December 3, 1970
Page 39879
SST – ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
HON. PETER N. KYROS OF MAINE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, December 3, 1970
Mr. KYROS. Mr. Speaker, Members of Congress are asked to evaluate the merits of continued support for development of a supersonic transport. To do that, we need the most complete information available, including that on the SST's environmental impact. My colleague from Maine, Senator MUSKIE, and Senator PROXMIRE, of Wisconsin, have requested such information from the Transportation Secretary. They have explained the law in this respect very clearly and for the future information of my colleagues, I would like to share this letter with you.
I ask unanimous consent for its insertion into the RECORD:
PROXMIRE, MUSKIE SEEK SST REPORT FROM VOLPE
Senators William Proxmire (D-Wis.) and Edmund S. Muskie (D-Me.) Tuesday jointly sent this letter to Transportation Secretary John A. Volpe:
DECEMBER 1, 1970.
DEAR MR. SECRETARY: Last September, the Office of SST Development submitted a preliminary draft report on the SST's potential environmental impact to the Council on Environmental Quality. This draft represented the first step in complying with Section 102(C) of the Environmental Quality Act, which requires that legislative requests involving programs with potential environmental impact be accompanied by a "detailed statement by the responsible official on the environmental impact of the proposed action."
The Act also stipulates that "the responsible Federal official shall consult with and obtain the comments of any Federal agency which has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved. Copies of such statement and the comments and views of the appropriate Federal, state, and local agencies . . shall be made available ... to the public." At the time the preliminary draft was made available, DOT announced that it was circulating the draft for comments to 11 Federal agencies, as required by the Act. The agencies were given 30 days to respond.
It is now more than 2½ months since the Department submitted its preliminary draft on the SST's environmental impact. No comments have been made available to the public.
The Senate may act upon the appropriations request for the SST this Thursday.
Members of the Senate would be most interested in what these agencies have to say. A few days ago, one of our staff members inquired about these comments. He was told that not all the comments had been made, and that those that had come in would not be made available now.
We strongly believe that these comments should be made available immediately. Your compliance with this request by close of business December 1 will be greatly appreciated. Sincerely,
EDMUND S. MUSKIE. U.S. Senate.
WILLIAM PROXMIRE, U.S. Senate.