SHOOTOUT AT CLINCH RIVER 



867 



would intrude on an issue which had such deep and delicate implica- 

 tions for legislative-executive relationships. The day after The Energy 

 Daily article, July 6, Teague wrote to the President: 



Numerous people have asked whether or not Congressman McCormack's letter 

 to you concerning nuclear energy represents a committee position; the answer is 

 emphatically "No 



The Committee voted 19 to 11 to report a bill. The Committee has been granted a 

 rule for the bill to be considered in the House of Representatives. 



As far as I can determine, Mr. McCormack consulted with no one on the Com- 

 mittee and as far as I know, it was strictly a personal position. 



THE BROWN AMENDMENT 



Following the summer and Labor Day recesses, the House of 

 Representatives took up the ERDA authorization bill, including $150 

 million for CRBR, on September 13, 1977. A major four-hour fight 

 erupted over the Brown amendment to reduce the CRBR funding to 

 the $33 million phaseout level recommended by President Carter. 

 Wydler called it "the most important energy decision that we will 

 probably make in the next 10 years." Ottinger and Wirth argued that 

 Dr. Edward Teller and Adm. Hyman Rickover, acknowledged nuclear 

 experts and advocates, had their doubts about both the CRBR and the 

 plutonium cycle, favoring the thorium cycle instead. Fuqua cited the 

 support of the General Accounting Office for the CRBR, and he was 

 joined by Myers, Goldwater and McCormack, then opposed by Brown, 

 Neal and Downey. It was a good debate, because those Members 

 taking part had boned up on their facts and arguments. Mrs. Lloyd 

 based her argument on the expert geologists who had assessed the 

 limited amount of uranium available. Downey dramatized his argu- 

 ment by holding up a soccerball-sized sphere. He demonstrated how 

 simple it was to make a nuclear weapon if you had 10 kilograms of 

 plutonium, "encase it with a plastic explosive which one can purchase 

 at any good hardware store * * * and one can produce with 10 kilo- 

 grams a 10-kiloton warhead." McCormack sailed a paper airplane 

 across the floor, and claimed it was as close to a flying SST as Downey's 

 paper soccerball was to a nuclear weapon. 



NOBODY ON THE FENCE 



Coughlin, a former member of the committee and long-time 

 CRBR opponent, labeled it a "loser", and a "Ferdinand, because it 

 may smell the roses but it will never fight our energy problem." The 

 argument went on so long that Flowers said " I will object to my own 

 request for additional time if I decide to make that request." 



