Senator COTTON. No, I fully support Mr. Nassikas' nomination. The CHAIRMAN. What about the Senator from Michigan? Senator GRIFFIN. Mr. Chairman, this nominee is so well qualified that despite the fact that he is a colleague of Senator Cotton, I am going to support him. [Laughter.] The CHAIRMAN. I could have asked him a couple of questions because he has been here long enough, but we will for go that. Senator GRIFFIN. I am impressed with his credentials and I wish him well in his position. I agree with the chairman that he does fill the shoes of a very capable person, and we know that you are going to do a very good job. Mr. NASSIKAS. Thank you, Senator Griffin. The CHAIRMAN. I was going to ask you one question which you needn't answer specifically because I feel that we just don't know what course we are going to pursue. While you were up here you became familiar with this whole problem of electric power reliability, Now you are going to have to take another look at it, not from the committee standpoint but from the Power Commission standpoint. It originally was a Power Commission bill, was it not? The CHAIRMAN. We took a look at it and we held some field hearings. We may have some more, particularly in New England and the South and up in the mid-central area-Detroit and all of that area—but I hope you will be as helpful as you can in having us arrive at some practical, reasonable language in the reliability bill because that is going to be important in the next 10 years. Now I don't know what position the new administration is taking on this proposal, which we had introduced as a working paper, as you know Mr. NASSIKAS. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. But the Power Commission is an arm of Congress. Mr. NASSIKAS. I agree with that, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You had that drilled into you pretty well, didn't you? Mr. NASSIKAS. Even before I arrived. The CHAIRMAN. And we Senator GRIFFIN. Would you pass the word along to some of the other administrators? [Laughter.] The CHAIRMAN. But we intend to pursue this matter in the hopes that we can achieve the general objectives of the bill. Another matter which will face you almost immediately is the renewal of these hydro licenses. The 50-year lease period is now starting to run out on many of these projects, so next year, and the latter part of this year, there are going to be a lot of applications for renewals of the licenses that were granted 50 years ago. And then on your appropriations, I hope that you will lend your weight to encourage the Congress to appropriate sufficient funds to enable the Commission to clean up the backlog in applications for the distribution of gas. There was a terrible backlog down there on that, and the only way you can clean it up is to have sufficient help to do it, because the public suffers in the long run if you don't. There are literally hundreds of them down there. I know you understand that. Now the Senator from Wyoming; do you have any questions? Senator HANSEN. I have no questions, thank you, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Anything you want to add? Mr. NASSIKAS. I would only like to add that I certainly appreci ate The CHAIRMAN. Or I should say anything you want to say. Mr. NASSIKAS. I would like to extend my appreciation to the committee with whom I worked last year and the staff for all courtesies extended and I certainly concur in the chairman's statements of significant, vital, and important issues with which the Federal Power Commission is confronted. I would hope that within a relatively short period of time, if the Senate sees fit to confirm my appointment by the President, to submit to your committee, guidelines concerning recommended guidelines concerning the issue of reliability. I further, of course, am cognizant of a backlog of various petitions and certifications and applications in the gas industry andThe CHAIRMAN. Particularly in the gas industry. Mr. NASSIKAS. This is it. And of course when there are delayswithout leveling any criticism at anybody-when there are delays, this is costly. It is costly to industry and it is costly to the consumer, and industry I believe is possibly as much a facet of the public interest which the Commission is dedicated to serve by Congress as is the consumer. Because only if industry itself is encouraged to make technical innovations and make progress and have the rate filings processed on a timely basis can they accomplish their mission of serving the consumer, as well as the investor. The CHAIRMAN. And you will be involved in a new field in which you participated--the gas pipeline safety matters. Mr. NASSIKAS. Yes, indeed. That is on a coordinated basis with Transportation, sir. The CHAIRMAN If there are no further questions, we thank you very much for coming, and we thank you for bringing your supporters. Mr. NASSIKAS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (Whereupon, at 11:22 a.m., the committee was adjourned.) 35-643 0-69– -6 SUNDRY NOMINATIONS THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1969 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, The committee met at 10:15 a.m. in room 5110, New Senate Office Building, the Honorable Warren G. Magnuson (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators Magnuson, Hartke, Cannon, Cotton, Pearson, Griffin, and Baker. Senator MAGNUSON. The committee will come to order. We have three nominations and there will be several other Senators here, but we want to get started. We will begin with the nomination of Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb, Director of the National Bureau of Standards. STATEMENT OF DR. LEWIS M. BRANSCOMB, OF COLORADO, TO BE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS Senator MAGNUSON. We are glad to have you here, Doctor. Dr. Branscomb is from Colorado, and we will put in the record the letter from Senator Dominick, and there is another letter from the University of Washington Department of Physics, and the biographical sketch in full. (The material follows:) Hon. WARREN G. MAGNUSON, Chairman, Senate Committee on Commerce, Washington, D.C. U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you for your letter of July 15, advising me that the Committee on Commerce has received the nomination of Lewis M. Branscomb of Colorado, to be Director of the National Bureau of Standards. I believe that Mr. Branscomb is qualified for this position and have no objection to the nomination. Best regards. Sincerely yours, PETER H. DOMINICK, Senator WARREN G. MAGNUSON, U.S. Senator. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, Old Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR MAGNUSON: I have learned that the Commerce Committee will hold confirmation hearings on the appointment of Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb as Director of the National Bureau of Standards. I am writing to urge that you support this nomination. I have known Dr. Branscomb for many years and have the highest regard for his scientific capability, the breadth of his outlook on the relationship between science and public affairs and his personal integrity. He is an experienced and successful administrator who has shown the ability to manage complex affairs. Taken altogether I have complete confidence that his appointment is in the best national interest and in fact would be hard put to suggest a more appropriate or promising one. I hope you will vote to confirm Dr. Branscomb's appointment. Yours most sincerely, RONALD GEBALLE, Chairman. BIOGRAPHY Oof Dr. Lewis M. BRANSCOMB Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb was born in Asheville, North Carolina, on August 17, 1926. He was educated at Duke (A.B. 1945, summa cum laude) and Harvard Universities (M.S. 1947, Ph.D. 1949). After holding a Public Health Service fellowship, he was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows (1949–51). Since then Dr. Branscomb has also taught at University College, London, the University of Maryland, and the University of Colorado, where he is Professor Adjoint of Physics. Dr. Branscomb was until recently a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee and the only working scientist ever to be selected from the staff of a Federal laboratory to serve on that committee. He has been employed at the Bureau for 18 years after finishing his formal education. For ten years he directed the Bureau's work on atomic physics, and for the last eight he has been chief of the NBS Laboratory Astrophysics Division in Boulder, Colo., a unit of the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) of which he is chairman. Dr. Branscomb has had many awards, including the Career Service Award of the National Civil Service League in 1968; the Rockefeller Public Service Award, 1957-58; a Gold Medal for Exceptional Service, Department of Commerce, 1961 (for contributions to basic knowledge of atomic processes of stellar atmospheres, terrestrial ionosphere and interplanetary space); the Arthur Flemming Award, District of Columbia Junior Chamber of Commerce, 1962; and the Samuel Wesley Stratton Award (named for the first director of the National Bureau of Standards), Department of Commerce 1966. On an international scale, Dr. Branscomb has participated over the years in the work of three scientific unions: the International Union for Geodesy and Geophysics, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, and the International Astronomical Union. Dr. Branscomb serves as a special consultant to the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on matters of scientific and technical information. He also continues to be chairman of the Panel on Space Science and Technology of the President's Science Advisory Committee. He is a former Chairman of the Division of Electron and Atomic Physics of the American Physical Society and is now Editor of Review of Modern Physics. Establishment of the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) in 1962 was accomplished under an agreement between NBS and the University of Colorado, largely brought about through Dr. Branscomb's efforts. In scores of scientific publications, he has contributed extensively to the literature on upper atmospheric physics, spectroscopy, photo detachment of negative ions, physics of negative ions, astrophysics, and atomic collisions. Dr. Branscomb is married to the former Anne Wells of Milledgeville, Ga., an attorney. They have two children, Harvie, 16 and Katharine, 13. Senator MAGNUSON. Dr. Branscomb, as we see from his biography, has a very distinguished scholastic record. He was educated at Duke and also is another Harvard man. You had a Public Health Service fellowship and you have been a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee and you received several awards in your field. Have you actually worked-I have not read all of this carefully. Have you actually worked permanently in the Federal Government? Mr. BRANSCOMB. Yes, sir; since 1951. Senator MAGNUSON. And what has been your position with the Government? Mr. BRANSCOMB. I was originally a staff scientist at the National Bureau of Standards. |