212 
increasing demands. But a number of the problems of power produc- 
tion, as we have seen (plant siting), are not technological in nature; 
rather, they are social problems generated by an awakened sense on 
the part of our society of the value of the environment and of the 
mistakes we have made for so long in pursuing a course of unbridled 
srowth. Yet there is no existing mechanism to direct our course and 
help resolve conflicts in a manner consistent with a carefully considered 
set of national objectives and policies in the area of electric energy 
production. Hence the path of power generation continues to wander 
helter-skelter in whatever direction that is randomly dictated by the 
activities of the private marketplace and local political decisionmaking. 
Is it wise to entrust such a crucial issue as electric power production 
to anyone other than the highest level of government where the true 
national interest can be fully determined and appreciated? I think not. 
It must be emphasized that this is not a matter to be resolved at the 
State or local level—the problems of air and thermal pollution and 
land use (especially of coastal resources) in relation to power produc- 
tion are regional and national in scope. Nor can it be the responsibility 
of the electric utility industry unless present forms of regulation are 
modified to allow for the generation of the large amounts of capital 
that would be required to fund a large-scale research and development 
effort. The responsibility lies clearly at'the Federal level where the 
power-production issues related to land-use management and a host 
of other areas of national concern can only be resolved as part of 
coordinated effort in the formulation of a national energy policy. 
The implication is clear—we are in need of a comprehensive, long- 
range, coordinated effort at the Federal level that will bring together 
all those areas of concern that are affected by the lack of a national 
energy policy. Certainly one such area is the formulation of policies 
for effective land use management. One might make the general 
statement that the first principle of effective land use management is to 
factor out and avoid as many conflicts as possible before trying to 
manage the multiple use of a common resource. Undeniably, the 
implementation of the offshore concept would virtually eliminate one 
of the most troublesome issues of land use management—powerplant 
siting. Hence, careful consideration of this proposal is particularly 
germane to the formulation of a national land use policy at the Federal 
level. The issues of environmental quality and land use that are 
inherent in the problems of powerplant siting are directly related to the 
questions being addressed by the proposed national land use policy 
program. Any political mechanism that is established at the Federal 
level to coordinate a national land use program must provide for the 
investigation of the imterrelationship between electric energy produc- 
tion and land use management. © Ail . 
I find in reviewing the most recent report ** on the National Land 
Use Policy Act that such provision has: been made in a substantive 
way by the participation of the Chairman of the Federal’ Power 
Commission in the proposed‘ Land and Water Resources Council. 
I feel that this Council, under the mandate set forth in section 106 
concerning the establishment of a Federal planning mformation 
center, can foster effective land use management in the area of power- 
plant siting (especially in the coastal ‘zone); by sponsoring a coor- 
dinated, indepth study of the offshore concept as a viable alternatwe to 
land based installations, bringing together Federal agencies including 
