SCIENCE, RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, 1970-79 583 



policy was formally transferred from SRT to the jurisdiction of the 

 Natural Resources and Environment Subcommittee. However, SRT 

 maintained an interest and on June 26 and 28, 1979 joint hearings were 

 held by these two subcommittees on a bill principally sponsored by 

 Fuqua, entitled "The Materials Policy, Research, and Development 

 Act of 1979" The Fuqua bill was also sponsored by Wydler, Brown, 

 Hollenbeck, Ambro, Walker and Ritter. When he first introduced the 

 legislation on March 8, 1979, Fuqua remarked: 



The essence of the bill is to require the administration to establish a program 

 and means to coordinate the various Federal materials research and development 

 activities. Policy and objectives, as well as strategy for organizations and struc- 

 tures necessary to achieve those objectives, are outlined. A long-term assessment 

 of materials and materials research and development needs are provided for in the 

 bill. * * * 



The Federal Government is now putting about $1 billion annually into materials 

 research and development, as compared to about $4 billion in the private sector. Yet 

 there exists no formal coordination, and collaboration with the private industry is 

 almost nonexistent. A study last year by the GAO suggests that several millions of 

 dollars could be saved by use of a proper coordination and information system. 



Hollenbeck observed, in a March 14, 1979 statement to the House: 



I hope, for once, this country will find itself dealing with these critical resource 

 problems in advance of a crisis instead of always riding the roller-coaster of shortage, 

 surplus, and shortage such as we have seen to occur in energy over the last 6 years. 



Wydler, in announcing his cosponsorship of the legislation, 



stressed this point: 



We are becoming dangerously dependent upon foreign sources of materials at a 

 time when there is increasing international demand for critical materials. When we 

 must import 58 percent of our needs for the 38 basic minerals which comprise virtually 

 all the metal used in the United States, over the long run the shortage of materials 

 will prove just as serious as energy shortages. 



Ambro, who chaired the joint hearings with Brown also under- 

 lined that "lack of information exchange alone is estimated to cost 

 millions in duplication and inefficiency" with the various Federal 

 agencies going their separate ways on materials policy. 



The two subcommittees also staged a symposium, entitled "Ma- 

 terials of the Future; Their Impact on Our Society", which was held 

 on June 25, 1979. The symposium examined recent advances in ma- 

 terials science and engineering, and discussed the impact of those 

 advances on society. Brown and Ambro dubbed it "an informative 

 and lively session." 



Both the Brown and Ambro subcommittees have maintained a 

 close liaison with Representative Jim Santini (Democrat of Nevada), 

 chairman of the Subcommittee on Mines and Mining of the House 

 Interior Committee. Santini took part in the joint hearings at the end 

 of June, and in July his subcommittee hearings featured Brown. 



