1026 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



Overflow crowds and high public interest attended the Hechler 

 subcommittee hearings in 1972 reviewing the joint NASA-DOD study 

 of "Civil Aviation Research and Development." The hearings and 

 oversight which the subcommittee held in 1972 and 1973 laid the 

 basis for later proposals by both the executive branch and the Congress 

 for reducing aircraft noise levels by significant amounts through retro- 

 fitting the existing civil aviation fleet. The subcommittee also achieved 

 improvement in communication and coordination among agencies en- 

 gaged in the noise problem by summoning witnesses from NASA, 

 FAA, EPA, and DOD around the table at one time. 



In 1975, when Milford took over the subcommittee chairmanship, 

 the jurisdiction was expanded to include all civil aviation R. & D. 

 (part of which had been lodged in the Interstate and Foreign Commerce 

 Committee) and ground transportation R. & D. Although the Milford 

 subcommittee annually authorized FAA R. & D., the Senate would 

 not go along with this initiative. The subcommittee became embroiled 

 in an internal controversy over the validity of an FAA decision to 

 adopt a microwave landing system which differed from the British 

 "doppler system" and involved ultimately a decision by the Inter- 

 national Civil Aviation Organization. The Milford subcommittee held 

 constructive hearings on the future of aviation, the future needs and 

 opportunities of the air traffic control system, and supersonic tech- 

 nology. In the fall of 1978, the subcommittee recommended legislation 

 to provide a basic charter for the National Weather Service, pulling 

 together bits and pieces of prior legislation going back over 100 years 

 and consolidating the duties which had been previously authorized. 

 The 1978 legislation passed the House but not the Senate. 



Starting in 1974, Brown was joined by Symington and other 

 members who sponsored automotive research legislation to devise 

 more efficient auto engines, including a possible alternative to the 

 internal combustion engine. McCormack took up the fight in 1976, 

 and his subcommittee shepherded through a bill which President Ford 

 vetoed, but was repassed in the next Congress and signed by President 

 Carter in 1978. The legislation provided for a 5-year R. & D. program 

 to develop a new and more efficient automobile engine. When Harkin 

 took over the Transportation, Aviation and Communications Sub- 

 committee in 1979, he put high priority on development of more 

 fuel-efficient propulsion for automobiles and expansion of the use of 

 electric vehicles. The Harkin subcommittee also held hearings on 

 aviation collision avoidance. 



Chapter XVII 



In 1975, the Hechler subcommittee put increased funding into 

 in situ low Btu coal gasification, coal mining research, health studies 



