February 8, 1980
Page 2551
DEBATING DICKEY-LINCOLN ON ITS MERITS
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, earlier this week, the House of Representatives approved the water resources authorization, H. R. 4788. It is a controversial bill, as each of us knows. One very small portion of this very big bill deals with an important potential source of energy for my energy- poor region: the Dickey-Lincoln School hydroelectric project.
Dickey-Lincoln was authorized in 1965, but opposition from private power interests and coal companies kept the project on the shelf until 1974. That year, the Congress appropriated $800,000 to renew the planning process and begin an environmental impact statement.
Opponents of the project have fought this planning process, and have sought to rescind congressional authorization. It is ironic that so-called environmental organizations have opposed the completion of the environmental impact statement. But that is only one of the many in the debate over Dickey-Lincoln.
It is my hope that this year, Dickey-Lincoln will be debated on its merits. In the weeks ahead, I will be discussing with my colleagues the facts established about Dickey-Lincoln during one of the most complete and thorough pre-construction reviews any Federal project has ever undergone. I will bring to the Senate's attention some of the odd and unusual arguments against Dickey which attempt to shift the debate from fact to falsehood. And I will focus on the ironies of the Dickey-Lincoln debate when it is appropriate.
Here is the first such case: Pre-convention caucuses will be held on Sunday by the Maine Democratic Party. Last week a rumor spread like a prairie fire through the State that President Carter was supporting construction of Dickey-Lincoln in an effort to gain my endorsement.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It has been the fact that President Carter's responsiveness to Maine has not been based on political expediency, but on a willingness to listen and the commitment to act on the merits that I find most refreshing.
It is true President Carter has supported the planning process for Dickey-Lincoln. His budget for the 1981 fiscal year includes $795,000 to complete wildlife mitigation studies. But he has not committed himself to construction funds. And I have not asked him to. Both of us prefer to wait until the environmental studies are complete, so the impact of the project can be fairly measured against the low-cost, non-polluting power Dickey-Lincoln would provide to Maine and New England.
I intend to make a forceful case to the President. I will make my case on the basis of facts. I am confident that the merits of the project will convince the President to support Dickey-Lincoln. I am just as certain that opponents will prefer to avoid the facts in favor of misstatements, political leverage and threats. Finally, I am sure President Carter will want the facts.
President Carter has been sensitive to the needs of people in Maine. He has always been willing to let us make our own case. When we sought Federal aid for the fishing industry, we made our best case. When we sought reversal of a threatened cutback of Loring Air Force Base, we made our best case. And were helped in both instances. Now, when we have an opportunity to develop an indigenous source of energy for our State and our region, when our reliance on foreign oil is causing great personal and economic hardship, I am confident President Carter will want to hear the facts. Whether his conclusion matches mine is a question only time will answer.
Yet the rumor persists that some sort of deal has been struck. The rumor may have been started in an attempt to discredit President Carter with Maine voters. Certainly, the suggestion of a deal is an insult to both the President and to me.
Or, the rumor may have been born in the overheated imagination of opponents who spend night and day in suspicious fear that some scheme is afoot to force Dickey-Lincoln down the throats of the people of Maine. There is no such scheme.
There are only the facts. They cannot be ignored. In my judgment, the facts are powerful testimony to the value of Dickey-Lincoln. Opponents will try to avoid those facts, manipulate them, and construct half-truths, suspicions and irrelevancies to make their case. That course is at their disposal. But I warn them that the Senate will accommodate honest differences of opinion; it will not accept sleight-of-hand.
President Carter has established a fine record of environmental concern. It is a sad commentary on the state of organized environmental groups that this fine record is being attacked in many forums, and his intellectual honesty is being assailed in the Dickey-Lincoln case. I know how he must feel.