Tampa, Florida Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session at a Town Meeting.

THE PRESIDENT. During 1975 and 1976, my wife, Rosalynn, spent 75 days in Florida; and I spent almost as many, and I learned a lot about our country from you, because not only is Florida a dynamic and aggressive State with confidence and God's beauty, which attracts people from all over the world, but Americans from every State assessing our Nation very carefully to find the garden spot are inclined to move to Florida to spend their productive years after they become senior citizens.

ADMINISTRATION POLICIES

I had a chance during those months to listen a lot and to talk some. And I heard about the need for a social security system that was sound, and I heard about the fact that the unemployment rate was over 8 percent. But I also heard about the need to maintain peace and to make sure that no young American might lose his or her life in combat. And so far, God's blessed us, and I hope that when I leave the White House we'll still have that record.

And a, lot of people here from Jewish families, and from others, said the most important single issue that threatens world peace is the Mideast conflict, where four wars in 30 years and hundreds of years of antagonism and hatred create a cancer and needs to be addressed. And we've made some progress there.

There have been many issues on which we have succeeded so far. There have been other issues that are too difficult to solve in 2 1/2 years, and there have been other issues where one cannot find a solution until the American people get aroused and committed to joining in an effort to find a solution to it. Obviously, we're trying.

We've now got a SALT agreement with the Soviets to put a very tight constraint over any increase in nuclear weapons that threaten the world; and the Soviet Union, if the SALT treaty is passed, will have to cut back their nuclear arsenal, their numbers of launchers by 10 percent. We won't have to cut back any. But this will lead to further progress in the future, and to constrain nuclear weapons is a very burning issue now before the United States Senate.

Inflation has been with us 10 or 12 years. It goes up and down, primarily because of the price charged for imported oil. We had a very high inflation rate, 12 or 13 percent back in 1973, 1974. We've got a very high inflation rate now, because the OPEC countries have increased the price of oil over 50 percent in the last 6 or 7 months.

Inflation is tenacious. It's got to be addressed. We're doing the best we can. We're holding down Federal spending. We've already cut the budget deficit more than 50 percent. We're going to have tight management of the Federal bureaucracy. We've got civil service reform, but the key issue on which inflation depends is that excessive importing of foreign oil.

We now import 50 percent of all the oil we use, and we not only import oil, we import unemployment and we import inflation. So far, the Congress has acted on about 60 or 65 percent of the energy proposals that I sent to them in April of 1977, almost 2 1/2 years ago, and we've already cut down our dependence on imported oil for the future about 4 million barrels a day.

Now we've got to take action to cut down 4 1/2 more million barrels a day by passing a comprehensive energy policy through the 'Congress, based on the windfall profits tax. I'll be very quick to describe what it means.

The price of energy—I don't want to mislead you—the price of energy is going to go up, because the world is demanding more and more, and the world is producing not much more or even less. We have very little control over the price of energy, and as it goes up, enormous profits are going to be realized. The question is, should those unearned profits stay in the hands of the American oil companies, or should we have a windfall profits tax and let those profits be used to produce more oil and gas, yes, but also to insulate homes, to provide solar power, to have new kinds of energy, to help poor people and low- and middle-income families bear the increased cost of energy, to give us a better rapid transit system and transportation system? That's the basic question.

And I want to ask all of you to join in with me and encourage the United States Congress to pass a windfall profits tax to give our Nation energy security in the future. Will you help me do that? [Applause] Very good.

I want to say two other things very quickly. The first thing is this: We're all in it together—Democrats, Republicans, southerners, Yankees. I don't care who it is, we're in it together.

And the second thing is that no matter how difficult the problem, our Nation is strong enough and great enough and courageous enough and blessed by God enough to meet the energy challenge successfully if we unite and if we work together. And I have no doubt about the future of this country if we tap the tremendous strength that we have within us now.

I came here because you've already done a good job on energy conservation. The Thomas Jefferson High School has saved, just since last October, $40,000 in energy bills because of effective conservation programs; and Hillsborough County, I understand, has cut energy consumption by 15 percent. If everybody in the United States would do as well as you have done, we would have a great blessing for all of us in this country.

Now I want to answer your questions. I had the pleasure of reading the front page of, I think, the Tampa Tribune today, and the editorial page, and they said that I was welcome—almost welcome— [Laughter] -and that the questions ought to be tough. And I'm ready for some tough questions. And I'll start with you.

Thank you very much.

QUESTIONS

KEROSENE SALE TO IRAN

Q. Hello. My question pertains to Iran.

THE PRESIDENT Good.

Q. Thank you. The Iranian officials say that they don't need the oil that we sell them. Do you think that they'll sell the same stuff back to us at a higher price, or by doing this gesture of friendship, will they lower the prices of oil in the future?

THE PRESIDENT That's a good question, and it's one that's been highly publicized around the country. Let me give you the facts.

We buy from Iran about 750,000 barrels of oil every day. We're heavily dependent on Iranian oil. The reason for the gas lines in California and on the east coast earlier this year were because the revolution in Iran interrupted supplies, and we lost about 100 million barrels of oil that ordinarily we would have bought from Iran. So, we have a good relationship with Iran as far as buying oil is concerned.

About 2 months ago—I don't remember the exact date—the Iranian officials sent word to our Government, and it eventually got to me, that they had had sabotage in a plant that makes kerosene. When I grew up on a farm during the Depression, about everything we had was kerosene. We cooked with kerosene or wood, and we used kerosene lamps. A lot of the Iranian families do this. And the Iranian Government asked if we would sell them back a million barrels of kerosene, because they had run out of refined kerosene. You take crude oil to make kerosene out of it. I agreed to do it. That's as much oil as they sell to us, like every day and a half. It was a one-shot proposition.

I don't know whether Iran needs that oil or not. It was done through a company, an American oil company, a refinery. And they told me, the company sent me word that if we had a shortage of kerosene or home heating oil in the winter, that that company would buy extra kerosene or heating oil in other markets around the world and replace it for Americans.

So, there's no chance that we'll come up short. The oil was sold to Iran, I understand, at the market price, and if Iran should not need it, then it would probably be sold right at the market price.

I have not known about that statement until it happened today. But I will be sure that Americans don't come up short on kerosene or home heating oil, and the company that sold the oil to Iran has pledged to help me with that.

We sold it to Iran because they said they had a hardship case. And I think it was a good investment, because had we not cooperated with them—I can't claim that Iran would have cut off all oil sales to us, but they sell us a lot of oil every day.

This is a one-shot proposition amounting to about a day and a half of the oil we get from Iran.

WAYS TO CONSERVE ENERGY

Q. Welcome to Tampa, Mr. President. I'd like you to know that I've heard a lot of people say that they don't plan to cut back on energy consumption because they don't want to be the first ones to make the initial sacrifice. Until they see everyone else doing his part to conserve energy or until they're somehow forced to, they won't take action. How do you as leader and President plan to impress upon each and every individual of our country the importance and the real need to rally behind you and your energy guidelines? Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT. Let me say, first of all, that it's absolutely imperative that we do two things. One is for all Americans to save; there's no way that the Government can save for you. That's got to be something that 220 million Americans join in doing.

The second thing is that energy saving is not a sacrifice. For a family to drive the speed limit not only saves energy, but it saves lives and it's in accordance with the law. For a family to take a little money, either through a government loan or, if they can afford it, out of their own money, and insulate their homes so it doesn't take as much to cool it in the summer or heat it in the winter is an excellent investment, because you get back what you invested in less than 2 years and your home still maintains the same temperature; you just don't waste as much heat.

For a family to use a bicycle, if that's convenient, or maybe to walk sometimes. I jog every day for exercise. You know, I think it's a very good and pleasant thing to do.

A business has a tremendous cost-effectiveness; in other words, it's a profitable thing to save energy. I had a seminar this morning at Georgia Tech—and the chemical industry has already cut about 20 percent the amount of energy that they use to produce 1 pound of chemicals, and that means, in effect, 19 percent of their energy savings is going in to increase profits for them.

So, I think that a proper conservation effort, either in the proper design of a building, driving habits, habits around the home or around your job, is not a sacrifice. It can be a very pleasant thing to do, and it saves you money, because wasting energy costs money.

The cumulative effect of American savings can be a tremendous benefit to us all. In California, for instance, when they had the very serious gas lines, in just a few weeks the Californians changed their driving habits. And I would like to ask you when you drive home from this meeting today if you're in a car, see how many cars you meet only has one person or, at the most, two people. And, you know, for people to join together in going to work 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, obviously saves money if you share an automobile.

So, I think it's something that everyone has got to do. This problem is not going to go away. And for everybody to sit back and say, "I'11 wait for my neighbor to do it," is not only improper for your own life and costs you money, but it's unpatriotic. And this is the cheapest and easiest and most pleasant way to be a patriotic American I can think of. I hope everyone here will help me.

ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS

Q. Mr. President, recently Florida Power and Light was allowed to begin the use of high-sulfur fuel at the Parish plant in Manatee County with the permission of our Governor and the White House, over objections from residents and governments of Sarasota County. Florida Power and Light was trying to threaten us with blackouts, and I think with the recent fuel adjustments that we may have already had our blackout in a way, because fuel bills for many of our retired citizens are so high.

Also soon to be considered by the Senate, of course, is your energy and water development bill, H.R. 4388, which would exempt certain energy projects from environmental regulations and the Tellico Dam, which will, of course, undermine our Endangered Species Act.

In light of these, do you think we really need an energy mobilization board to further exempt energy projects and projects such as the Tellico Dam? How can we really preserve high environmental quality with the development of oil shale and synthetic fuels when we can't even preserve the present environmental standards with the present use of nuclear power, oil, and coal?

THE PRESIDENT. The Environmental Protection Agency has not lowered air pollution standards for Florida Power and Light, to my knowledge. They would be violating the law if they did. They have now set standards of 1.2 pounds of sulfur emissions per million Btu's, which is a very strict standard. Florida, when I was Governor-Florida derived about 85 percent, I think, of your electricity from oil. Georgia, which went to coal much earlier, derived about 85 percent of our electricity from coal.

It's important now that there be a shift away from oil toward natural gas in some instances and we're trying to negotiate with Mexico to get more natural gas from them—and coal, providing it is burned under circumstances that it can meet environmental standards set by law and rigidly enforced.

I do not approve of an energy production board law that would let that production board violate or change the provisions of law. The reason for the energy production board is to expedite a decision, one way or the other.

Instead of waiting 4 or 5 years to decide whether a refinery should be built or whether a gas pipeline should be built, or whether an electric power company generating plant should be built, that decision ought to be made expeditiously. And I don't want the law changed so that it can be built when it violates the law. So, I'm very insistent on the fact that environmental laws will be followed.

Now, I know that you are concerned about the quality of life here in Florida. So am I. And I can assure you that I will not do anything to lower the environmental standards in order to permit the burning of dirty fuel. I've been to a plant that burns soft coal just recently in Bardstown [Louisville],¹ Kentucky. And they've got scrubbers there that work. And we've authorized in the burning of low-sulfur coal the use of dry scrubbers. But with the use of scrubbers, which clean up the exhaust, I think that we can shift to coal without violating legal standards, EPA standards, or your standards on what the quality of the air should be.

¹ Printed in the transcript.

You mentioned the Tellleo Dam. I would not favor the passage of a law on the energy production board that would let them authorize a dam, through their action, that the law specifically prohibited.

Q. Right. Yes, sir. Also, sir, would you approve the Northern Tier pipeline proposed from Washington to the Midwest if that was exempted from environmental regulations?

THE PRESIDENT. Well, as you know, that pipeline is now prohibited from being constructed because of an amendment that won't let oil be unloaded in Puget Sound. And I am not in favor of the production board being able to change the law.

I am in favor of giving the production board adequate authority to expedite a decision and to shorten the procedure through which either a "go" or "no-go" questions. I think I have one.

DEFENSE BUDGET

Q. Mr. President, we're glad to have you here, and I know you like tough questions. I think I have one.

THE PRESIDENT. Right on.

Q. In the spirit of your 1976 campaign statements and, I think, almost pledge to transfer some of the billions from defense to meeting human needs, I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to urge Congress now to take, say, 10 percent of the defense budget and transfer it to government research in solar energy so that we might develop a true public utility that would uncover and make available at minimal cost to the public, solar energy resources, so that we'd be less dependent on foreign oil or nuclear power, which might lead to cataclysmic holocaust of war or nuclear accident?

THE PRESIDENT. Let me be really frank with you about this question. The windfall profits tax, if passed—and I believe it will be passed—will give us over the next 10 years an average of $14 billion that we can spend for solar power, the insulation of homes, the caring for poor families, better mass transit, synthetic fuels, and so forth. Combined with what we already have committed to solar power and other sources, my belief is that that will be adequate.

Our target is to have 20 percent of all the energy that we consume in this Nation come directly from the Sun by the year 2000. And with the windfall profits tax passed, there will not be financial limits on how fast we move to solar power.

The other part of your question: We have cut considerable fat and waste out of the Defense Department budget. But let me say this: The most important single responsibility that I have on my shoulders, above energy, above inflation, above any think else, is to guarantee the security of our Nation. And I cannot promise you that a single dollar that I spend on defense will ever be used—will ever be used—in combat.

I pray that our Nation will stay strong enough so that any potential adversary who might want to challenge us in a war would refrain from doing so. And I hope that the tanks and the submarines and the nuclear missiles and the airplanes that we produce for our Defense Establishment will never be used in combat and that we can stay at peace. But I want everybody to know that our Nation not only has the will and the unity and the strength and the commitment to protect freedom, to protect our own people, to protect our principles, but also that we have the military power that if anybody should challenge us, they would be committing suicide.

ENERGY PRICES

Q. Good evening, Mr. President. With the price of energy going up—²

²The speaker was interrupted by a disturbance in the audience, which continued throughout his question.

THE PRESIDENT. Go ahead.

Q. Mr. President, with the cost of energy going up and the economic plight of the poor, especially as reflected in the very high unemployment rate of blacks going down, what, sir, do you plan to do to help the poor of this Nation cope? And, finally, sir, if part of that plan depends on the passage of the windfall profit tax measure, do you have a backup plan if that should fail?

THE PRESIDENT. It's a free country.

The question is—I had a little trouble hearing—but I believe that the question was, what plans do I have to help the poor families as the energy costs go up, both to pay for the cost of heating and air conditioning and also to provide better transportation?

Q. The question was that, and also, if part of your plan depends on passage of the windfall profit tax measure, do you have a backup if that should fail?

THE PRESIDENT. Okay. The primary hope that we have adequately to meet the increased cost of energy for the poor families and the low- and middle-income families is with the windfall profits tax, because it's going to take a good bit of money. We have proposed $2.4 billion per year for 10 years to cover those costs and also a special allotment of a little over a billion dollars a year to improve metropolitan transportation systems. If the windfall profits tax does not pass, then we would not have nearly that much money to take care of those needs.

In the last few winters since I've been President, we've allotted about between $100 million and $200 million every winter to meet the special needs of very low income families, those that qualify for food stamps, if they had a very high cost of energy. And, of course, we've probably done more since I've been in office than any other administration in improving the quality of the rapid transit or mass transit systems.

But I don't want to mislead you. If the windfall profits tax does not pass, my answer is we will not have an adequate amount of money to take care of the families about whom you are concerned. We need the windfall profits tax.

MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT

Q. Mr. President—

Q. [Inaudible]—

THE PRESIDENT. Now, I'm not going to referee about who has the next question.

Q. I wasn't chosen to speak, but I've been trying to get to you since March of '77.

THE PRESIDENT. Why don't you—I will be glad to see you after the meeting's over if you let the lady ask the question.

Q. Yes.

THE PRESIDENT. Fine. Check with one of my staff members. Stu,³ would you let one of the staff members bring the lady around, and I'll be glad to see her after the meeting.

³ Stuart E. Eizenstat, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs and Policy.

FOOD PRICES

Q. President Carter, we're glad to see you. I want one thing to say is, and I'm sorry we had such rude people that had to come here to do this to your program. Second, I'd like to say, personally I'd like to thank you very highly for the pictures that you sent to our home of you and Rosalynn. They're on my TV set, and they'll stay there. And I know that you're here to talk about the energy crisis. And I cannot talk very much about that in the way that you talk about it. But I got one thing I want to say.

Will you please do something about our food prices, because every time us ladies go to the store, they're higher this week, next week they'll be higher than next week. And I would like to see you do something for us about our food prices. Can you or will you be able to freeze those prices so they will not go up any higher than they are today?

THE PRESIDENT. I think I can tell you that the last few weeks, for the first time, the retail food prices have begun leveling off, and the projections are that they will go down. We've got a very high production of pork and poultry, and those two meat supplies will help to force the price of beef down.

About 2 or 3 weeks ago, I met with the meat processors and distributors—as a matter of fact, pork prices peaked; they got to their highest point in February. Beef prices got to their highest point in April, to the farmer. But the people that process that meat and distribute it to the stores have been making too much profit. They have not passed on those low prices to the consumer.

They told me there was always a lag between the time the farmers' price dropped and the time they could pass it on to the consumers. But I think 4 months is too long a lag. Also, last winter when the price of pork and beef was going up, there wasn't much lag. I mean, they passed those prices on to the consumer pretty fast. But I can predict to you that the price of food is leveling off and will begin to go down shortly.

I'm not in favor of putting price controls, mandatory price controls on. It's been tried in the past with farm products. It has never worked. But we've got a tremendous production in this country of food. One of your biggest export items, as you know, is food. And I think that we'll see, with the increasing production on the farm, a moderation in food prices.

Our main concern now is the rapidly increasing price of energy. Food's going to get better.

Q. May I say something else, please?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes, ma'am.

Q. I'd like to say I think it's wonderful for the turnout that you have here today—

THE PRESIDENT. I do too.

Q.—not of only the older people, but I think you should give a little credit to these young generation that we have here, because one of these days they're going to be standing where you are and talking about things like they are to energy, the welfare, the schools, and everything else. But Tommy and I say God bless you, and thank you for coming and being here with us.

THE PRESIDENT. Thank you, ma'am.

I might say the young people in the back that had the banner which I couldn't read—it was already torn when I saw it-you know, this is a free country. And I'm President, and I think it's very good-even when people express themselves that way—I'm not embarrassed by it. I think the reaction of all of you, because you were disturbed, did its job. There's no need for me to embarrass them. So, I think it's a proper place in our country for people to raise a banner or to ask the President a difficult question or to shout out a criticism.

I don't have any problem with that. It's a free country. I want to keep it that way.

SOLAR ENERGY

Q. President Carter, first I'd like to say I'm getting a little tired of everybody giving you such a hard time in the press, you know. I think they need to—I think you've been doing a great job, and if you just hang in there, I think things will be a lot better for you.

THE PRESIDENT. Thank you.

Q. But one of the things—

THE PRESIDENT. You don't have to ask a question. That's good enough. [Laughter]

Q. No, I have to.

One of the things I'd like to show you that I did read in the paper was that you declared war on energy. What I've been doing with a few people—Warren Wether, Steve Cook, Mike Flanders was in 1976, these two architect students at Florida University developed a passive solar house that won the State of Florida competition and went to the finalist position in the United States. We've been working on that project for 3 years. We've done numerous things and talked to numerous governmental agencies. I went to Washington with a friend of mine, and we gave a piece of paper that I have here, I want you to read also—I have a little something I want you to take home, I think you'll find interesting to read. [Laughter]

I went to Washington and I went to 220 Congress and Senate offices, and I gave a piece of paper to each one, each aide or representative or someone. And out of 220 people that promised to write me a letter asking for more information about my solar houses, it was people like Congressman Gibbons and Senator Stone that wrote. Senator Stone and Congressman Gibbons have been doing a lot of help, but I'd like to know why, if we have these 220 people who are so concerned, why they don't even write me a letter to find out about this house that was the finalist position we've been working on for 3 years?

I think that we have a solution, a major solution to the energy housing problem. I've spent hundreds of dollars on phone calls. I've talked to numerous agencies. Everybody passes a buck; it's a total runaround system. I went to the Small Business Administration here; they told me they wouldn't even give me an energyrelated loan. The man further suggested that I take my project to Saudi Arabia and sell it to Saudi Arabians.

Not only that, when I was in Washington, I talked to a few aides—which I won't ever name. They suggested that I don't fool with the Government—the Government's a waste of my time, it's too much redtape—and I go out and find private investors. Well, you need money for private investors, because I don't want to go to jail with the SEC problems. We have spent $9,000 in 6 months on this project. The project is completed. We are ready to build the first prototype. We have no funds to build it.

You declared war on energy, and I agree it is a very big problem. Anytime my feelings are when somebody declares war on energy, you put all the money and all the effort into solving that immediately. We have right now a solar house. I won't quote anything on it, but I believe that I have the best design for a passive solar house that had so many things to offer people. Nowadays, people my age can't even dream of buying a house.

That I was on TV, we got 15 calls; people wanted to buy our house. I had to tell every one of them, "I'd like to sell you a house, but I can't sell it to you because we don't get any Government support." The governmental agencies pass the buck, the people want the house, and I—you know, it's gotten to the point where the project is ready. Today we can start on the prototype; next year we can offer passive solar houses using the greenhouse effect. That was a finalist position. So many wonderful things that I just don't understand what's wrong. [Audience reaction] Well, I'm sorry. I've worked so long on this project, and it's very depressing.

And it's gotten to the point where I'm beginning to wonder exactly what is happening in the Government when we can't even offer something to the people; when billions of dollars are spent on research and all we're talking about is just a very small amount of money to build our first prototype.

THE PRESIDENT. Let me ask you one question.

Q. The question is—

THE PRESIDENT. Let me ask you one question, and then I'll give you an answer. Do you think it's a good idea?

Q. Yes, sir. I do. The American Institute of Architects judged it a winner in the Florida competition and a finalist in the United States.

THE PRESIDENT. If you will come to the White House, I will look it over myself. And then I'll try to use my influence— [laughter] —to get you an appointment with the Secretary of Energy, Charles Duncan.

Q. Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT. And then I'll ask him to refer you to the Small Business Administration. [Laughter] I don't think you're going to have to go any further. If you've got a good idea, I guarantee you that you will get every hearing, including from me.

Q. When can I be up there to see you? [Laughter]

THE PRESIDENT. Whenever you want to come. Keech ⁴ right here will make an appointment for you. Okay?

⁴ Keech LeGrand, White House staff advance person.

Q. I'd like to give you also something to take with you, if I could.

THE PRESIDENT. I will also read your material on the way home tonight.

Q. Thank you.

ENERGY CONSERVATION

Q. Hello. Mr. President, with regards to the energy problems that we're facing today in America, I don't feel that the problem is in the quantity, but rather in the attitudes of the American public. I feel that no matter how much energy sources we have available, if they're not used wisely, we'll always be wanting. And my question to you is, what can be done, short of expensive advertising, to help the American public see the true cost of energy? And when I say the true cost, I'm not speaking only of the dollar amount but of the—as far as conservation, as far as to our wildlife, to the resources, to the air, to everything.

What can be done short of advertising, the way that we've been doing before, to push different things that are very worthwhile? What can be done to help the American public see that this is a worthwhile effort and if we don't take steps today, the few people that do have energy today because they can afford it, won't have energy tomorrow, because they will have wasted it all?

THE PRESIDENT. That's good.

In addition to advertising, there are many other things that can be done. I spent yesterday and the day before yesterday on the telephone calling different Members of the Congress around the Nation, just to see how they had spent their home working vacation, talking to people and listening. And for the first time in the history, I guess, of our Nation, the people believe that there is an energy problem. In the past, it's been very frustrating, because as you probably know, I've been on television, I made speeches to the Congress, and it was hard to get people to realize or to believe that we ought to do something. Now people believe it.

When I went down the Mississippi River the other day, I made, I think, 48-somebody said—little short speeches on energy to let people know that we have a problem and that doing something about it can be productive and pleasant and good for an American.

The reason I came to Tampa was because in Hillsborough County there are many buildings that have been designed in a very efficient way to save energy, including this school building and others that I won't name. The whole county has saved energy, and I wanted the American people, through the national press that's covering this meeting, to know that some communities in our Nation are already doing a good job.

The President's voice in a forum like this can convince people that every one of you ought to go home and sit down with your wife or your husband or mother, father, children, and say, "What can we do in our family to save energy and also, at the same time. to save money and also, at the same time, to help my country?"

The first and easiest way to cut down on oil imports, which rob us all, is to save. Then, the next thing is to turn toward the kinds of energy that never give out. The most obvious is solar power. Another one is derived from solar power. That's the production of energy from growing crops or from lumber or waste timber products.

We had a session this morning at Georgia Tech, all morning. People came there from all over the Nation, about 400 people, to describe to me new ideas about energy. And Georgia grows three times more energy in our woods every year than we use in the whole State, and if we just took the pine tree tops and the pine needles and the bark and changed that into energy, we could more than meet that we waste—I mean the waste part. We'd have more energy than we need, and the same with animal products. So, I think the thing is to, secondly, turn toward renewable energy supplies.

The third way to turn is to energy supplies that we have an awful lot of. We've got enough coal to last us 600 years, and we're now finding ways to burn coal cleanly so it doesn't mess up the air. And we ought to turn to coal. We've got additional supplies of oil and natural gas that we've not yet found in our country, so we don't have to import. We need to turn to those. Geothermal supplies—underneath the ground itself there's extremely hot steam and water. We can tap that. We're already doing that. So, that's the next thing to do.

The last way to do is to turn toward things that cost a lot but that might be used to fill in the gap, like synthetic fuels. It costs a lot of money. You can make oil out of shale rock and make oil out of coal, but to the extent that we save and use solar power and turn to our renewable supplies, we can cut down on the amount of synthetic fuels we use.

But for the American people to get educated and to believe we've got a problem is the first major step. But we will do what you say, but we'll also advertise and not only voluntary public service advertising that the radio and newspapers and television might do as a public service, but also we'll have some paid advertising to tell you and your families specifically this is what you can do.

I might add one other point. Almost every agency in the Federal Government now and many local governments are sending out little pamphlets like in welfare checks or social security checks, saying, "These are the things that you can do in your own home to save energy."

And last week—week before last—I sent every chief executive, every mayor and every chairman of every county commission in the whole United States, 6,000 of them, a letter, and I gave them ideas on what they could do in their own county to save energy. I used a few examples of people that are already doing a good job. And one of those few examples that I used was this county, because the leaders have already done it.

We've got a long way to go. We can get there.

SUPPORT FOR THE PRESIDENT

Hello.

Q. Mr. President, I voted for you in 1976. I campaigned for you, and I'm going to vote for your reelection in 1980.

THE PRESIDENT. Thank you. No answer yet.

Thank you.

WAYS TO CONSERVE ENERGY

Q. You see, I ride my bicycle to school every day. I was wondering, how else can we conserve energy?

THE PRESIDENT. What's your name?

Q. Patricia Kirby.

THE PRESIDENT. Okay. How old are you, Patricia?

Q. Eleven and a half.

THE PRESIDENT. Eleven and a half.

I hope you all heard. Patricia rides her bike to school every day, and she wants to know what other ways she can save energy. Well, I think you can talk to your parents and make sure that your mother and father—do you have any brothers and sisters old enough to drive?

Q. No.

THE PRESIDENT. Well, encourage them all to obey the speed limit.

Also, I think you might plan 1 day a week, the whole family get together, and say, "What can we do 1 day a week when we don't even use the automobile?," like going on a picnic, you know, or doing something—the whole family together-taking a hike, or maybe get your mother and daddy to go on a bike ride with you, like on a Saturday, instead of driving all over the place.

Another thing that you can do is to make sure that the lights in your home are turned out when they're not being used. And encourage your folks to set the thermostats as they should be—in the summertime not any lower than 78 degrees, and in the wintertime not any higher than 65 degrees. We've been doing that in the White House ever since the first day I got there.

And you can tell your mother and father that if they want to insulate their home that there's a tax credit that they can get to help them pay for that cost of making their home, your home, more efficient. And if they want to put in a solar heating unit to heat water in your house, then there's another tax credit of $2,000 that you can get for that.

So, there are a lot of little things that you can do around the house. One thing that you might do instead of using an electric clothesdrier, you might rig up a clothesline in the back of the yard and let the Sun dry the clothes, see?

So, I think the best thing for a family like yours to do is just to sit down some night and just go down and see who can think of the best ways in your house to save energy. And you can say, "The President told me to do these things." But see if you can come up with a better idea than the ones I've given you. Okay?

Thank you.

You're the same age as Amy. She'll be 12. She's a little more than 11 1/2. She rides a bike. [Laughter]

Thank you very much, Patricia.

Q. Well, there's one other thing I was—

Q. Mr. President—[inaudible]—very poor situation. Then they ask, after me. My question is not—[inaudible]. I'm not going to take the whole time. [Inaudible]-of vital importance to me and my friends.

THE PRESIDENT. Why don't you-Phil?⁵ We're almost out of time, and, Patricia, can I let the lady in the back ask another question, because she hasn't had one yet and she's been waiting. Thank you, beautiful.

Yes?

⁵Phillip J. Wise, Jr., Appointments Secretary to the President.

CONGRESSIONAL ACTION ON ENERGY

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to welcome you to our State and to our city, and to tell you that I am also a native Georgian. And I am a Carter before I married. Glad to have you here.

THE PRESIDENT. I'm always glad to meet my kinfolk. [Laughter]

Q. I want to compliment your staff. I have met with some of them. I see Keech over there. And they are a wonderful advance staff, and I was greatly pleased to have met with some of them.

Now, first, I'll make a statement, and then my question.

THE PRESIDENT. Okay.

Q. Since most Congressmen have been into Washington much longer than you have, and our problems have not arisen in the last 2 or 3 years, it seems we should start placing the blame for our problems on the shoulders of those who have helped create them.

Ever so many of our problems have been created by the lack of self-serving Congressmen sitting in Washington for many, many, many years.

Now, our question, Mr. President. Since oil and natural gas are finite elements, do you think you and we, the people, can get the Congress to listen to you and to us and help get us an energy program that will keep us the richest and the greatest and the freest nation on Earth?

Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT. First of all, let me say that there's enough blame to go around-the American people, former Governors, like I was during 1973 and 1974, Presidents, the Congress, the oil companies-there's enough blame for all of us. But I think the time has come for us not to throw rocks at each other and not try to find a place for a scapegoat, but to see what can we do in the future.

The House of Representatives, for instance—the Members of the House of Representatives have already passed the windfall profits tax. Now it's in the Senate, and it's up to the Senators to decide. But in the Senate the oil companies are concentrating an enormous lobbying effort.

In the past, the oil companies have had pretty much a free ride in Washington, because there never was a voice there of consumers, of average Americans. For the first time in the last 2 1/2 years, there's been an intense struggle, with my proposals on one side, which I think represent what the consumers need, and the oil companies on the other. The Congress has not yet been able to pass a single line of energy legislation concerning oil.

To answer your second question, I believe that before the Congress adjourns this year, they will pass the windfall profits tax and they will pass a law setting up a production corporation to produce synthetic fuels and others that we need, and also the production board that will make the decisions quickly on major energy projects.

So, let's don't blame one another now. Let's look to the future, and I believe the Congress will act this year, provided, provided all of you let the Members of Congress know how you feel.

I don't have time for another question.

Q. I want to give you something to take back. I've mailed them to the White House twice.

THE PRESIDENT. And they sent them back to you?

Q. And nobody will take them over there. May I give them to someone?

THE PRESIDENT. Of course.

Q. You should have them, believe me.

THE PRESIDENT. Yes, I'll be glad to take them.

Let me say this in closing. This has been a good session for me. I've learned from you, and I hope you've learned a little from me. And I think the main feeling that I have is that there's a belief that if we all act together, we can have a better life, a happier life, a more productive life, our country's security can be greater, our Nation can be unified more, families can be closer together.

So, it may be that facing this particular crisis or challenge of energy can go a long way toward healing some of the problems that our Nation has had too long.

I think for us to recognize that we've got to save and not waste is really compatible with what the Bible teaches. God doesn't want us to waste what He gives. I think the fact that we have to now share with each other is very good principle on which to base a family's style of living.

And I believe that Florida will prosper. I was talking to your Governor, who rode down with me in the plane from Atlanta, he and his wife, Adele. And the tourist industry, I don't believe, will suffer, because people know that with more efficient automobiles and better transportation systems and more care in preserving what we do have, that we can have that enjoyable life. And my guess is that over a period of time, work habits and work hours will be modified to give us more leisure time.

So, it may be that out of all of this struggle and strain and debate and argument and casting rocks at one another, we'll come up with an energy policy that will be adequate, that will give America a better life, and make—as I said many times on the river—and make the greatest nation on Earth, the United States of America, even greater in the future.