cross that bridge when we come to

[2:32] it." In Congress, the bridge they're

[2:34] trying to achieve is between differing

[2:36] Senate and House versions of the Clean

[2:38] Air Act. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado

[2:40] was asked how sympathetic he is to the

[2:42] General Motors position.

[2:44] >> Very sympathetic, and I was sympathetic

[2:46] a year ago, and uh that's why we we had

[2:48] that bill ready to go. What I don't

[2:49] understand is how on the one hand the

[2:52] spokesman for the industry can claim

[2:53] that Congress is dragging its feet and

[2:56] then have participated in an effort to

[2:58] kill a bill which did in fact give them

[2:59] relief a year ago.

[3:02] In Alaska, pipeline officials are hoping

[3:04] they can resume pumping oil soon

[3:06] bypassing the pumping station that blew

[3:08] up last Friday. But in Washington today,

[3:10] Transportation Secretary Brock Adams

[3:12] said not a single drop will flow until

[3:14] he's convinced that the bypass operation

[3:16] is 100% safe. Steven Gear has the latest

[3:19] from Alaska. Oil is likely to be flowing

[3:21] through this pipeline again in the very

[3:23] near future unless the government safety

[3:26] concerns expressed by Secretary Adams

[3:28] cause a delay. Although Friday's

[3:31] explosion and fire destroyed the pump

[3:33] building and all its equipment at

[3:34] pumping station number eight, the

[3:36] pipeline itself apparently was not

[3:38] damaged, nor was there damage to the

[3:40] manifold building through which the

[3:42] pipeline runs. This is only one of 12

[3:45] pumping stations on the 800m pipeline.

[3:48] And officials of Alaska, the pipeline

[3:50] company, believe the oil flow can be

[3:52] resumed simply by bypassing the

[3:54] destroyed pumping equipment. Yesterday,

[3:56] Alaska officials said the flow can

[3:58] probably be resumed safely this week.

[4:01] Today, we asked Alaska spokesman Larry

[4:03] Carpenter if there is reason for the

[4:05] safety concern voiced by Secretary

[4:07] Adams.

[4:08] >> Of course, there is. And there is in in

[4:10] in terms of other uh federal and state

[4:13] agencies too. All will be concerned

[4:15] about the safety as will Alaska. And we

[4:19] can assure you that we'll move uh uh as

[4:22] a pipeline company with the utmost

[4:25] caution. While deploring the tragedy

[4:27] that killed one worker and injured five

[4:29] others, company officials emphasized

[4:31] that environmental damage was minimal.

[4:33] The explosion occurred during the

[4:35] routine removal of a pump filter. oil

[4:37] sprayed out from a valve that should

[4:39] have been closed. And Aliesa contends

[4:41] there was no evident equipment failure,

[4:43] but that there was human error. This is

[4:46] very much what the pump building looked

[4:47] like before the disaster. These pictures

[4:50] were taken by ABC News on June 19th at

[4:52] pumping station number one at Prudo Bay,

[4:55] but the equipment is almost identical.

[4:57] To avoid a repetition of human error,

[4:59] the company today is rebriefing all pump

[5:01] station employees on safety procedures.

[5:04] But spokesman Carpenter