Governor of West Virginia, and the Honorable John Sweeney, Federal cochairman.

The Appalachian program requires for its success the full participation and unstinting efforts on the part of the Governors of States involved. Our first witness today is a man who has met both of these criteria. I am particularly pleased to be able to say that since he is the Governor of my own State. He has done much to make this program a working success and I believe we will all benefit from listening to what he has to say.

Before the present cochairman of the Appalachian commission, Gov. Hulett C. Smith, of West Virginia, testifies our distinguished colleague from Ohio, Senator Lausche, has requested the opportunity to present a question.

Senator Lausche.

STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK J. LAUSCHE, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OHIO

Senator LAUSCHE. I favor the general purpose of the bill. In reading it, however, I find that in section 10 it contains language which I fear will effect a change on an amendment which I offered to the 1965 bill.

To the 1965 bill I offered an amendment which was adopted containing the following language:

No money authorized by this Act shall be expended for the purposes of a reclaiming, improving, grading, seeding, or reforestation of strip mine areas except on land owned by Federal, State, or local bodies of government.

The purpose of my amendment was to prohibit the spending of taxpayers' money to reclaim private lands abused and rendered useless by the private owners themselves.

At that time, Senator, it was agreed that a study should be made and that study completed by July 1, 1967, which is practically at hand. The bill contains this language and it is a change. It adds oil wells, the rights of which may be reflowed, and it says "reclaim and rehabilitate lands affected by strip and surface mining and processing of coal and other minerals, including waste piles."

Now my question is: Is it the intention of the sponsors that this bill shall allow the reclamation with taxpayers' money of those lands owned by private owners in addition to those lands owned by government units?

The CHAIRMAN. I recall well our colloquy in the Senate, during which you expressed your intense interest in this matter of strip mine lands restoration.

The additional language which we incorporated in the bill dealing with this subject would not in any way contravene the language which the Senator from Ohio had added to the present law when it was enacted in 1965.

It is not our intention in any way to change what the Senator has done in the present act.

Senator LAUSCHE. With that understanding, I will want to become a cosponsor of the bill, but I still suggest that the chief of your staff

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take a good look at it to make sure that there is not a conflict between the two phases of the bill which I have just alluded to.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. We will continue to check the matter carefully. We appreciate your coming by this morning as we begin these hearings. We welcome you as a cosponsor.

Senator Cooper.

Senator COOPER. I would just like to corroborate what Senator Randolph has said. I remember very well your amendment, Senator Lausche, and I understand its purpose. We have introduced the bill with language, which makes very few changes in this part of the 1965 act. I know that you have introduced a very comprehensive bill relating to strip mining. Is that correct?

Senator LAUSCHE. Yes. Governor, I have a bill which I introduced which will put the Federal Government in the business of regulating strip mining if and when the States do not adopt a course that is adequate to restore the lands, and you have it. You know how badly we are affected.

Senator COOPER. I would say one other thing, Senator. While I agree wholly that in principle it would be better if public moneys were not made available to private land owners, there may be situations where the public interest would be benefited if a large area has been stripped and left a wasteland, and measures for recovery could be applied. I think we will have to look at all the facts, and have the benefit of the survey that is being made, in order to see what can be done and know how the whole problem might be dealt with.

Senator LAUSCHE. Senator Cooper, my bill does contain a provision which will allow privately owned lands to be reclaimed, however, under certain limitations and conditions which in the end insure that the Federal Government will be able to recoup the money which it has spent.

That is especially true if after the lands have been reclaimed and sold by the private owner, he must out of that selling price pay back the Government what it put into it.

I thank the Senator from West Virginia.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, and perhaps Governor Smith will address himself to this subject during his testimony. I do think the record should reflect that it is not West Virginia or Pennsylvania that has had the most acreage strip mined. It is the State of Ohio. Most people don't realize that.

Senator LAUSCHE. I bled and sweated about this and that is why I am very intent upon getting something done. I am sick and tired of seeing the coal stripper destroy the lands, walk out, and leave for posterity a land that will not allow the life of a bird or a blade of grass or a tree or a shrub, and if there are coal strippers in here, I am glad to tell them that.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Lausche, for coming in this morning.

We are very privileged to have sitting with us this morning, a cosponsor of the pending legislation. We are very happy that he is a cosponsor, as is his colleague, Senator Eastland. Senator Stennis, do vou wish to make a statement before formal hearings with Governor Smith begin?

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN C. STENNIS, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

Senator STENNIS. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, and Governor Smith, I appreciate very much being recognized, especially under the circumstances. I am compelled to leave very shortly, but at a later date I certainly want to appear with a statement.

I want to commend the chairman and this committee for this Appalachian legislation that, as it has become better understood, has certainly grown in favor, as I think it is the soundest piece of public works legislation that has been evolved by the Congress since I have been here. I don't make any exception.

And I commend the chairman's statement yesterday for the committee and its renewal. I want to support it wholeheartedly, of course, and I say I think it should be permanent legislation within the structure here that you have outlined. It's just splendid. I support it, and I appreciate being here today.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Stennis.

Senator STENNIS. I want to hear as much as I can of Governor Smith's remarks, too. I know he has made a fine contribution.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Stennis, I wish the record to reflect the many conversations which we had on this subject in 1965, both prior to the passage and the enactment of the Appalachian Regional Development Commission. You did feel that there was certain application to your own State and did discuss at that time the possibility of an inclusion of an area of Mississippi.

For your interest then and your greater interest now, and for your cosponsorship of the measure, we are grateful.

Senator STENNIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

(Subsequently, Senator Stennis submitted the following statement:)

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN STENNIS

Mr. Chairman, I most strongly support the extension and the expansion of the Appalachian Regional Development Program. The program was launched in 1965 as a unique experiment in State-Federal cooperation. The experiment has proved to be an outstanding success. The States have been given a dominant role in initiating and directing programs for their development. The Federal government has assumed its proper role of coordination and has provided the necessary financial support. The States are not merely silent partners in a federal enterprise; they are on the board of directors. There has been as much state control as federal control. This arrangement has produced a great deal of progress and very little friction.

Few federal programs have been as highly praised by the Governors of the States and at the local level and by the people themselves as the Appalachian Development Program. The reason for this universal approval is to be found not only in the administration of the program but in the tremendous accomplishments which it has made during its brief existence. In less than two years, more than fifty hospitals have been started or completed in the twelve states participating in the program. More than fifty schools for vocational education are being built and 790 miles of development highways are under construction. New libraries, airports, and college class rooms are being provided and natural resources are being developed and reclaimed.

This is an impressive beginning, but if the goals of the program are to be fully realized, it must be expanded to include that part of the Appalachian region which lies in Northeast Mississippi. Northeast Mississippi is geographically within the Appalachian region. It shares the social and economic conditions characteristic of the other member states. The area is predominantly rural. Per capita

income ranges from $564 to $1,179. Approximately one quarter of the State's population lives in this economically depressed area. Thus it is rich in human resources as well as natural resources. Under the Appalachian Development Program, these wasted and underused resources can be turned to the benefit of the State, the region, and the nation.

Mississippi for some time now has been engaged in a long-range program of economic development. Participation in the Appalachian program will enable the State to accelerate the pace of its economic growth and make a greater contribution to solving the problems of the Appalachian region. I am happy, therefore, to co-sponsor legislation which will extend the program and expand it to include twenty-six counties in northeast Mississippi. I will also support reasonable appropriations for the continuation of the valuable work which is being carried out under this legislation. I am confident this will prove to be one of the soundest investments the federal government ever made.

The CHAIRMAN. I wish to call attention to the attendance this morning of a new member of our Committee on Public Works and the Special Subcommittee on Economic Development-Senator Jordan of Idaho.

Senator JORDAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator, we are very happy to have you join this committee and to join us as we consider these matters.

Senator COOPER. I am glad, too.

The CHAIRMAN. I also wish to call attention to the presence of Senator Spong of Virginia, who also serves on our Public Works Committee. We have already welcomed him at an executive session of our Committee on Public Works. Senator Spong, we know that certain areas within Virginia are included in the Appalachian region, and we anticipate your being very helpful as we continue and develop this legislative program.

Senator SPONG. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. I wish also to call attention to the fact that Senator Tydings is conducting a hearing this morning. He recessed it to come over, Governor Smith, for these few minutes, and he will have to return. Senator Muskie, who was also here for a few minutes, has another committee assignment which requires his presence elsewhere. He hopes to return in a short time.

We shall begin our formal hearing this morning with the statement of the Governor of West Virginia. He appears primarily in his roleas the cochairman of the Appalchian Regional Development Commission.

STATEMENT OF HON. HULETT C. SMITH, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA AND STATES' COCHAIRMAN, APPALACHIAN REGIONAL COMMISSION; ACCOMPANIED BY PAUL CRABTREE, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE GOVERNOR; JOHN WHISMAN, STATES' REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE, APPALACHIAN REGIONAL COMMISSION; AND ANGUS E. PEYTON, COMMISSIONER OF WEST VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND ALTERNATE MEMBER OF APPALACHIAN REGIONAL COMMISSION

Governor SMITH. Thank you very much, Senator Randolph and members of this Special Subcommittee on Economic Development of the Public Works Committee of the Senate.

Mr. Chairman, it is an honor to appear before you to express my strong support for one of the most successful programs initiated by the Federal and State Governments in many years.

The program, started by passage of the Appalachian Regional Development Act early in 1965, is meeting many of the challenges, and solving many of the problems which are unique to the Appalachian region.

Its continuation and improvement have my unqualified support.

From my point of view as Governor of the only State with all its counties wholly within the Appalachian region, and as the present States' cochairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission, I believe I state the attitude of the 12 States which are participating in this new dimension of Federal-State partnership, when I pronounce it a great success.

President Johnson has shown great leadership and a dynamic sense of innovation, in trying to make the workings of the Federal and State Governments more responsive to the people.

This principle of "creative federalism" has taken many forms.

Some of them have worked better than others, as we might expect, for new, creative programs automatically bring with them new problems and new approaches to implementation and administration, and Senator Muskie is devoting some time to that study in a very few days. And, in this respect, I want to make two clear and unmistakable points:

Nowhere, where we have been involved in West Virginia, has any programs worked with more cooperation, and with a higher degree of efficiency, than in the Appalachian Regional Commission.

And never before has the State of West Virginia enjoyed better cooperation from the Federal Government than during the Johnson administration.

In my judgment, President Johnson has been constantly attentive to the need to extend the highest degree of cooperation into all new and developing programs, and his personal concern for West Virginia has been evident for the past 10 years.

We, in West Virginia, see tangible evidence from the President's forceful efforts to make "creative federalism" a workable and effective philosophy that strengthens government at the Federal, State, and local levels, and seeks to provide the most effective, most efficient services to our people.

The Appalachian concept is an outstanding example of this type of work.

Not the least of these accomplishments by the President is the assignment to the Appalachian Regional Commission of a dedicated and understanding Federal Cochairman, and a superior staff to work with the States, fully and cooperatively in this unique undertaking. The CHAIRMAN. At this point, I wish to underline the fact that Governor Smith is currently the State Cochairman. Even though there is a rotation of the Governors as Cochairman, there is, at the State level, a representative who acts for the Governors on a continuing basis. John Whisman, who is here this morning, does that job.

Governor SMITH. John Whisman acts as the States' regional representative. He represents the States on the scene every day working