more qualifying than many parts of Appalachia. So I am glad you and your colleagues came forward with this fine suggestion.

I do not have clearly in my mind-do you intend to press for immediate consideration along with Appalachia, or is this something you hope we will take up in the future?

Senator HART. Senator, clearly we would be delighted if the committee felt that at this juncture it could add by way of this amendment the authorization for the action that the amendment proposes. As I have indicated, we feel there is, as you have commented, ample reason to do it.

We, all of us, understand and are torn by really conflicting emotions, here. The needs of Appalachia I think all of us acknowledge. Surely all of us offering this amendment do. It is not our desire by this tender to jeopardize in any way the forward action with respect to Appalachia. Each of us who is on the amendment supported vigorously the passage of the Appalachia bill, and will again, with or without the amendment we now tender.

We realize that the evolution of ideas such as these is not always an overnight thing in its timing.

I would hope that the committee would see the justification and the feasibility of adopting the amendment, and recommending it. Failing that, I have every confidence that the committee, as each of you has indicated, will give the very highest priority to responding to the precise area and region that we feel so fully merits that kind of attention.

I suppose that is the best answer.

Senator BOGGS. I think that is well put, Senator.

I do want to compliment you, too, on what I consider a modest initial request, $10 million.

I recall in my own State of Delaware some years ago, when I was privileged to be Governor, we got a 100 percent State appropriation of $10 million for dirt roads and access roads, primarily in the two lower counties. We only have three counties. And really, that $10 million, while it did a great deal, did not go far. We did many of our roads, but it took more than that, and they are still working on the program. So I think, as a starter, this is a complement to a very modest request. Just speaking personally, I hope it is possible, and I will do what I can as a member of the committee, to encourage the inclusion of your program to the Appalachia bill.

Senator HART. Thank you very much, Senator.

Senator RANDOLPH. Thank you, Senator Hart.

We are privileged today to have the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Honorable William Scranton, to testify in reference to S. 3.

Governor Scranton, we know of your efforts in this program. We know that you, with other Governors, have given most careful study to the needs of the Appalachian area, including your own State, and the members of the committee are delighted now to have you come to the stand.

Governor Scranton, I am very happy that you are here to give the committee the value of your counsel in reference to the pending legislation.

STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM W. SCRANTON, GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA; ACCOMPANIED BY JOHN K. TABOR, SECRETARY OF COMMERCE, COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, AND R. OTTO AMANN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Governor SCRANTON. Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the committee, I gratefully thank you for this opportunity to appear here today, and am very pleased with what is going on in the Senate of the United States about Appalachia.

I want to commend you and the members of your committee for the forthright and immediate action which you are taking again this year on what we consider to be possibly the most important single piece of legislation for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that will come before you in this session.

I had a very fine opportunity last year to appear before the House Public Works Committee, and submitted to them a very lengthy appraisal and analysis of the bill at that time, which they were kind enough to take almost word for word and include, with the support of the administration, in the bill which you, the Senators of the United States, passed.

May I say that I am here this morning to tell you that I am sure that the overwhelming majority of the people of Pennsylvania are very grateful to the U.S. Senate for the action it took last year, and look forward to the same kind of action which you are pushing so fast this year.

Accordingly, I will not take much of your time this morning, and will try to speed the bill along just as you are, sir. We will not go into any detail about it at all. It was all done last year in this lengthy analysis, and almost everything has been involved.

Since then there are, however, three things in this bill that I wanted to discuss briefly this morning. The first are two changes which we applaud heartily.

One is the expansion of the local access road section of the bill, so that there would be an Appalachian access highway system from 500 going up to a thousand miles, and these serve specifically for the recreational, residential, commercial, industrial, and other facilities. Needless to say, they would be very useful, I think, generally throughout Appalachia.

I believe all the Governors agree on this, and we in Pennsylvania support this change in the law, and want you to know it.

Secondly, the new section 303, which provides that all the applications for an Appalachian program or project shall be approved by the State member to the Appalachian Regional Commission before it may be approved by the Commission.

This we believe further clarifies the duty and responsibility of each State in selecting projects and programs. This, too, is in our opinion a very fine step forward and an indication of the unique State-Federal partnership approach in this bill which we heartily applaud and strongly support.

May I say to you that I think this is one of the real keynotes of the Appalachian program, in that it does create a very fine Federal-State

relationship, and one which I know that all our fellow Governors in the area agree with me is a very fine move indeed.

Last year when I testified before the House Public Works Committee I pointed out to them there were five scars in the coal mining areas with which you, Mr. Chairman, and Senator Cooper, of course are extremely familiar, and which have been both a partial cause and a perpetuation of the unemployment situation in the region.

They include the mine subsidence and surface caving, the underground mine fires, the ravages of abandoned strip mine operations, the culm piles, which are unsightly or if on fire are really the causes of serious air pollution hazards, and fifth, and extremely important, the water pollution from acid mine drainage.

Now, a full description of these, and actually words and pictures— pictures, incidentally, which I showed the President last year, and which he asked me to submit to the House at that time-are in the brochure which I believe has been submitted to each one of you. I am sure that is not necessary in your case, or certainly Senator Cooper's, because you likely live with this daily.

S. 3 contains authorization, as I know, and you do, for the sealing and filling of voids, for the extinguishing of underground mine fires, for the leveling of the nonburning culm piles, and I understand, too, that funds will be available through supplementary appropriations to existing programs to eliminate the burning culm piles wherever they are so burning, and to begin to solve the problems of acid mine drainage pollution, which is an enormous problem, as you and I know. These were all put in the bill last year.

You and I saw the President. He was kind enough to add them all, and forthrightly and wholeheartedly speak in support of these, and for this we are grateful.

It does not, however, include one of the items which we think is of enormous importance; that it, an adequate authorization for reclaiming strip mined areas for reforestation programs.

There is a tremendous need for such a program, and plenty of experience and knowledge to do the job now.

The bill provides $12 million for the Fish and Wildlife Service, and $12 million for the Forest Service for this. However, none of the latter is applied to the first year, and only $250,000 of the former, Fish and Wildlife, activity is applied in the first year.

That item is to be used for a pilot study which, frankly, we believe in Pennsylvania is probably well warranted, because there has been comparatively little experience in reclamation of mine stripping areas for use for fish and wildlife activity.

But in the other phase of it, that for the Forest Service, and in forest activity, this has not only had a long experience, but a very vital one in your State, sir, and in Senator Cooper's, and in mine.

In Pennsylvania alone we are spending about $1 million a year in the reclaiming of abandoned strip mine areas, and reclaiming them into almost contour, and reforesting them. Thus, we do not need experiments or studies or anything of the sort, because this has been going on both privately and with State funds literally for several years, more so now than ever, I am glad to say.

Consequently, I think this particular part of the bill should be beefed up and should particularly go into immediate activity.

I think all of us would agree that in any governmental project it is always the onus and burden of thousands of us who are in government to see to it that these turn out to be not only workable projects, but also graphically so to the people in the areas.

Nothing in this entire bill would be more graphic or more immediately projectable than this particular feature of it, because once people in the area can see actually the over burden going back into the open pits, and it being covered up, and it being reforestated, this is something they can see for themselves right then and there.

It could start immediately, because we do not need studies, and have been doing it for some time, but we do need money, and nobody denies this.

In Pennsylvania alone it is estimated-and we have gone into this quite deeply that to completely reclaim all of the strip mining areas in the State would necessitate betweeen $85 and $100 million. We do, at the present time, about a million dollars a year, so you can see it would take us quite some time at this rate.

Likewise, there is a second problem, and that is the use of private lands to do this on. And that is not our immediate suggestion. Our suggestion I have taken to the Commerce Department and to the Interior Department and to the White House, all of whom, incidently, not only listened, but were strong in their support of same, with one reservation.

That reservation is in the White House, on budgeting, which they said they would get to. And as a result of this, we think it should be done in the national forests, as the bill indicates, and in State lands, and indeed on private lands where there is readily public access. We have amendments which we have suggested, and which will be introduced in the Senate by both Democratic and Republican Senators, and likewise in the House by both Democratic and Republican Members.

I think this is a main point we would like to make to you. I think the work could be done immediately on strip reclamation projects, and such a program would do enormous mounts to rehabilitate our lands for tourism and going back to the natural beauty. It will do it now dramatically and visibly, without having to wait.

This is a major problem, as you know, the West Virginia and Kentucky, particularily, and also in other areas of Appalachia.

We could use millions of dollars in Pennsylvania. Our suggestion is we might be able to appropriate $3 million for all of Appalachia, which we could easily use in that period of time. It will be used, because we know how to do it.

I urge you to make this particular phase of the program effective now. I think it would do more than any single thing in it, because it would be immediately seeen and immediately done. It would indicate to the people of Appalachia that the program was working right away, and, secondly, would, I think, then create a great deal more genuine support for the program.

Once again I thank you very kindly for the opportunity of appearing before you.

I do not want to ignore the other features of the bill. I think it is well known how I feel about them.

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You can be certain we are extremely grateful in Pennsylvania for the generous activity that you are giving to this in the Senate, sir, and I just wish the House had done the same thing last year on the final vote.

(Governor Scranton's prepared statement follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF Gov. WILLIAM W. SCRANTON, COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

Mr. Chairman, I thank you for this opportunity to appear here today. You know that I supported the Appalachian bill which passed the Senate last year. The new bill, S. 3, is substantially the same as the original bill. I therefore support the new legislation also.

Today may I emphasize two changes which have been included in the new bill, and one that thus far has not been included, but should be.

First, the new bill expands the local access roads of the proposed Appalachian development highway system from 500 to 1,000 miles. These access roads will serve specific recreational, residential, commercial, industrial, and other facilities. In Pennsylvania, some roads would be constructed to provide access to State forests for harvesting timber. Such access roads, generally, will benefit Appalachia. I therefore support this change in the law.

Second, new section 303 provides that all applications for an Appalachian program or project shall be approved by the State member on the Appalachian Regional Commission before it may be approved by the commission.

This further clarifies the duty and responsibility of each State in selecting the projects and programs within its boundaries. It assures the unique StateFederal partnership approach which is proposed in this legislation, and which is essential for a successful operation of this program.

We strongly support this addition to the law also.

In my testimony before the House Committee on Public Works last year, five scars in the coal mining areas of Appalachia which cause and perpetuate unemployment and even danger to human health and safety were discussed.

These problems include:

(1) Mine subsidence and surface caving.

(2) Underground mine fires.

(3) The ravages of abandoned strip mine operations.

(4) Culm piles which are unsightly or, if on fire, cause a serious air pollution hazard.

(5) Water pollution from acid mine drainage.

A full description, in words and pictures, of these problems is contained in a pamphlet which I have distributed to you today.

S. 3 contains authorizations for sealing and filling voids, for extinguishing underground mine fires, and for leveling nonburning culm piles. I understand that funds will be available through supplementary appropriations to existing programs for projects to eliminate burning culm piles and to begin to solve the problems of mine drainage pollution.

S. 3, however, does not include adequate authorization for reclaiming strip mined areas for reforestation purposes.

There is tremendous need for such a program and plenty of experience and knowledge to do the job, now. All we need is more money. This program can supply that.

The Appalachian program as now contemplated authorizes $1.5 million to be used by the Fish and Wildlife Service over the years. Of this amount, $250,000 is to be spent for a pilot study in the first year. That's fine.

Another $1.5 million is authorized for the Forest Service for strip mine reclamation projects in national forests. None of that it to be used in the first year. The Appalachian program should be expanded to make possible immediate strip mine reclamation projects for forestry purposes in national forests, on other publicly owned lands, and on lands with public access guaranteed. Such a program will do an enormous amount to rehabilitate our land for tourism and industry, thus providing jobs and beauty in place of unemployment and ugliness, And it will do it now-dramatically and visibly. If you wish to help solve a major problem of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania-I urge you to amend this bill to provide for strip mine reclamation for forestry projects.