June 26, 1976
Page 20804
CONFERENCE ON THE EXTENSION OF FEA
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, Senate and House conferees are currently meeting to discuss legislation to extend the life of the Federal Energy Administration. There are several aspects of the Senate-passed extension bill that I would like to comment upon.
First of all, I urge the conferees to accept the conservation provisions in the Senate bill. I am hopeful that my colleagues will realize the importance of effective steps this year to encourage energy conservation at all levels of the economy. These provisions, which encourage conservation in existing homes and businesses and new buildings, represent one of the keys to meeting an energy problem over the long term.
It is past time to begin these efforts. I urge the members of the conference to act quickly and favorably on these proposals.
There are other portions of the Senate bill, however, which I did not support and which I urge my colleagues to drop from the conference reported bill.
Specifically, I object to the exemptions from the crude oil price ceiling for domestic oil produced by stripper wells and by secondary and tertiary methods. These provisions go against our efforts to keep the economic recovery going and they are simply not an effective tool to increase production and encourage conservation.
The Congress worked hard throughout last winter perfecting a pricing system for domestic oil that made sense for the country. The removal of these unnecessary pricing provisions from the conference report will make sense of the FEA extension bill.
Previously, I questioned the need to extend the life of FEA at all. But I am satisfied that the bill before us establishes a procedure to phase out the agency over a specified time period. It thus represents a major step toward establishment of a Cabinet level agency to deal with our energy needs over the long term; our next step in Congress is to establish that new agency.