TASK FORCE AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY, 1971 74 663 



There was no committee meeting or personal notification of other 

 members of the committee to inform them of the creation of the task 

 force. Instead, Miller sent out a press release for use on the morning 

 of July 26, with copies of the press release to each committee member. 



Everything moved fast for the task force, which held its organiza- 

 tion meeting at 1 p.m. on July 28, at McCormack's Capitol Hill home. 

 All the charter members were present, and Mrs. McCormack graciously 

 provided luncheon for the attendees. 



At its organization meeting the task force decided to undertake a 

 self-education process through arranging for surveys of the energy 

 problem and existing R. & D. activities, with presentations by experts 

 in various areas. Mosher volunteered to ask the President's Science 

 Adviser, Dr. Edward David, to discuss energy R. & D. for the task 

 force, which he did at an August 2 meeting in Mosher's Rayburn 

 Building office. Subsequent meetings were held in the committee rooms 

 of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, high on the fourth floor of 

 the Capitol. The task force met weekly on Mondays from 2 to 5 p.m. 



BRIEFING OTHER COMMITTEES 



On August 5, at the request of the task force, Miller wrote to 

 the chairmen of a number of House and Senate committees, including 

 Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Interior, Small Business, Merchant 

 Marine and Fisheries, Judiciary, Government Operations, Public 

 Works, and Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, informing them of 

 the objectives of the task force. The letter noted: 



In case your past or present activities have included research and development 

 aspects of Energy, I would hope that your committee staff would bring this to the 

 attention of the Task Force. * * * This procedure will assure that there will be no 

 duplication of effort in those areas of mutual interest. 



McCormack himself wrote to Speaker Albert on September 10, calling 

 attention to the existence of the task force, enclosing a schedule of its 

 activities, and outlining its objectives. 



McCormack moved his task force along with methodical care. He 

 made sure that committee members were informed when briefings were 

 being held, and he also drew in those people and groups whose support 

 was needed by asking them to make "presentations" at the briefings. 

 For example, the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy 

 of Engineering, Federal agency officials, scientists, engineers, experts 

 in coal, oil, natural gas, solar and gcothermal energy, private con- 

 sultants, industrial leaders— a good cross section of some of the most 

 knowledgeable experts in the Nation came to brief and present papers 

 to the task force. 



