974 HISTORY OF THE COMMIT!! E ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



PLANNING FOR THE «TH CONGRESS 



After the 1976 election, Brown asked his staff to come up with an 

 analysis of the issues and oversight subjects which might be con- 

 sidered by the subcommittee in the 95th Congress. It was characteristic 

 of Brown to insist on planning carefully for the future. Four days before 

 Christmas he assembled the holdover subcommittee members for a 

 general discussion of the agenda for 1977 and 1978. He also moved to 

 obtain the services of a new staff director, James W. "Skip" Spensley, 

 who had served as Counsel for the Leggett Subcommittee on the 

 Merchant Marine Committee. 



A graduate engineer of Iowa State University with a law degree 

 from George Washington University, Spensley had a varied and 

 responsible experience organizing and directing numerous environ- 

 mental groups. He also did environmental consulting work, and 

 practiced law, specializing in environmental law. Prior to joining 

 Leggett's subcommittee staff in 1975, he had also worked in the area 

 of environmental management for both private firms and municipal 

 and State governments, giving him a working knowledge of the 

 National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, and the other 

 legislation with which Brown's subcommittee was dealing. By 1977, 

 particularly with a man having Spensley's qualifications, it was getting 

 impossible for the powers that be to resist the efforts of subcommittee 

 chairmen to appoint their own staff directors. Spensley came on board 

 as staff director of the Brown subcommittee in March 1977. His ability 

 to work smoothly with the staff and his good personal relationships 

 on Capitol Hill were great assets. 



At the start of 1977, the following Members served on the Sub- 

 committee on Environment and the Atmosphere: 



Democrats Republicans 



George E. Brown, Jr., California, Chairman Robert S. Walker, Pennsylvania 

 Timothy E. Wirth, Colorado Larry Winn, Jr., Kansas 



Jerome A. Ambro, New York Edwin B. Forsythe, New Jersey 



Doug Walgren, Pennsylvania 

 Anthony C. Beilenson, California 

 Wes Watkins, Oklahoma 

 Tom Harkin, Iowa 



THE NEW JURISDICTION 



Under the jurisdictional rules adopted in 1977, there was only a 

 slight change in the phraseology used to describe the jurisdiction of 

 the Brown subcommittee, which read: 



Legislation and other matters relating to environmental research and develop- 

 ment (including, but not limited to, EPA's research and development program, 

 ERDA's environment and safety program, life sciences and bio-medical applications), 



