TASK FORCE AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY, 1971-74 559 



(2) Organizational reforms arc needed in the executive branch of Government 

 in order to effectively coordinate and direct a greatly increased national energy 

 R. & D. effort within the context of an overall national energy policy. 



(a) A focal point for energy policy must exist in the White House. 



(b) An operating agency with responsibility for managing Government 

 supported energy R. & D. should be established as soon as possible. 



(3) The issues of environmental protection and energy conservation must be 

 paramount in any national energy policy and should receive greatly increased research 

 and development support. 



(4) The Nation must set priorities among technological opportunities tor invest- 

 ment in research and development. We cannot support all energy research and develop- 

 ment alternatives at the levels which arc suggested by their proponents. Evaluation 

 of current data indicates the following areas o( activity should have the highest 

 priority. 



(a) Basic research. 



(b) Materials research. 



(c) Solar energy. 



(d) Geothermal energy. 



(e) Nuclear breeders. 



(f) Coal (gasification and liquefaction must be brought to commercial 

 demonstration as rapidly as possible^. 



(g) Fusion. 



TEAGUE TAPS MCCORMACK FOR SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMANSHIP 



In the closing days of 1972, as Teague was preparing to take over 

 the chairmanship of the committee he asked McCormack to come over 

 to his office and talk with him. McCormack relates: 



He completely swept me off my feet, as he quite spontaneously said in a very 

 excited tone: "This energy crisis is a serious matter and we got to get into it and I 

 want a subcommittee on energy and I want you to be chairman of it." Of course, I 

 was flabbergasted, since I was a freshman at the time, heading for my sophomore 

 term. I commented to him that this was going to be a pretty tricky problem to make 

 me chairman of a subcommittee when I was a very junior member of the committee. 

 He said that he'd take care of that. 



At the opening of the 93d Congress in 1973, when Teague assumed 

 the chairmanship, McCormack ranked 10th on the committee. Hanna, 

 No. 7 in seniority, was the lowest ranking Member assured the chair- 

 manship of a subcommittee. Flowers ranked eighth and under the 

 rules of seniority was entitled to take the next subcommittee chairman- 

 ship. Although interested in energy and having a sizable amount of 

 coal production in his Alabama district, Flowers did not have the 

 good fortune to have been assigned to the task force on energy which 

 McCormack piloted in the 92d Congress. 



There is no question that all the rules of tradition, plus Flowers' 

 interest and that of his district, justified his selection to chair the 

 new Energy Subcommittee. As a conservative who revered the rules 

 and traditions of the House, Teague might have been expected to 





