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<br />RECEIVED <br />l';~-2l-74 From: Helene C. l10nberg <br />Western Resources Wrap-up NOV 2 51974 l23-sixth street Southeast <br />series x, No. 47 Washington, D.C., 20003 <br />COla, \'1"/,: <br />energy policy-lead story CONSERVA I' '" Area Code 202-546-1350-1 <br />I UIC IJJI,,\t) <br />Washington_aA year ago we were 36 percent dependent on oil imports <br />to meet our demand for petroleumr now we are 38 percent dependent. <br />"When the oil embargo went into effect a year ago we made bold <br />promises to ourselves that we would never again be so vulnerable to for- <br />eign supplies. nut we have done nothing to fulfill those promises," Rep. <br />Morris K. Udall, D-Ariz., chairman of the HOuse Environmental Subcommit- <br />tee,tOld our press briefing group on Nov. 18. <br />"The Administration has no energy policy. Its approach to energy <br />problems appears to be a game of musical chairs." Senate Democratic <br />Whip Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., told our press briefing group the preced- <br />ing week. Byrd noted that there have already been three heads or pros- <br />pective heads of the Federal Energy Administration since it was created <br />early this year. FEA is not making energy policy at the present time, <br />and it has been downgraded in the Federal Energy Council under the new <br />chairmanship of Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton. Morale within <br />FEA is so low that many officials who transferred to PEA from other a- <br />gencies several months ago are trying to get their old jobs back or go <br />on to other jobs in government or in industry. <br />Udall said MOrton and he had talked about energy problems on an ad <br />hoc basis in recent weeks. Udall also said he hoped Morton would pre- <br />sent an Administration energy policy to his Subcommittee today (Nov. 21) <br />on the Project Independence report released last week. "You know Morten <br />was shut out by the Nixon Administration for months and months on energy <br />matters," Udall told us on Nov. 18. Now that President Ford has made <br />Morton chairman of the Energy Council, Udall added, "I have high hopes <br />for him. I think we have a real chance now to come up with some propos- <br />als to improve our energy position" vis-a-vis imports. For an energy <br />policy and energy programs to work they must be developed by the Admin- <br />istration and Congress on a continuing open-discussion give-and-take ba.. <br />sis, according to Udall. Whether this will, in fact, happen with Ford <br />an announced candidate for the Presidency in 1976 and Udall, Byrd,Chair- <br />man Henry M. Jackson, D-Wash., of the Senate Interior Committee --t <br /> <br />0179 <br /> <br />'. <br /> <br />, <br />