Q. B. 22. Is it necessary that the legislation specifically pledge the full faith and credit of the United States? It is not necessary for the legislation to specifically pledge the full faith and credit of the United States. The addition of this language is considered to be, from a legal standpoint, superfluous. The Congressional authorization to provide loan guarantees, as would be provided by the ERDA proposed revision to Section 103 of S.598, along with the default provisions and borrowing authority from the Treasury as established by the proposed revision are ample evidence that these guarantees are obligations of the United States. Mr. HAYES. We next hear from Mr. John Quarles, Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Quarles, I understand that you are also accompanied by Dr. Gage, who is the Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Energy, Minerals, and Industry of EPA; and also Mr. Paul Brands, the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Planning and Evaluation in that Agency. Your statement, Mr. Quarles, is at the desk, and has come to the attention of the Chair. I think perhaps, to accommodate you and your schedule, which we are rapidly approaching, we will with your consent accept that statement into the record at this point, without the objection of any of the other Members of the Committee, and proceed to questions on your statement. I will follow the committee's policy on recognition of members by order of their appearance here. [The prepared statement of John Quarles is as follows:] STATEMENT OF JOHN QUARLES, JR. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: I am accompanied by Paul A. Brands, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Planning and Evaluation and Development and Stephen Gage, Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Energy, Minerals and Industry, Office of Research and Development. I am pleased to present EPA's views on H. R. 9723 which provides additional assistance to ERDA for the advancement of non-nulcear energy reseach, development and demonstration. The proposed bill authorizes the Administrator of ERDA to extend loan guarantees for the construction of commercial demonstration facilities converting fossil fuels to synthetic fuels. I also welcome the opportunity to answer the questions which the Subcommittee posed to Administrator Train in your letter of October 2, 1975. These questions relate to the environmental concerns raised by the proposed bills and by the Senate authorization bill for ERDA, Section 103, which has the support of the Administration. Administrator Train in his letter of August 8, 1975, to the Energy Resources Council endorsed the concept of a limited information case. The limited nature of the program represents an environmentally sound course of action that will facilitate the assessment of the environmental impacts of synthetic fuels development with a minimum of danger to the environment. EPA, along with CEQ, Interior and other concerned agencies was an active participant on the Interagency Synthetic Fuels Task Force whose recommendations on synthetic fuels development form the basis of the President's program. The Task Force produced an Environmental Impact Statement in which the impact of the development of synthetic fuels on the environment was expolored in depth and we concur with the findings of the Task Force in that statement. The Task Force also developed a proposed Environmental Protection Strategy for synthetic fuels development. This strategy addresses many of the questions raised by the Subcommittee. A major objective of the Environmental Protection Strategy is to prevent any significant adverse environmental impacts that may result from any activity included in the synthetic fuels development program. Adverse environmental impacts would be prevented by a multi-faceted approach which would include requiring government approval of site development plans and having a comprehensive environmental monitoring program rigorously enforcing all environmental regulations and laws. It is significant to note that the Administration has pledged that it will adhere to to the Environmental Protection Strategy. As the Environmental Impact Statement states, it is difficult to judge the overall environmental impacts created by the development of synthetic fuels for the reasons that a broad variety of energy processes are covered, information is lacking on the pollutants released by some of these processes, and uncertainty exists concerning the location of these facilities. Environmental impacts of the synthetic fuels development range from oil shale which may have severe land, air and water use impacts, to renewable resources, including energy derived from municipal solid waste which even could improve the urban environment. Because of these uncertainties it is imperative that synthetic fuel development is conducted on a limited basis as is advocated by the President's program. Prior to ERDA's recent monitoring activities, the lack of data concerning pollutants caused by synthetic fuels arose from the low priority given to environmental monitoring in research activity in the area of coal conversion technology and because the operation of many of the potential processes has been limited to pilot or bench scale in this country. The indications are that while the combustion of synthetic fuels derived from coal and oil shale will be lower in sulfur and particulate emissions, we are concerned about the effluents from synthetic fuels production processes. In order to protect the environment, coal conversion plants should utilize best available control technology to prevent the emission of a variety of compounds including trace metals, carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic hydrocarbons and other toxic organic and inorganic compounds. The synthetic fuel products and by-products will have to be purified if they contain carcinogenic or toxic substances. It is expected that the necessary control technology will be developed in time for use on the commercial demonstration facilities. As indicated in a March 1975 study done by NAS entitled Air Quality and Stationary Source Emission Control and reaffirmed in the Environmental Impact Statement, there are potential NO problems resulting from combustion of synthetic fuels derived from coal. The EPA's Office of Energy, Minerals and Industry has a large program to assess and control environmental problems from synthetic fuel processing facilities. The first objective is to identify, quantify and assess the environmental impact of all gaseous, liquid and solid effluents from all available bench, pilot and full scale processes. The next objective |