Statement About Government-Industry Cooperation in Energy Resource Development

AN AMPLE supply of energy has long been recognized as a central element in a healthy economy. To improve the quality of life for all, it is also important that Americans have energy that is clean, energy that does not pollute.

On June 4 of this year, in a special message to the Congress on the subject of our national energy, I announced a broad program of commitment and action to insure that this generation of Americans and future ones will enjoy adequate supplies of clean energy.

The Hanford fast flux test facility now under construction is a major advance in this program. This technology will develop into the liquid metal fast breeder reactor, a process that will yield abundant energy that is clean and inexpensive.

In the June 4th message, I committed this Administration to a partnership with industry in the joint construction of a liquid metal fast breeder reactor demonstration plant. The funds requested from the Congress to support the accelerated breeder program have been made available through the enactment this past week of the public works appropriation bill for fiscal year 1972.

I am especially pleased to note that not only the Congress but also the electric power industry has responded to my call. On August 26, the Edison Electric Institute announced commitments, totaling approximately $180 million, to support a demonstration plant for the liquid metal fast breeder reactor program by 53 electric utilities from throughout the country. This response is the largest single research development commitment in the history of the electric power industry.

Large as it is, additional commitments from the remaining investor-owned facilities are needed, as well as from the rural electric cooperatives and from the publicly owned utilities. Privately owned electric equipment manufacturers, which serve all sectors of the industry, must also bear their share to make this effort succeed.

In my June 4th message, this Administration also committed itself, again in partnership with industry, to the development of coal gasification technology. This process would convert our vast coal deposits into clean gas. Through underground pipelines--many of which are now operational--gas could be channeled across the Nation into homes and industry. In August, the American Gas Association and the Department of the Interior contracted for a jointly funded program to underwrite this coal gasification technology. I am pleased to note that here, too, the industry has already obtained commitments for virtually all of its $10 million share of the first year's outlay.

In this case, however, progress by the private sector has not yet been matched by the Federal Government. The Federal contribution of an additional $10 million has yet to be acted upon by Congress. Since this country is in need of a variety of energy options, fossil fuel as well as nuclear, I urge the Congress to act swiftly to fund the Government's share of the coal gasification program.

The development of these two new technologies for clean energy marks a level of cooperation between the Federal Government and industry that is truly gratifying. I hope that this mutual sharing will expand and mature. Collaboration between the Federal Government, industry, and the general public will be required if we are to develop and use our energy resources in a way that is responsible and efficient.