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ami Treasury. Arguments against the bill invoked the importance of economic 

 growth, the need to fill the projected energy requirements of the East Coast, the 

 promise of jobs and tax revenues, and the ubiquitous "national interest." 



"All of us . . . are caught at a critical point in time," said a Shell vice president 

 at a hearing before committees of the Delavpare legislature. "On the one hand, 

 vre have the crisis of the environment. And that is a very real thing. On the other 

 hand, we have a growing energy crisis. That, too, is very real. These two crises 

 have the potential for meeting on a collision course. It is my belief that such a 

 collision does not have to occur." 



The crux of Shell's argument was that industries should not be banned by 

 class but rather each industrial proposal should be considered on its individual 

 merits. Shell asserted it could build a clean refinery that would not endanger 

 the environment. To prove its point, the company invited members of the task 

 force and the legislative committees considering the bill to visit two of its exist- 

 ing refineries : the Norco installation near New Orleans, nominated in 1971 for 

 a Louisiana Wildlife Federation conservation award, and the Anacortes facility 

 on Fidalgo Island, Washington, in Puget Sound. 



Austin Heller, a task-force member and secretary of the Delaware Department 

 of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, visited those refineries. "They 

 were quite well maintained," he says, "but were not pollution-free by any means." 

 The technology to build a pollution-free refinery, he states, "'is not yet here." 



Borrowing "a little federal muscle," Zapata Nomess enlisted support from the 

 Commerce and Treasury departments to fight the ban on its proposed offshore 

 terminal. "Unless the United States is able to receive these [oceangoing] bulk 

 carriers, our ability to compete will be seriously damaged," wrote a Treasury 

 Department assistant secretary in a letter to the Delaware House of Representa- 

 tives urging defeat of the zoning bill. 



"It is important that a terminal be built ... to retain United States control 

 and flexibility, promote U.S. flagshipping, and to maintain for U.S. industry the 

 capability to ship and receive goods at the lowest possible cost," wrote the 

 Commerce Department's assistant secretary for maritime affairs in another letter 

 asking rejection of the bill. 



Supporting the bill were conservationists, environmentalists, and concerned 

 Delawareans. "It's our coastline," proclaimed a mailing piece issued by a citi- 

 zens' group, "Coastal zoning will save it for us and our children." 



In the middle of the different merits of the debate stood the Governor, pledged 

 to promote the state's economic well-being but equally determined to keep the 

 bay and adjoining areas free from the proposed industrial complex. 



Despite his stand, Peterson is not anti-industry, as some have charged. In fact, 

 he comes from industry, having spent twenty-seven years at the Du Pont com- 

 pany as a research chemist and division manager l^efore a mounting interest in 

 community affairs, si)ecifically prison reform, led him into politics. But he does 

 believe that certain industries belong in certain areas. "We can and must be 

 selective," he says. 



Passage of the Delaware Coastal Zone Act ended the first chapter in the 

 debate over the future of the bay. But no one considers the issue closed. At the 

 request of the Delaware legislature, the Governor has appointed a twelve-man 

 committee to study oil transport in the bay and river and recommend ways to 

 decrease the danger of spills. The committee will work with the United States 

 Department of Commerce, which is making a feasibility study of offshore trans- 

 fer terminals in sea water outside state limits. Many officials in the state gov- 

 ernment expect that efforts will be made to challenge the zoning law in court 

 or amend it to remove the ban on offshore islands. In the meantime, Peterson 

 has initiated a move on the county level to back-zone Shell's property from its 

 present category of heavy industry, fought for in a bitter struggle when the land 

 was first optioned twelve years ago, to its original category of farming and 

 general use. And a bill patterned on the Delaware act has been introduced in 

 the New Jersey Assembly to bar heavy industry and offshore transfer facilities 

 from the Jersey side of the bay and lower Delaware River. 



Always eager to talk about the zoning act he fathered and the environmental 

 questions it raises. Governor Peterson recently agreed to an interview in his 

 office on the second floor of Legislative Hall in Dover, the state canital. 



Sally Lindsay: I believe you have the distinction of being the only Governor 

 in the United States who has a Ph.D. in chemistry. Have you used your science 

 background in your job as Governor? Governor Russell W. Peterson: Yes, I've 

 found it useful in talking about energy, about atomic energy, about fossil-fuel 



