958 



HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIEXCI AND TECHNOLOGY 



Following an organization meeting of the new subcommittee on 

 January 29, Brown plunged into a wide-ranging series of activities 

 which soon earned his subcommittee the reputation of the busiest 

 group in the Science Committee. In the first two years it operated, 

 the subcommittee held 97 hearings, meetings and markup sessions— 

 far and away the largest of any subcommittee. Brown kept the mem- 

 bers' feet to the lire as they laid the basis for extensive oversight 

 authorization and work on new legislation. 



ENVIRONMENT AND SAFETY IN ERDA 



One of the first challenges facing the Brown subcommittee was 

 to review the environment and safety figures in the ERDA authorization 

 bill, which had been sequentially referred after the two energy sub- 

 committees had completed their work. To arrive at a decision on this 

 issue, Brown had two days of hearings featuring ERDA, EPA and the 

 Council on Environmental Quality. The Brown subcommittee endorsed 

 the joint effort of the two energy subcommittees to add $15-5 million 

 to ERDA's environment and safety authorization (plus $5 million to 

 meet manpower needs). The subcommittee expressed concern on two 

 scores: that the work was not well coordinated with the Environ- 

 mental Protection Agency (EPA), and that too much of the concen- 

 tration was in the nuclear area at the expense of environmental and 

 safety R. & D. for fossil fuels. Brown and his subcommittee expressed 

 this thought in their first subcommittee report on March 25, 1975: 



Recognizing that ERDA inherited a large portion of its program, its technical 

 talent, and its research facilities from the Atomic Energy Commission, it is under 

 standable that the budget and program of this new agency are heavily weighted in 

 favor of nuclear research at this early stage. * * * The subcommittee is convinced 

 that a better balance must be achieved in the near future and that a conscious effort 

 must be made to develop a substantial nonnuclear health and environmental research 

 program. 



The subcommittee also directed that ERDA and EPA submit a joint 

 report on their respective responsibilities for environmental research 

 related to energy, with an aim to reduce duplication and increase co- 

 ordination. Brown always maintained a strong interest in full utiliza- 

 tion of the national laboratories. Included in the 1975 subcommittee 

 report was this warning: 



Both EPA and ERDA should make use of the existing laboratories and facilities 

 to the maximum extent possible, and construction of new facilities should be under- 

 taken only alter a thorough review and inventory of existing available facilities has 

 been completed and the need for new construction is firmly established. 



The full committee strongly supported the Brown subcommittee in 

 the thrust of its efforts, noting in its report there was "an apparent 

 need for additional research in the general environment and safety 

 area." 



