Grant to Aid Latin Nations’ Energy Search
President Reagan Friday approved a $10-million grant to the Los Alamos National Laboratory to help Central American countries develop their energy resources, Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) announced.
The New Mexico scientific lab will send experts to study and help develop alternate energy sources such as geothermal and hydroelectric power as well as examine the possibility of deep-seated iron ore, coal and peat deposits.
The program is part of the recommendations made last year by the Kissinger Commission on economic aid to Central America.
The countries receiving the aid are Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, but not Nicaragua.
Peter McPherson, head of the Agency for International Development, said new energy sources are required because those countries spend $1 billion a year on oil imports and the prospects are good for tapping mineral and geothermal deposits because of the area’s volcanic activity.
McPherson said in addition to using the region’s own mineral base for energy, some of the deposits that might be discovered could be exported.
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