Page 10
University Daily Kansan, October 8, 1982
Stripped land to get facelift
By BRET WALLACE Staff Reporter
Barren land in southeast Kansas, left unproductive by strip mining, may soon get a coelacif, an associate Kissens Kansas Geological Survey said yesterday.
Lawrence Brady, the associate scientist and member of the Mined Land Board of the Kansas Corporation of the state, said the federal government had began in program that would allow the state to reclaim land mined before 1969.
A state law passed in 1989 required miners to reclaim land after they finished mining it. Brady said.
Under the new program, a 35 cent tax is assessed on each ton of bituminous coal mined in Kansas, and half of that tax is reimbursed to finance land reclamation, he said.
Areas will be ranked before they are reclaimed, he said. The first priority will be areas that present extreme danger, such as large dropoffs near the lake. The state will put up fences or level the land first to end the danger, Brady said.
The second priority will be minerals that contaminate water, and the third will be land that needs to be returned to productivity, he said.
RECLAMATION  In an expensive
cost could be as
high as $20,000 per kg.
Reclamation since 1969 has graduat improved, Jerome Welch, assistant scientist for the geological survey, said.
Welch and William Hambleton, director of the geological survey, recently completed a study of reclaimed land in southeast Kansas.
Welch said that between 1969 and 1972 miners only leveled the land, fertilized it and planted grass or grain in it. they did not return any overburden, soil
that had been removed, so most of the time they were planting on rock.
Then, between 1972 and 1974,矿ers returned the overburden, mixing in it the different types of soil that had been removed, he said. The problem with the minerals is that the rocks that contain the mineral pyrite were left exposed to the air.
When pyrite is exposed to air it decomposes and produces acid, Welch said. Acid sterilizes the land and diminishes water that drains over the ground.
"the whole idea is to get the pyrite buried so it will not pollute the land." Water
SO IN 1974, miners started burying the shale so the pyrite would be below the root level of the plants.
But, because the land was not level enough, another problem developed: pools of water formed and killed plant life, he said. This problem was corrected with sophisticated land-leveling equipment.
"In the majority of cases the reclamation was successful, but some were not."
The U.S. government passed a law in 1977 requiring miners to remove the soil layer by layer, store it and return it with the soil layer after they finished mining
Brady said the 1977 law required that prime farmland, land that was tilled five of the last 10 years, be returned to its original productivity. To do this, miners must return all the soil removed from the land and reshape the land to produce crops. The miners were required to grow a test plot on the land to check its productivity.
With land that is not classified prime farmland, miners have only to return the top soil and return the land to its original contour.
In either case, miners must make sure the mineral and acid content of the ore is correct.
Elderly criticize rate proposal
By VICKY WILT and JEANNE FOY Staff Reporters
TOPEKA-The proposed rate increase in Kansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield policies brought criticism yesterday from about 50 people, most senior citizens, who attended a public hearing on the subject.
One plan that will be most affected is Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plan 65, which covers fees not paid by Medicare, Tom Miller, Blue Cross and Blue Shield representative, said yesterday. The $3.7 million proposed rate increase would raise rates 16.7 percent, or $4.94 a month.
Plan 65 provides coverage for 188,000 Kansans, 50 percent of whom are over 75 years old. Miller said.
The chief complaint of those at the meeting was that the increase would affect people living on fixed incomes.
HARRIET PIERCE, Topeka, said that her insurance premium was increased $100 last year and that she will receive another $100 increase for next year.
"I'm on a fixed income, I simply
"I haven't spent any time in the hospital since I joined Plan 65 in 1964, so they've made plenty of money off me."
can't afford it. I'm going to look for other policies; " she said.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield is also asking the state to approve these rate requests: $17 million for community groups, $4.6 million for non-group groups, $8.1 million for Plan 55 and $182.0 million for certain farm organizations.
Local hospital administrators said individuals would be affected more than hospitals because the individual had to pay for his own insurance.
However, Eugene Staples, University of Kansas Medical Center hospital administrator, said, "If we give the patients premiums, it will hurt all hospitals."
IN 1981, Blue Cross and Blue Shield paid 25 percent of Lawrence Memorial hospital's patients' bills, Rob Ohlen. LMH administrator said.
Ohlens said that the number of admissions was down this year but that outpatient surgery had increased.
He said he thought the decline was a result of better education of consumers on proper use of the hospital. Blue Cross and Blue Shield had taken the news advertisements last year and early this year to educate consumers
Miller said inpatient care had decreased since January when Blue Cross stopped paying for unnecessary hospitalization.
A number of surgical procedures performed on an inpatient basis can be done on an outpatient basis, he said.
"We are encouraging that, because we can keep subscribers out of the hospital, then that will reduce the amount of expense that we have to pay out, which in turn reduces the level of rates," Miller said.
ELIMINATING PAYMENTS for unnecessary hospitalization will not decrease insurance premiums, but it will increase the rate at which they increase, he said.
Because more outpatient surgery is performed now at LMH, Ohsen said he did not think the cut in unnecessary dental stalwould affect the hospital.
At the Med Center, a utilization review board already screens outpatients who do not require a hospital stay. Staples said.
Increases in hospital costs, physicians' fees and use of services also contribute to the need for higher premiums. Miller said'.
He said hospital costs had increased 14.9 percent over last year's levels, and 1881 rates are expected to be 14.1 percent higher than this year's.
THIS YEAR service use increased six percent, Miller said. He also predicts another six percent increase in service usage for 1983.
Part of the projected rate increase is needed because the monthly reserve, a balance needed to pay claims and expenses if clients do not pay their rates for one month, is not large enough. Miller said
There is $6 to $7 million in both Blue Cross's and Blue Shield's reserves, enough to pay four-tenths of a month's claims and expenses. Miller said
Insurance Commissioner Fletcher Bell probably will rule on the proposal to increase in November, said Ron. Tortoise, assistant insurance commissioner.
CONSUMERS AWARE!
The Consumer Info Center is now open daily.
104-C Level 3
Kansas Union
864-4807
Saturday, October 9th. Participants should report to lobby of Robinson Center for 1st event beginning at 9:00 a.m.
Recreation Services
"SPECIAL EVENT" - TRIATHLON
99
murphy's
Women's Health Care Services P.A. Complete Abortion Services
8th & Vermont
Awake or Asleep
• As An Outpatient
• Free Pregnancy Testing
• Professional Privacy
• Surgery to 26 wks. LMP
684-5108
5107 E. Kellogg / Wichita, Ks 6721B
ABORTION CENTER OF KANSAS
Saturdays & Weekdays
cut out and save this message!
TODAY $1.25 Pitchers NOON-8PM SATURDAY NOON-6 $1.25 Pitchers
With the delivery of any large pizza get
2 QUARTS OF SODA FREE
no checks on delivery please
"Twas like losin'a friend the day George Killian stopped brewin'the Red."
"A old friend. if you ask me. For nearly a hundred years, the lads all over this part of Ireland knew you could count on the Red. And count on the Red they did.
'It was George Killian's family who brewed it. And for five generations, they was holdin' true to the taste. And if you ever had just a sip or two for yourself, you'd thank 'em for it too.
But then came the black day George Killian stopped brewin' the Red. Some say it was the changin' times that backed him to the wall.
"Modernize' they said to George.
"Compromise' George said to them. 'And I'll have
none of that. Before I change the taste. I'll close the doors'
"And close the doors he did—though a few of the lads came close to tears. And George Killian came close to tears, himself. Or so they say.
'Then something grand happened Over in America, Coors asked George if they could help him bring it back
"Brew me Killian's Red? George asked. 'Aye. I'd be proud to brew with you. If you be brewin it my way."
'Now Georges way was never the easy way. It means slow-roastin' the malts. Takin'a bit more time. And a bit more trouble.
But thats what brings out the taste. And that's what brings out the glorious red color.
'And I hear thats just the way theyre doin' it. One sip, they say, and you'll know they're brewn' it Georges way. Of course.
orewin' the Red Georges way is just what the lads all expected.
"They don't forget what George Killian always says:" I stopped brewin' it once. And I can stop it again."
One isp and you know they're still brewn if Georgia way.
Not yet available everywhere © 1979 Adley Colson Company, Columbus, KOHIEN 20318. Not yet Quality Center, Batavia, IN 61744.