to be assistant administrator for solar, geothermal, and advanced energy systems. Teem had been AEC's assistant general manager for physical research. The four posts still to be filled at ERDA are those of assistant administrators for nuclear energy, for fossil energy, for conservation, and for national security. Filling the HEW and NIH posts well may be more controversial than the ERDA posts. Now vacant are the assistant secretary for health— following the resignation of Dr. Charles C. Edwards—in HEW, a key post in federal health R&D affairs; the directorship of NIH itself—following the resignation of Dr. Robert Stone; and the directorships of two NIH institutes—the Heart and Lung Institute, and the new Institute on Aging. •
Chemical firms eye coal to replace oil After last year's shortages and uncertainties about supplies of petroleum-based raw materials, chemical companies are looking seriously for other energy and raw material sources. One promising possibility seems to be coal. This original feedstock for the petrochemical industry is now seeing a revival of interest among chemical makers. Last week, for example, Reichhold Chemicals organized an energy development subsidiary to assist the company in adapting to any new energy base. The company's particular emphasis, however, is on coal. By the turn of the next century, petroleum may no longer be the predominant energy resource. Reichhold president Henry H. Reichhold predicted in announcing the new subsidiary. During the next several decades, the petrochemical industry probably will return to coal as an abundant raw material, he says. He expects to see significant advances in technology both in energy development and utilization during this transition period. Other groups are reaching the same conclusion. Roger Williams Inc., a technology and economic research group, released a study late last year outlining the technology available for making ethylene from coal. In 1980, the study calculated, aliphatics will be derived from coal as economically as from naphtha and other feedstocks likely to be available. Reichhold's energy subsidiary, Reichhold Energy Corp., will market energy resources and technology
as well as help the parent company adapt to new energy sources. For 1975 these activities will be concentrated in the western U.S., where the company is already involved in oil and natural gas exploration in Oregon and the southern Rocky Mountain area. •
Chemical firms on Arab boycott list Long a smoldering source of mystery, uncertain pressure, and dispute, the Arab boycott of those doing business with or supporting Israel has flamed into public controversy in recent weeks. Tremendous Arab oil incomes and a headlong scramble by recession-ridden U.S. and foreign firms for contracts and sales have combined to give clout to blacklisting practices. The issue ignited a month ago when it became known that Arab banks had threatened successfully to stay out of international loan syndicates if several Jewish-owned European banks that they consider pro-Israeli were not excluded. The issue now has reached the Senate and the White House, and federal and state agencies are investigating the possibility of law violations. Late last month, the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations made public previously secret copies of the boycott regulations and the blacklist and held hearings on them. The regulations, issued in 1972 by the Arab League's Head Office for the Boycott of Israel, located in Damascus, Syria, cover 101 pages in a double-spaced English translation. The blacklist—in a version prepared by the Saudi Arabian Chamber of Commerce & Industries in 1970—includes some 1500 U.S. firms and organizations. Among them are some of the most famous names in U.S. business, such as Coca-Cola; Xerox; Sears, Roebuck; Ford Motor; and RCA. The list also contains a number of prominent chemical firms, including Air Products & Chemicals, Engelhard Minerals & Chemicals, Foster Grant, DeSoto, Monsanto, Miles Laboratories, Witco, and Owens-Illinois. Several companies contacted by C&EN had known they were blacklisted, and attributed it to their investments in Israel. Monsanto, for example, owns 60% of Israel Chemical Fibres and 33% of Israel Styrene Polymers. Miles has a wholly owned citric acid plant and two joint ventures. However, other
New award revealed at Pittsburgh Conference Attendance at this year's Pittsburgh Conference, one of the largest annual gatherings of instrument makers in the U.S., was down slightly from last year's level at mid-week last week. But the meeting sponsors were expecting registrations to pick up later in the week. Among the highlights of the Cleveland gathering—the meeting has been held in Cleveland since 1968 because of better facilities—was announcement by the Society of Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, one of the meeting's sponsors, of a new award. Known as the Pittsburgh Applied Analytical Chemistry Award, it will be presented for the first time at next year's conference. Basis for the $1000 award will be important contributions to the literature of applied analysis.
blacklisted firms claim no special business dealings with Israel. Indeed, in some cases there is suspicion the blacklisting may be aimed at company officers or directors. DeSoto, for example, has nearly no sales to either Israel or the Arabs, but it has directors active privately in Israeli causes. Any discrimination against U.S. firms on religious or ethnic grounds has just been condemned by President Ford as "totally contrary to' the American tradition and repugnant to American principles." And he pledges that "any allegations of discrimination will be fully investigated and appropriate action taken under the laws." • March 10, 1975 C&EN
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