Statement About Additional Funding for Energy Research and Development Programs in Fiscal Year 1974

AMERICA'S national energy policy requires the fullest possible utilization of science and technology to insure that all of our energy resources become available rapidly and in a balanced and prudent fashion. As I indicated in my press statement on September 8, our goal must be self-sufficiency--the capacity to meet our energy needs with our own resources. I intend to take every step necessary to achieve that goal. A great nation cannot be dependent upon other nations for resources essential to its own social and economic progress.

Preparatory to the massive 5-year, $10 billion energy research and development program that I have announced will begin in the next fiscal year and in keeping with my intention to commit additional funds in this fiscal year for high priority energy research programs, I am today announcing the details of an additional $115 million increment to this fiscal year's budget for energy research and development. This increase will raise the total energy R & D funding level for FY 1974 to about $1 billion, a 37 percent increase over FY 1973.

Appropriations already approved by the Congress will provide most of the funds for this $115 million increment. I will soon be forwarding to the Congress a request for supplemental appropriations to cover the remainder.

Our hopes for advancing research and development also rest upon my proposed legislation to create a Department of Energy and Natural Resources and an independent Energy Research and Development Administration. This legislation, along with six other bills now before the Congress, is essential to meet the full range of our energy needs. The Congress has initiated hearings on my proposal for reorganization, and I again urge that it proceed with dispatch.

On June 29, I directed the establishment of an Energy R & D Advisory Council to assist Governor Love. I am pleased to announce today that 15 of our Nation's most distinguished scientists and engineers, under the leadership of Dr. H. Guyford Stever, who serves as my Science Adviser and as Director of the National Science Foundation, have agreed to serve on this Council. This group is holding its first meeting this morning at the White House. In this meeting and in coming months, this Council will be discussing short- and long-range research and development programs, and acting to enlist the talents of our scientific and technological community--in industry, universities, and Government laboratories-in this effort.

I am confident that with these initiatives, all now in progress, we are well underway in our effort to meet our energy requirements with proper regard for the preservation of our natural environment and for the early achievement of energy self-sufficiency. As additional efforts prove necessary, I shall be prepared to take those steps.