1 8 SEC. 303. AUTHORIZATION. There are hereby author 2 ized to be appropriated such amounts as are necessary to carry 3 out the purposes of this Act. 4 SEC. 304. SEPARABILITY.-If any provision of this Act 5 or the applicability thereof is held invalid, the remainder of 6 this Act shall not be affected thereby. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Fannin. STATEMENT OF HON. PAUL J. FANNIN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA Senator FANNIN. Mr. Chairman, I would like to make some brief opening remarks and then I will supplement them later. Let me begin by complimenting you, Mr. Chairman, for your bipartisan leadership in dealing with the energy crisis. Your foresight and awareness of the dimensions of the energy problem have been reflected in the many bills you have sponsored this session. The President has expressed his appreciation on several occasions for the nonpartisan approach you have taken in dealing with the Nation's energy problems. I, at this time, too, would like to commend the administration's witnesses here for their dedication, for their hard work, night and day, over the past months in helping to arrange these meetings and for the legislation that will be adopted and the implementation of that legislation. Today we will be conducting hearings on the energy bill on which the President requested action in his television address last evening. This morning we will hear from the administration and this afternoon we will hear from the energy industry which will be regulated by this legislation; from the industries whose fuel supply will be regulated by legislation, and it will have to do a great deal with the success of what we are doing here today, and from the labor organizations whose members will be regulated by this legislation by virtue of the fact of the regulation of the fuel supply of their employers. Thus, although this is emergency legislation, we must look closely at it to make certain that its adverse impact on the fuel supply situation itself, on the state of the Nation's economy and on lawful rights of the people of the United States will be minimized. Second, I would like to compliment the chairman on his growing recognition that regulation of limited fuel supplies in no way contributes to the expansion and growth of such supplies. In order to expand our indigenous fuel supply, the chairman has recognized that it will require incentives to the industry to produce more fuel accompanied by a temporary, but necessary, relaxation of environmental controls. With regard to the former, this is increasing fuel supply, I am pleased to announce that I received a letter from the chairman just a few days ago. That letter promised action by this committee along with ex officio members of the Senate Commerce and Public Works Committees and Senate members of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, who are participating in the national fuels and energy study under the chairmanship of Senator Jackson. That letter also contained a major commitment that members involved in the national fuels and energy study will meet in the immediate future to consider a report to the Senate which would urge that legislation be adopted which will provide necessary price incentives to stimulate increased supplies of natural gas. Thus, this morning I have nothing but praise for the chairman who recognizes that regulation of the fuels industry is not enough and that incentives must be provided to expand fuel supply. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Fannin. STATEMENT OF HON. CLIFFORD P. HANSEN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING Senator HANSEN. Mr. Chairman, I want to join with you in commending this distinguished panel for its appearance here this morning. I would like to state very briefly that there is no question as to the reserves of energy we have in the United States. The problem facing America today is that most of those reserves are not available in the form that permits their ready conversion into uses that we can make of them, given our present technology, and the equipment we have on hand. I refer, of course, to such things as the abundant supplies of coal, of oil shale, of uranium, to mention some of the sources that have yet only been scratched insofar as satisfying man's needs are concerned. We are geared in America to an economy, to a way of living that is dependent upon petroleum supplies for more than three-fourths of all of the energy we use today. Our concern now, in order to meet the shortfall in shortage of supply, has to be focused upon a greatly accelerated search for, and production of, petroleum supplies within the United States and the continental areas surrounding the United States. As a consequence, I think it is time now to pull out all the stops, to drill the Outer Continental Shelf, to give industry the encouragement it must have to undertake the increasingly costly search for oil and gas. There is no doubt that we can be successful in this. The late Dr. Pecora estimated probably 100 times as much oil and gas remains to be found within these areas that I have just described, as was used by the United States in the year 1971. So, as we take steps to conserve energy, to eliminate waste, to bring about a reasonable, understandable approach to the problem of a short supply, let us also undertake at the same time a greatly intensified search that I think can and will best be done by industry, not by Government, when I speak of searching for petroleum supplies. Let's let the people continue that search who know best how to do it. If we will take these steps I believe America, with some reasonable expectation of success, can anticipate meeting this critically short supply situation that faces us. I would like to submit for the record a statement I received this morning from the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. Thank you. [The statement referred to by Senator Hansen follows:] The National Chamber's Board of Directors met this morning and considered a statement on energy which would address the present efforts of the Senate Interior Committee to draw up the Emergency Energy Act. As the President pointed out last night, our energy situation is now a crisis and strong action must be taken both by the Congress and the President to provide the necessary leadership for the nation. The Board of Directors approved the attached statement which we hope that you and other members of the Interior Committee will consider in your legislative deliberations. Cordially, Hilton Davis Hilton Davis Attachment STATEMENT on S. 2589 and S. 2652 before the SENATE INTERIOR COMMITTEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES The United States faces serious energy supply problems, problems of such proportions that the economic health and vitality of our society are threatened. The President and the Congress must provide the leadership necessary to limit both the duration and the intensity of energy shortages. The energy shortages projected for this winter and next year will continue, and possibly intensify, in the years ahead unless actions designed to increase our domestic fuel supply capability are initiated now. Such actions include encouraging the development and utilization of our domestic fossil fuel resources through increased leasing of offshore lands, the deregulation of natural gas prices, the expansion of the domestic markets for our most abundant fuel resource--coal, construction of the Trans-Alaskan pipeline, enactment of surface mining legislation which will not effectively prohibit the mining of vast coal reserves, relief from unnecessary harsh and restrictive mine safety standards which have severely restricted coal production, the reconciling of our air quality requirements with our need for energy, and the establishment of siting procedures which facilitate the coming on-line of electric generating facilities, both fossil-fueled and nuclear. Longer-range programs must focus on the development of non-conventional fuel supplies and future power sources. The lead time necessary to produce substantial increases in domestic fuel supplies dictates that energy will be in short supply over the near term. In order to minimize the severity of anticipated energy shortages over this winter and the next few years, the United States must have access to the world's oil resources. should make every attempt to reconcile the differences between Israel and the Arab nations in order to restore essential Middle East oil supplies to the United States and our Western allies. We Coupled with these supply programs must be strong efforts designed to eliminate wasteful uses of energy. Energy conservation practices must become a part of our daily lives. Within the business community, voluntary energy conservation efforts already underway must be pursued and strengthened. |