NO HI I I.IKI AN OLD FOSMI I I I I 



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Representative Leo J. Ryan (Democrat of California), who had 

 been listening to the debate, interrupted Wirth to ask: 



Mr. Speaker, I understand what the gentleman is saying, but I wonder under the 

 circumstances why this was not put in the legislation during the regular committee 

 process? I do not understand why anything that is as important as this should be 

 slipped in here during consideration of the conference report. 



It took Wirth precious time to describe the tedious process through 

 which section 102 had been hatched 



THE DEFEAT OF SECTION 102 



Hechler had the thankless job of telling his eager conservative- 

 liberal coalition that he had only five minutes of time, and most of 

 them would not get a chance to speak. His strategy was further dis- 

 rupted by the first sharp exchange of a more personal nature with 

 Teague. During his 30-second leadoff remarks, Hechler referred to the 

 lack of hearings by the Senate, which had introduced the two contro- 

 versial sections: 



I still see no reason why the House should lie down and accept something that 

 was thrown in at the last minute by the other body without full hearings. 



Teague sprang to his feet, obviously angered by the remark, and in a 

 tone which revealed his feelings, he thundered: 



I am sure the gentleman from West Virginia would not say that the conferees 

 rolled over and played dead on this issue. I think we put up a pretty good tight. 



Teague was absolutely right. In a quick calculation, Hechler decided 

 to let the record stand as it was rather than engage in a debilitating, 

 no-win argument which would divert attention from the main issue. 

 He called on Representative James P. (Jim) Johnson (Republican of 

 Colorado) to speak two minutes on the fact that Occidental Petroleum 

 Corp. would be the sole beneficiary of the in situ development, as the 

 only company interested. Dingell roared like a stuck bull when he 

 was informed that he would be confined to only 30 seconds of his 

 carefully prepared oration. About all he could say was that this was a 

 private bill for Occidental. Using the same technique as with section 

 103, Hechler then asked Representative Patsy T. Mink (Democrat of 

 Hawaii) to deliver a stirring wrapup with a peroration, within two 

 minutes. She threw out a seven-minute speech and did a beautiful job 

 of convincing the House that enactment of section 102 would destroy 

 long-established mineral leasing procedures and replace competitive 

 bidding with favoritism for one large and profitable company. 



