[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, July - September, 1974] Page: 66 of 236
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In Summary
Shortage or No,
House Passes
Strip-Mine Curbs
Despite the strong efforts of the-
energy industry, the House of Repre-
sentatives has approved a relatively
stringent regulatory bill to diminish
the environmental destruction caused
by the strip mining of coal.
The bill would require substantial
charges in a mining process that now
produces about half the nation's an-
nual coal supply and was passed de-
spite warnings that it would curtail fu-
ture supplies. Mining companies would
oe forced to reclaim land that is
scarred by digging and to restore ap-
proximately the original contours and
drainage patterns. In the past few
.i'ides about 2.5 million acres of
land were simply abandoned, becom-
ing permanently desolate "moon-
scape," after the top layers were
stripped off to expose the coal seam.
The bill must be reconciled with a
slightly different but equally strong
Senate version, passed last fall, and
gain the approval of the President,
who has been, cool to the proposal.
The vote in the House was 291-to-8.
however, indicating a veto could be
overridden.
In its final-form, the bill is likely to
provide also for a Federal code of
mining regulations enforced in the
first instance by state agencies funded
by Washington,
The -strip mining industry is now
unregulated by the Federal govern-
ment, and legislation passed in recent
years by 29 states has failed to curb
the damage.
Environmentalists, who have lob-
bied for a bill for three years, consider
Federal controls especially important
now, because the energy crisis is lur-
ing strip milers from Appalachia to
the vast coal fields of the Western
plains states. These deposits are es-
timated to contain more than four
times the energy of all the oil deposits
in the Arab nations, and they are rich
in non-polluting, low sulfur coal.
Many Westerners have feared that the
coal boom would leave their lands
blighted by reckless exploitation.
Mining firms, which are now large-
ly owned by major oil firms and pow-
er-generating utilities 'argued that the
legally imposed costs of land reclam-
ation would make Western expansion
unprofitable, depriving the nation of
much needed energy resources.
The companies' chief spokesman on
the House floor, Representative Craig
Hosmer, Republican of California,
called the bill the "equivalent of en-
ergy hari-kari," and the president of
the National Coal Association, the
producers' lobby, predicted that it
would "have a devastating effect upon
a coal industry that is today being
asked to treble its production." The
bill's sponsors, however, claimed the
legislation would save millions of
acres from devastation without re-
ducing production.The Slump May
Be Worse Than
Expected
Less spending by individuals was
one suggestion offered last week by
President Nixon as a cure for the na-
tion's inflation problems. But a tenta-
tive figure he offered for the reduc-
tion, 1.5 per cent of their income, ap-
parently caused anxiely in some sec-
tions of his Administration.
Sidney L. Jones, deputy to Kenneth
Rush, the White House economic coun-
selor, said he hoped the American peo-
ple would not take the President's fig-
ure literally. "We don't want a con-
sumer boycott," he said.
Mr. Nixon also said he would trim
the nation's $305-billion 1975 fiscal
year budget "toward a goal of $300-
billion" but said that generally the
economy was sound.
Some authorities disagreed.
The Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development has
warned that the United States might
be heading into a deeper economic
slump than President Nixon and his
advisers realize.
The Paris-based 24-nation economic
coordinating group suggested in a spe-
cial report last week that,American un-employment for the first half of next
year could rise to 6.25 per cent of the
labor force. The Administration had
predicted 6 per cent unemployment.
The experts also forecast a trade
deficit for the United States of from
$2-billion to $4-billion this year and
from $5-billion to $7-billion in 1975.
Figures issued - last week by the
Commerce Department seemed to bear
out O.E.C.D. predictions. Mainly be-
cause of sharply higher prices for oil,
said the department, the nation's
1974 trade accounts suffered their
biggest deficit on record for the first
half of a year. At a seasonally ad-
justed annual rate, the deficit would
be $3.2-billion.
Inflation and trade deficits were
not the only- problems.
The auto industry, winding up its
1974 model year, said last week that
sales were off by 25.6 per cent in
mid-July. And General Motors, unable
to pull out of the decline which began
with last year's energy crisis, reported
its profits were down by 74 per cent
in the first half of the year.
The oil companies, however, were
still enjoying booming profits. Some
examples of profit increases for the
second quarter of 1974 compared with
the same period last year: Sunoco, up
163- per cent; Mobil, up 99 per cent;
Shell, up 39 per cent; Gulf, up 28 per
cent; Amoco, up 60 per cent; Conti-
nental, up 94 per cent, Getty, up 167
per cent and Occidental, up 292- per
cent. -
But a hint of a less buoyant cor-
porate world wvas given in closely
watched statistics supplied by the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The Federal Reserve reported -that,
after six consecutive weekly increases,
business loans made by major -New
York banks declined i the week end-
ing last Wednesday. The $239-million
decline compared with a $259-million
increase the previous week.
The experts were wary about basing
conclusions on a one-week decline,
but did say that possible causes were
resistance to the current high interest
rates andcancellation of expansion
plans by some large corporations in
the face of a recession threat.
Backlash to
The Alabama
Disclosure Law
Alabama's tough new law requiring
public officials to disclose their finan-
cial interests has provoked a backlash:
hundreds of -the state's officeholders
have resigned or threatened to quit in
protest.
The reaction in Alabama may be
particularly severe, but few disclosure
laws have been enacted recently
without at least a ripple of opposition
from public servants. More than 25
states have passed such laws, designed
to reveal conflicts between an offi-
cial's economic interests and his public
duties. Fourteen of the laws have been
passed within the last 18 months, and
these have been the most stringent.
A number of suits have been filed
charging that the laws are uncon-
stitutionally vague and invade the
privacy of officials.
The California and Washington
State supreme courts recently upheld
disclosure statutes comparable to Ala-
bama's. In California there were 60
resignations and in Washington 13.
Last May, the United States Supreme
Court refused to review the Washing-
ton decision, indicating that these
laws would be left to the state courts
alone. There is no Federal disclosure
law, although the Senate has twice
passed such a measure as part of
campaign reform bills.
Alabama's law is considered espe-
cially strict because it requires an
official to list the jobs of brothers,
sisters and parents as 'well as provid-ing -detailed information on the fi-
nances of immediate family members.
Many officials have complained that
the requirement is an imposition on
relatives. The law includes all state,
county and municipal employes earn-
ing more than $12,000 a year.
Some of these provisions may suc-
cumb to legal challenges, which will
begin to be heard next month.
Gurney's Choice
Concluding that he cannot run both
an election campaign and a trial de-
fense, United States Senator Edward
J. Gurney of Florida has withdrawn
his candidacy for a second term.
Mr. Gurney, the state's first Repub-
lican Senator since Reconstruction,
became nationally prominent as Presi-
dent Nixon's champion on the Senate
Watergate committee. The Senator's
chances of re-election were considered
good until his indictment two weeks
ago in Jacksonville on charges of ex-
tortion and influence-peddling in con-
nection with applications for Federal
mortgage approvals.
Although maintaining that his inno-
cence would be established in court,
Senator Gurney said, "There is no
sensible or sound way to conduct a
statewide political race and prepare
for, and go through, a major trial."b- -
What the
The President's counsel
Constitution as providing an abs
lege of confidentiality for allI
communications. Many decision
oit; h never, have unequivc
firmed the holding of Marbury
that 'it is emphatically the p
duty of the Judicial department t
the law is"....
In support of his claim of absi
lege, the President's counsel
grounds, one of which is comr
governments and one of which
to our system of separation of p.
first ground is the valid need for
of communications between hi
ment officials and those whore
assist. them in the performanc
manifold duties; the importance
fidentiality is too plain to requ
discussion.
The second ground asserted by
dents counsel- in support of th
absolute privilege rests on the +
separation of powers. .
However neither the doctrine
tion of powers, nor the need fo
tiality of high level communicati
out more, can sustain an absolut
fied Presidential privilege of imrnr
judicial process under all circ'
*..Absent a claim of need to p
... And
WASHINGTON-The case of Uii
v. Nixon was widely seen as a
of the supremacy of law in thi
It posed tbe fundamental question
fines the constitutional limits o
dent's power, the President or t
That question was resoundingly
by the Supreme Court last week.
the principle laid down by Chi
John Marshall in 1803: The cou
United States are the ultimate i
of the Constitution. Public suppc
principle was evident in Preside
swift agreement to comply.
However, the Court's decision i
plain or emphatic on the other 1.
lem in the case-the extent of a1
privilege to withhold from the viev
"confidential conversations" bets
self and his close advisers.One believer in a powerful
Presidency remarked unhappily tl
ture functioning of the office hat
paired by a serious breach of pr
others, 'precisely to the contrary
that the Court had opened the way
ing invocations of "executive priv
example enabling a President to c
mation on the secret bombing of
to an impeachment inquiry.
The fact is that the Burger o
not resolve the myriad cases c
privilege that could arise. The o
deed, glided over some of the 1
lems involved, perhaps in order t
votes of all eight participating j
The court had before it what
Justice called a "unique . . . seti
was a subpoena for tapes of I
conversations for use in a crimii
the President's own associates.
Mr. Nixon claimed an absolut
to withhold them. The Court rej
It found instead a qualified privil
ing that the interest of candor
dentiality in Presidential convers
to be weighed against other in
this case the countervailing nee
dence at a criminal trial prevaile
One factor noted by some con
was that the Chief Justice's c
granting a qualified privilege fo
time in Supreme Court precedE
"constitutional underpinnings" foi
of protecting the privacy of Presid
versations. Experts doubted that
any real difference between an1lI1(I1 IITITIIIIIt1TIIIIi1TUTIIIIIIIIU 1I1IIfl 1111)111 U H IIIiIITIIIhI
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[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, July - September, 1974], book, 1974; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616583/m1/66/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Southern University.