October 2, 1979
Page 27077
Mr. MELCHER. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Vermont. I listened with a great deal of interest to his very thoughtful and excellent analysis of S. 1308.
I do wish to make one point clear and I hope the Senator has not missed it, and this is the purpose of my question.
In discussing whether or not an oil board or refinery or some energy project should be built within a State, I hope the Senator has not missed the point that is extremely important to me, and that is that S. 1308 does not interfere or dilute a State's, right under its own law to say no, a flat no.
I hope the Senator has not missed that point because it is absolutely essential, I think, that that be maintained in this law, if it is enacted by congress, and that we preserve that.
I hope the Senator is very cognizant of that point in S. 1308.
Mr. STAFFORD. I will say to my distinguished friend that he may well be satisfied on this point, but that the Senator from Vermont would have to examine it further to make sure he agreed with the Senator from Montana.
Mr. MELCHER. I ask the Senator from Vermont or any other Senator to alert me to any construction or interpretation of the bill which either dilutes or interferes with or waives the State's right to say "no" to an energy project in a particular State under their own law, because I would have serious trouble with the bill if that were the case.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. STAFFORD. I yield to my distinguished friend from Maine.
Mr. MUSKIE. May I say to my distinguished friend from Montana that I intend to cover that at some length because I do not believe it is quite so clear cut as the Senator now believes, and I hope to get into that in quite an extensive discussion because Governors, State legislators, and administrators of State and local programs in this field are very much concerned about that very point.
I will try to cover it. But at the moment I simply want to express my appreciation to the distinguished Senator from Vermont for his excellent presentation. He has covered significant points in the pending legislation and in the substitute, which I hope will be useful to the Senate. I expect to expand or some of those, hopefully usefully, before the afternoon is over. At this time I simply want to compliment him on his contribution.
Mr. STAFFORD. I thank the distinguished Senator, and I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont yields the floor. The Senator from Louisiana is recognized.
Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. President, I simply want to say that we are very close to getting an agreement on a time, an agreement the substance of which, when we ask for it, will be that the vote will occur tomorrow on the Muskie-Ribicoff amendment at 12 noon. We would go today until 6 o'clock, and we would come in tomorrow at 10 and vote at 12 noon and, hopefully, we would not have any amendments in the meantime to vote on.
I have a technical amendment which I do not believe anyone will object to, and which probably will not require a roll call vote. But I just want him to understand on the floor, and I want to make this announcement on the floor, that that is the direction in which we are moving, and we should be in a position to ask for that unanimous consent very shortly, I believe.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. JOHNSTON. I yield.
Mr. MUSKIE. I understand those talks are going on. That result would be agreeable to me and, and I hope, to other Senators who are interested.