October 4, 1979
Page 27257
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I regret that I cannot support this legislation. I would like to explain the reasons for my position:
I do not believe that the unprecedented intrusions made by this bill into State and local prerogatives to protect the health and safety of citizens are necessary to achieve. energy independence;
I do not believe the Energy Mobilization Board is a necessary body as constituted in this bill. It will be only a new bureaucracy contributing more red tape, not less, to the approval process for energy facilities;
I do not believe that this bill will be a major contributor to the President's goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil by 50 percent by 1990. In fact, the bill makes projects which would use foreign oil eligible for special treatment.
I cosponsored a substitute bill which did expedite the review process without overriding the protections enacted at the Federal, State, and local levels to address legitimate concerns. I also attempted to remove the most onerous provisions from this bill. The Senate declined to take what I regard as the responsible course.
Mr. President, we all appreciate the necessity of dealing with the realities of the energy situation and making adjustments in order to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. I was prepared to do that, and I still am. But the bill before us is not going to accomplish that purpose.
We have confused speed with haste in our rush to take aggressive action to achieve national energy goals.
How does yet another bureaucracy, headed by one man, to implement laws written by the Congress of the United States, the State legislatures and local governing bodies insure wise decision making?
How important is overriding Federal, State, and local protections if the only result is irreparable damage to the world in which we must live?
How can the alleged expediting process set up by this bill function without the support of the State and local governments, whose opposition has been expressed by the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Governors Conference, the League of Cities, and the Conference of Mayors?
And how many projects have actually been delayed by the protections this bill surgically removes?
These questions have not been adequately answered in the debate.
I do not believe the supporters of this legislation have considered the consequences of their bill, and I cannot be a party to what I believe is blind acceptance of unsupported assertions in the name of energy independence.