The sun likely won’t set on the Gas Industry Standards Boarduntil at least the end of 2001. After about an hour of debate lastThursday, the GISB board of directors voted to extend GISB’s sunsetclause from Dec. 31, 1998 to Dec. 31, 2001. Had the board notextended the clause, GISB would have ceased to exist at year-end. The original resolution called for extending the clause to Dec. 31,2000. Some on the board wanted to do away with the clause. Hadthere been enough support for that, future disbanding of GISB couldresult only from a majority vote by the board. Others wanted thesunset clause not to come up again for four or five years. GISBExecutive Director Rae McQuade said she was happy with the boarddecision.

“It means a vote of confidence because it was two; now it’sthree [years],” McQuade said. “I think that the board is morecomfortable with the effectiveness of our organization, but clearlythey feel that the sunset provision is one that affords them alevel of security to maintain the focus of the organization. Ithink that three years is a good compromise. I think that two yearstends to be disruptive to the organization as the sunset provisionapproaches.”

Joe Fisher, Houston

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