NO FUEL I.IKI AN OLD FO\MI II II 



849 



energy R. & D. Originally created by the Atomic Energy Commission 

 in the research and development of nuclear power, the role of the labor- 

 atories in developing energy technology and the general advancement 

 of science had long interested the Science Committee. Flowers, Mrs. 

 Lloyd, Brown, Ottinger, and Wydler were active participants in this 

 series of oversight hearings, which for the first time brought all the 

 laboratory directors together before a congressional committee in 

 public session. Wydler stated at the outset that one of the major 

 concerns of the subcommittee should be to insure that the national 

 laboratories not be submerged "by the regulators, who will be playing 

 the more important role of handling the day-to-day problems of 

 allocating energy in our Nation, and deciding how much it's going to 

 cost." He urged that special care be taken that regulation not rule 

 research, and that the role of the Federal laboratories be protected. 

 His sentiments were shared by the subcommittee, which indicated that 

 while harnessing the valuable near-term contribution of the labora- 

 tories toward meeting energy needs, the long-term necessity for pro- 

 tecting research was essential for future progress. 



Staff members Dugan and Tate stressed the quality of NASA and 

 aerospace technical programs to provide a benchmark for DOE. This 

 approach provided a standard for evaluating the quality of DOE 

 project management in the field and headquarters program manage- 

 ment. It was a useful tool for committee oversight. 



CLEAN AIR STANDARDS 



On the closing day of the Department of Energy authorization 

 hearings in 1978, the subcommittee had a lively interchange with 

 Dr. Stephen J. Gage, Acting Assistant Administrator for Research and 

 Development at the Environmental Protection Agency. Flowers opened 

 the hearings by observing: 



I need to know how much cross-fertilization there is or should be between your 

 operations and the Department of Energy. It occurs to me that we have saddled DOE 

 with the responsibility of making a large part of this decision perhaps in concert 

 with you, and I would like to feel assured that is what is happening. But I have the 

 feeling that it is not. 



Dr. Gage responded: 



I think both agencies recognized from the beginning that the shoe had only begun 

 to pinch when we had to come to grips with the kind of issue before us today. 



The subcommittee learned that by happenstance many DOE employees 

 concerned with the issue had prior experience and were alumni of EPA. 

 Flowers, Myers, Frey, and Lujan pushed the EPA officials very hard on 

 whether EPA's new source performance standards were so strict as to 

 prevent new technologies like fluidized bed combustors, solvent refined 



