CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE

February 18, 1969

Page 3643

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CONGRESS

Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution is currently holding hearings on S. 7 and S. 544, the Water Quality Improvement Acts of 1969. One of the major sections of that legislation provides that no lease, license, or permit may be granted by a Federal department or agency until the appropriate water pollution control agency has certified that applicable water quality standards will not be violated.

Recent comments of Judge Frank Coffin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit underlined the inadequacy of existing law. Judge Coffin's opinion of January 13, 1969, in New Hampshire against the Atomic Energy Commission and Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. affirmed a lower court decision that the Commission did not err in refusing to consider the possibility of thermal pollution from a nuclear power facility.

Judge Coffin noted the Commission's view

Its own efforts . . . are limited to forwarding recommendations relating to thermal effects ... to applicants and state and local authorities and encouraging cooperation by the applicant with the proper governmental agencies.

The position of the AEC in this case, Judge Coffin found, is strongly supported by its own rules of procedure and the statements of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy.

At the same time, however, Judge Coffin maintained:

We confront a serious gap between the dangers of modern technology and the protections afforded by law as the commission interprets it.

We have the utmost sympathy--

He continued–

– with the appellant and with the sister States of Massachusetts and Vermont which took the same position before the commission. That position was simply that adequate planning be required of the applicant before a construction permit is issued to assure all feasible protection against thermal pollution instead of waiting until heavy investment has been made, and damage has occurred or is imminent.

The relevant provisions of S. 7 and S. 544 have been considered in previous sessions of Congress, but have not been passed. Judge Coffin's decision and the tragic oil spill off the California coast are warnings which we no longer can afford to ignore. Judge Coffin has drawn his conclusions "with regret" that Congress has not yet acted, but the people of New England can only hope that they are spared the fate of the people of California.

The burden is now on Congress. Those who ask only that the values of the environment be considered before decisions of this magnitude are made have nowhere else to turn. Congress must decide whether the day of reckoning should be postponed until the power of reckoning has been forfeited.