magnetic-confinement fusion research. New scientific and technical links also will result from the visit to the U.S. of a delegation led by Yu Wen, secretary general of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. China so far has confined links to survey visits. However, during discussions with their host, the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China, the Chinese agreed to exchange senior researchers and to hold joint symposia. •
Congressional elections alter key committees Election Day ended up providing, among other things, a number of new faces on Capitol Hill, initial approval for moving Alaskan oil through California to the East, and a big victory for organized labor. Voters apparently had decided that some new blood was needed. Although the relative balance between Republicans and Democrats in Congress remained unchanged, they elected 75 new Representatives and 20 new Senators. The changes are most apparent in the House, where retirements of long-term members have opened up a number of important committee chairmanships. Retiring are George H. Mahon (D.-Tex.), head of the Appropriations Committee, and Olin E. Teague (D.-Tex.), head of the Science & Technology Committee. Both committees exert great influence on R&D in the U.S. through their budget and policy-setting functions. In addition, a number of important subcommittees will have new chairmen next year. Gone from the Science & Technology Committee are Walter Flowers (D.-Ala.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Fossil & Nuclear Energy RD&D; Dale Milford (D.Tex.), chairman of the Transportation, Aviation & Weather Subcommittee; and Ray Thornton (D.-Ark.), head of the Science Research & Technology Subcommittee. A number of subcommittee chairmanships on the Interstate & Foreign Commerce Committee also opened up, and its chairman, Harley 0 . Staggers (D.-W.Va.), narrowly survived a tough re-election fight. New Representatives will have to be chosen to replace Paul Rogers (D.-Fla.), head of the Subcommittee on Health & the Environment; John Moss (D.-Calif.), of Oversight & Investigations; and Fred B. Rooney (D.-Pa.), of Transportation & Commerce. Two committee chairmanships also have opened up in the Senate with 8
C&EN Nov. 13, 1978
the retirements of John Sparkman (D.-Ala.), head of Foreign Relations, and James 0 . Eastland (D.-Miss.), head of Judiciary. However, most Senate subcommittees that oversee federal R&D activities emerged virtually unchanged from the elections. Hardest hit among other subcommittees was the Armed Services Subcommittee on R&D, which lost its chairman, plus two more of its five members. Inroads on the other subcommittees were slight. Agricultural Research lost two of nine; Energy R&D lost two of 12; and Health & Scientific Research lost one of seven. And the Environment & Public Works Committee lost only one member, who was not eligible for reelection anyway. An energy/environment vote in Long Beach, Calif., moved plans of Standard Oil (Ohio) to build a large oil terminal to handle Alaskan oil for transshipment through pipelines to Texas a step closer to reality. City voters approved the terminal by a 61%-to-39% margin. The terminal earlier had won approval from the California Air Resources Board when Sohio agreed to remove "as much or more" pollution from the surrounding air than the terminal would create (C&EN, Aug. 28, page 18). Voters in Missouri soundly defeated a proposal to outlaw union contracts requiring workers to join unions or pay dues as a condition of employment. Under the 1947 TaftHartley Act, contracts requiring workers to join unions are lawful, but states can pass laws banning such contracts if they wish. Twenty states currently have such laws, but the Missouri vote is expected to dampen plans to press for such amendments in other states. •
Industry group scores energy-demand studies Is the federal government trying to stack the deck to get its way on energy matters? The Manufacturing Chemists Association seems to think so. According to the chemical trade group, two recent government reports on energy either propose or give Congress the impression of the need for additional energy legislation or regulation—steps that MCA sees as unnecessary and counterproductive. MCA says these reports overstate the rate of growth in energy demand and underestimate the progress that industry has demonstrated in conserving energy. In a letter to Lincoln Moses, who
DOE forecasts are 5% above other projections Forecaster
Arthur D. Little Inc. Chase Econometrics Congressional Research Service Electric Power Research Institute Exxon Morgan Stanley & Co. Pace Petroleum Industry Research Foundation Shell Oil SRI International Union Carbide AVERAGE Department of Energy
Quadrillion Btu 1990 19SS
89.0 90.1 90.2
100.3 101.0 103.8
92.4
102.5
91.0 93.0 94.0 92.9
103.3 101.6 103.7 103.5
92.0 93.4 92.3
104.2 103.8 103.9
91.8
103.0
94.6a
108.5a
a Excluding exports. Source: Manufacturing Chemists Association
heads the Energy Information Administration, part of the Department of Energy, MCA points out that the DOE/EIA annual report to Congress this April puts total energy demand in this country in 1990 at a significantly higher level than do 11 other recent studies. The DOE/EIA report puts this demand at 108.5 quads. The 1990 estimates from the other studies vary between 100.3 quads and 104.2 quads, with an average of 103.0 quads. The MCA letter also states that this DOE/EIA report not only ignores but actually reverses the reductions that industry has been posting for many years in the amount of energy needed per unit of production. According to MCA, industrial energy per unit of production has declined at a 2% average annual rate for the past 20 years. Between 1972 and 1977 it fell 11%. MCA is even harsher about a June 1978 report by the General Accounting Office to Congress entitled "The Federal Government Should Establish and Meet Energy Conservation Goals." In a letter to comptroller general Elmer Staats, who heads GAO, MCA states that this report is "based on limited and obsolete information." MCA also claims it "reflects a preconceived bias against the voluntary industrial conservation program." Being more specific, the letter to Staats also points out that industrial use of energy declined 4.7% from 1973 through 1977 while industrial production increased 5.6%—a 10% decrease in energy use per unit of production. •
