The Michigan Daily-Thursday, May 22,1980-Page 7 Justice Dept. appeals to court to reverse earlier gas tax ruling From UPIand AP WASHINGTON-The Justice Depart- ment yesterday asked an appeals court to rule that President Carter has power to impose a dime-a-gallon gasoline fee, arguing the price hike will make America less vulnerable "to foreign powers. " In legal papers, the administration asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn a ruling that blocked an oil import fee Carter had proposed. THE APPEALS COURT has scheduled arguments on the case for June 9. Last week, U.S. District Judge Aubrey Robinson ruled that Carter ex- ceeded his power in trying to impose the levy under the Trade Expansion Act. The price hike was to have taken effect at the pumps May 15, but the, court ruling prevented that. The administration immediately ap- pealed, arguing the program would cut gasoline consumption enough to reduce oil imports by 100,000 barrels a day. af- ter a year. THE JUSTICE Department said Car- ter decided to impose the levy because continued dependence on foreign oil "makes the nation vulnerable to foreign powers, injures our balance of payments and casts doubts on our ability to achieve foreign policy objec- tives and fulfill international obligations." The oil fee levy is intended to "reduce the nation's dangerous dependence on foreign oil," the legal papers said, arguing that Robinson erred in sub- stituting his own judgment for Carter's. "Judicial restraint is particularly appropriate here where the president's judgment relates to the overlapping concerns of national security and foreign policy and involves highly technical judgments about economic policy," the Justice Department said. CARTER'S PLAN was challenged by five House members, three consumer organizations, a trade association of gasoline producers and marketers and an oil company. Lawyers for those challenging the fee have not yet filed their appeals brief. The oil fee is being challenged not only in the courts but on Capitol Hill, where there is a strong move to deprive Carter of any right to impose it-even if he wins the court case filed by private groupe opposing the levy. The House Ways and Means Commit tee is to vote today on a resolution to bar Carter from raising gasoline prices, and is expected to recommend and his entire oil fee plan be blocked. BARBARA BLUM, DEPUTY administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and John Macy Jr., Federal Emergency Management director, detail plans to relocate more than 700 families in the Love Canal area of Niagara Falls, N.Y. yesterday. Gov 't aids removal of .r Love Canal famuiies WASHINGTON (AP)-President Carter declared a state of emergency for New York's Love Canal area yesterday and said the federal gover- nment will pay to evacuate 710 families while it conducts new studies on the health dangers of 21,000 tons of aban- doned chemical wastes. Officials said the voluntary evacuation would begin immediately. The families are to be housed in motels, apartments, hospitals and vacant Ar- my living quarters in the Niagara Falls, N.Y. area. THE COST OF the relocation and housing for up to a year-expected to be between $3 million and $5 million-will be shared by the federal government and the State of New York, ad- ministration officials said. The government response, however, falls far short of the permanent relocation Love Canal residents have been demanding. '"I want to get out permanently," said John Wright, an area resident. "I don't like this 'temporary for a year.' I might be dead in a year." OFFICIALS SAID NO decision on permenent relocation would be-made until after the new health studies are completed-expected to take six mon- ths or longer. In August 1978, Carter declared Love Canal a disaster area and the state spent $10 million to purchase the 239 homes closest to the abandoned dump site. Owners of outlying homes have complained since then that they also face serious health threats from the 15 acres of buried chemicals. But no further government action was taken until Saturday, when the En- vironmental Protection Agency an- nounced that blood tests conducted in January had turned up chromosome damage in 11 of 36 persons tested. BARBARA BLUM, deputy ad- ministrator of the EPA, said those results, along with recent New York state studies which found blood and liver abnormalities and other diseases among Love Canal resident, had con- vinced'the agency that more families needed to be evacuatead at least tem- porarily. In a statement, Hooker Chemical Company said it fully supported the more detailed tests being proposed by the government, and said those tests would prove that the chemicals did not cause the genetic damage. As it has before, Hooker pointed out that it has not owned the Love Canal site since 1953, when it deeded the land to the Niagara Falls school board. 214 s. uiversity STARTS TOMORROW MON, TUE, THUR, FRI, 7-9:30 tre Phone 668-6416 SAT-SUN-WED 1:304:00f-7:00-9:30 PM THURSDAY, May 22, 1980 GABRIELLE CARLSON Department of Psychiatry, UCLA "MANIA IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE" MHRI Conference Room 1057 3:45 to 5:00 p.m. 'a3:ap 9 ~i gug Produced by FRANZ SEITZ, VOLKER SCHLONDORFF and ANATOLE DAUMAN Directed by VOLKER SCHLONDORFF Based on "THE TIN DRUM" by GUNTER GRASS Screenplay by JEAN-CLAUDE CARRIEREVOLKER SCHLONDORFF and FRANZ SEITZ in collaboration withGUNTER GRASS R--4- RogerGormanPresents A New WorldPicturesRelease 1IR ,. ."."...©. 1979 Franz Seitz Film-Bioskop Film-Artemis Film-Argos Fims I t..