CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE
June 15, 1966
Page 13195
THE TRANSFER OF THE FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ADMINISTRATION TO THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, several of my colleagues and I were concerned that the national program for abating water pollution would be retarded, temporarily at least, by the transfer of the new Federal Water Pollution Control Administration from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to the Department of Interior.
While it is too early to determine whether our fears were justified, I was encouraged to read in the May 15 issue of Environmental Health Letter that Interior Secretary Stewart Udall is optimistic about the new administration in his Department.
Mr. Gershon W. Fishbein, publisher of the Environmental Health Letter, reported:
Udall had a ready answer for those who complain that the loss of key PHS Commissioned Corps personnel will mean a serious setback in the water pollution program. Not so, he said. While recognizing the serious loss of some experienced PHS water scientists, Udall pointed out that some of his own people in U.S. Geological Survey, Fish and Wildlife and Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Mines are no strangers to some specialized aspects of water pollution control and could be transferred to make up any temporary personnel deficits.
Mr. Fishbein also discussed other aspects of the administration transfer. I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Fishbein's article appear in the RECORD at this time.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
FOUR NEW WATER POLLUTION ABATEMENT CASES IN THE WORKS
The Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, newly installed in the Interior Department, is quietly working up four new pollution abatement cases, Environmental Health Letter has learned. The cases, which may be announced shortly, involve:
The Delaware River, concentrating on the Philadelphia-Camden area; Lake Tahoe, involving California and Nevada; Housatonic River (Connecticut-Massachusetts) and Chattahoochee (Florida, Georgia, Alabama).
They would be the first interstate cases to be undertaken formally by the Interior Department, although all have been under study for some time in HEW. In one of his last acts before surrendering the water pollution control program, HEW Secretary Gardner formally recommended that Minnesota and North Dakota water control agencies accelerate their efforts to abate pollution in the Red River of the North.
Interior Secretary Udall welcomed the new water pollution control administration at a May 10 news conference and a small reception in his office the same evening. Udall, a politician-a-go-go, has ample reason for the welcome. The new water administration automatically became the biggest component of Interior's budget, swelling it by more than $350,000,000. The entire Interior Dept. budget, without the water pollution program, is only about $1.5 billion, or slightly more than the budget of NIH, which is only one component of one agency of one agency. The HEW budget, by contrast, is about $10 billion.
Udall had a ready answer for those who complain that the loss of key PHS Commissioned Corps personnel will mean a serious setback in the water pollution control program. Not so, he said.
While recognizing the seriousness of the loss of some experienced PHS water scientists, Udall pointed out that some of his own people in U.S. Geological Survey, Fish and Wildlife and Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Mines are no strangers to some specialized aspects of water pollution control and could be transferred to make up any temporary personnel deficits.
In outlook and concept, the water pollution transfer also changed Interior's image, rightly or wrongly, from a western-oriented regional agency which paternally encouraged Indian industry, kept the national parks in good shape, built some dams and made life easier for fish. "The western label is off," proclaimed Udall -- and he is right.
Taking over water pollution control puts the agency in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Chicago. This has been Udall's goal for some time in the transformation of Interior from a regional to a national agency, from a rural to an urban department. Scientists of Interior's many constituent programs have for many years found a common dialogue with the water specialists of PHS; Udall encouraged the dialogue while he went about the task of pushing the agency into the cities, where the people live and vote. Thus, what started out as a courtship of scientific convenience has developed into a marriage of political necessity.
Note: The end of the water pollution reshuffling may not be in sight yet. Interior is considering an internal reorganization plan which would combine the water pollution administration, Office of Water Resources Research and Office of Saline Water under one Assistant Secretary.