NEWS OF THE
WEEK
Two U.S. firms plan Mexico chemical plants Two Texas companies are considering plans to build major chemical plants in Mexico. One will produce the gasoline additive methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and another may make the biodegradable surfactant precursor linear alkylbenzene (LAB). Along with three partners, San Antonio-based Valero Energy plans to build a 13,000 barrel-per-day plant in Mexico to make MTBE, an oxygen-rich additive used increasingly in the U.S. to reduce air pollution. Valero expects the MTBE plant, which will cost about $300 million or more, will be operating no later than the second half of 1995. A site for the plant has not yet been selected. Separately, Houston-based Vista Chemical is "holding serious discussions" with a prospective Mexican partner, Grupo Cydsa, to build a plant in Mexico to make 300 million lb per year of LAB, which is widely used in detergents in the U.S. Cost of the plant may approach $300 million. In Mexico, the long-awaited switch from branched alkylbenzene to LAB, the more biodegradable version, has finally occurred, according to a report by Colin A. Houston & Associates, a consulting firm in Mamaroneck, N.Y. In the past few months, Mexico's main detergent producers have switched to the use of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates, surfactants produced by sulfonating LAB. In addition, Mexico is exploring legislation that would require use of more environmentally sound or biodegradable prod-
Candidate withdraws from ACS Board election Joan E. Shields has withdrawn her candidacy for director-at-large in this fall's ACS election, citing personal reasons. Four other candidates remain in the race for two atlarge posts: Paul S. Anderson, Joseph A. Dixon, Larry F. Thompson, and James A. Walsh. The society's bylaws specify a minimum of two candidates for each open position, so a replacement candidate for Shields will not be required. Only members of the ACS Council vote for directors-at-large.
6
SEPTEMBER 14,1992 C&EN
ucts in detergents, notes Gretchen Weis, a Vista spokesman. 'In anticipation, a lot of detergent formulators are reformulating,,/ she adds. The Mexican government has already changed the classification of normal paraffins, a raw material for LAB, making them available for production by firms other than Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). This has forced prospective Mexican LAB producers to reevaluate proposals for an LAB plant in that country, adds the Houston & Associates study. Vista and its partner had been talking with Pemex about supplying feedstock, but now that other companies have the opportunity to import normal paraffins into Mexico, they likely will be more competitively priced. However, the MTBE project will rely on Pemex, the state-owned oil company, for its raw materials. Under a memoran-
dum of understanding, all of the butane feedstock required by the plant would be purchased from Pemex "under market-related pricing," says Valero. Pemex would enter into a long-term contract to purchase all or most of the plant's production "under a pricing formula that would minimize the risk to both the project partners and Pemex." Valero holds 35% of the new joint venture company, Productos Ecologicos. Its partners are Promociones Industrials Banamex, the venture capital group of Mexico's largest bank, also with 35%; Grupo Infomin, a privately held Mexican company involved in a variety of businesses including chemicals and plastics, with 20%; and Dragados Construcciones, the largest construction company in Spain, with 10%. Susan Ainsworth
California budget slashes higher education Dramatic cuts in funding for the eightcampuses of the University of California (UC) and the 20-campus California State University (CSU) system are part of the $57.5 billion budget that California legislators and Gov. Pete Wilson finally agreed on after two months of deadlock. The budget closes what was projected to be a $10 billion gap between expenditures and revenues. The UC system will receive $1.88 billion for the 1992-93 academic year, down $224 million, or almost 11%, from last year, according to Michael Alva, a university spokesman. The appropriation is $450 million less than what the university requested in its budget for the period. To absorb the cuts, the university will eliminate cost-of-living increases for all faculty and staff for the second year in a row, Alva says. The university also plans to reduce its payroll by offering a second voluntary early retirement program. The first such program, offered last year, reduced the UC work force by about 2000. Student fees will increase 24% to $3036 per year. "We're in a very fragile situation," Alva says. If the UC budget for the past three academic years had merely kept pace with inflation and increased student enrollment, the budget would have reached about $2.5 billion, he points out. The university system is committed to remaining among the preeminent institutions of higher education in the world, Alva says. To accomplish that goal in the
face of continued cuts in state support will require university administrators to consider eliminating programs, charging even higher student fees, and establishing for the first time a tuition for California residents. The CSU system, the other major university system in the state, had its 1992-93 budget reduced $146 million, or about 9%, from the 1991-92 academic year, according to university spokesman Stephen MacCarthy. This follows a $103 million cut last year. CSU campuses, for the most part, will absorb the cuts by across-theboard reductions in spending. Student fees will increase 40% to $1308 per year. "We're facing a changed environment in California," MacCarthy says. The CSU system is studying ways to adapt to permanently reduced support from the state, he says. At San Diego State University, where the budget crisis had led to a plan that would have eliminated entire departments (C&EN, Aug. 31, page 33), the budget situation appears to be about what was anticipated in late August, according to campus spokesman Rick Moore. "We were planning on an $11 million, or 8%, cut from last year," Moore says. "Now, it looks like it will be a cut of about $12 million." Moore says the reduction will be absorbed by terminating nontenure-track faculty, making deep cuts in infrastructure, and establishing an early retirement program. Rudy Baum
