768 HISTORY OF TH1 COMMITTE1 ON SCIENC1 AND TECHNOLOGY 



WHO IS IN CHARGE OF NOISE ABATEMENT^ 



Among the last reports forwarded to Teague by Hechler, drafted 

 primarily by Bill Wells, was the analysis of aircraft noise abatement 

 published in December 1974. This report recognized the very complex 

 interacting factors of public health and welfare, economics, and tech- 

 nology. The subcommittee positively recommended more implementa- 

 tion of the "two-segment approach" to minimize noise, supported by 

 some pilots but generally opposed by the Air Line Pilots Association 

 as a threat to safety. One of the major recommendations was that more 

 effort be made to produce a truly coordinated national aircraft noise 

 abatement program. This point was repeatedly stressed by Hechler. He 

 characteristically assembled the representatives of NASA, FAA, EPA 

 and the Department of Defense around the table and then asked them 

 whether each of them still believed, as they had frequently stated in 

 the past, that noise abatement deserved top priority. Having received 

 affirmative answers, Hechler then observed that since the demise of the 

 National Aeronautics and Space Council, and the Office of Science and 

 Technology, "there is no central responsibility or leadership to insure 

 that all the different parts of the civil fleet retrofit program are really 

 pulled together and coordinated. Who is in charge?" 



There was an embarrassed silence. Alvin Meyer, EPA's Deputy 

 Assistant Administrator for Noise Abatement and Control, was the 

 first to break the ice: 



Congressman Hechler, let me see if I can answer since there seems to be some 

 degree of need for somebody to step forward and make a forthright statement. 



But despite the clarification, EPA did not emerge as being completely 

 in charge. Hechler followed up with this observation: 



Somewhere along the line the responsibility and leadership seems to be falling 

 between agencies, and slipping down without moving forward. Just what can be 

 done to provide a catalytic agent or move this whole operation forward 3 



FAA Administrator Alexander Butterfield, who had startled a 

 Senate committee and the world with his candor about the White 

 House taping system, offered this road map on the situation: 



Without question, it you had a Czar, the program would move more quickly 

 than when it depends on the agencies cooperating with each other and coordinating 

 their efforts. There is no single Czar. I know EPA consults with FAA which sets the 

 standards. We determine what must be done in a particular area and go to NASA 

 tor the research portion. 1 am not telling you anything you don't know. That is the 

 way so many programs are carried on between agencies. This requires the three 

 agencies to work together. 



Wydler chaired the final 1974 hearings on aircraft noise, and fur- 

 nished many of the ideas which were incorporated into the final report. 



