December 10, 1973
Page 40405
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Senate has placed before it today a very important measure designed to make significant changes in the way our country consumes energy. S. 2176 addresses very important issues. The theme of this bill is that conservation of energy – one of our limited, scarce resources – must be the first step in the campaign needed to adjust our lifestyles and societal practices to the energy crisis now upon us. Waste of energy in our society has been large. Of the energy we consume, only 40 percent actually ends up turning wheels, heating homes, producing electricity, and providing the other end uses intended. The other 60 percent is lost as waste.
This legislation shows that broad issues overlapping committee jurisdictions can be handled rapidly yet with care by those committees involved. This legislation is the result of extensive committee deliberations on the part of the Senate Committees on Interior, Public Works, and Commerce. The cooperative attitude displayed should be useful for future legislation in this area.
A new substitute amendment, No. 757, was introduced Tuesday, December 4, by the principal sponsors of the bill, Senators JACKSON, MAGNUSON, and RANDOLPH.
This substitute amendment contained substantial changes from S. 2176 as reported by the Commerce Committee on November 15. A legislative history clarifying the changes made by the introduction of this substitute package needs to be stated.
I would particularly like to point out the improvements that have occurred in title 6, the Automotive Transport Research and Development Act of 1973. Amendment 757 relates this title in a coherent and coordinated fashion with ongoing programs presently in process in the Environmental Protection Agency. The earlier version of S. 2176 called for an elimination of EPA's Advanced Automotive Power Systems program. This activity was to be transferred to the new Department of Transportation program authorized under title 6 of S. 2176. The new substitute amendment completely revises this action. Instead of transferring any programs, title 6 now leaves the AAPS program within the Environmental Protection Agency. Cooperation replaces transfer: "The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is directed to give careful consideration to any request, on a reimbursable basis or otherwise, for such assistance as the Secretary deems necessary to promote such development." (sec. 604).
This is the result of the agreement of the committees involved that regulatory activities establishing exhaust emission standards necessitate a program within EPA that will provide the in-house expertise necessary to judge independently the technical basis of improved automotive design suggestions. It is anticipated that as the AAPS program in EPA uncovers new automotive engine systems or important new breakthroughs in design of present engines, this new information will be conveyed rapidly to the Department of Transportation's program.
Another item in the legislative history of S. 2176 needs clarification. Pages 75-76 of Senate Report 93-526, which accompanied the earlier version of this legislation, gives the impression that a slowdown has occurred in research and development programs for alternative engine systems by private automobiles companies, and that the Clean Air Amendments of 1970 are a substantial part of the cause.
While I deplore the low amount of funds devoted to such research by Detroit; the errors in this report must be corrected. Since the passage of the 1970 act, expenditures for research and development of alternative power systems have more than tripled.
The Clean Air Act of 1970 has stimulated such research, not blocked it. The Act has also forced new expenditures of a greater magnitude for changes in the internal combustion engine, but in both cases, the act helped bring about needed increases in research and development programs.
I have been informed that the Commerce Committee did not intend to create the impression that pages 75-76 of their report may convey to some regarding the role of the Clean Air Act. I think it is important to make that correction now and to specifically repudiate any possible impression that the failures of the auto industry might in some way be blamed on a law which has forced that industry to perform in the public interest.
The concept of the U.S. Government independently creating an advanced automobile designed to improve fuel economy, safety, reliability, and damage resistance, consistent with environmental regulations established under present pollution control statutes, is a very worthwhile endeavor.
Those of us who have attempted to require rapid improvements in American automobiles have frequently been frustrated by the monopoly of information held by private automobile manufacturers. The advanced automobile power systems program authorized by section 104 of the Clean Air Amendments of 1970 was the first step in establishing an independent capability in the Government to analyze automotive technology. A complementary program directed toward other important aspects of automobile construction and design, which this bill authorizes the Department of Transportation to commence, is a very worthwhile addition.
Many other important changes have occurred in the revised version of S. 2176 contained in substitute amendment No. 757. These have been discussed by the floor managers of the bill and other Members here on the floor today, so I will not mention them further.
This bill is a first step in turning this country around on the subject of energy use. It will make us mindful of the very obvious ways available to us for conserving energy resources.