[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 145 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          THE USE OF PERMANENT PAPER FOR HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I was recently contacted by the New York 
Public Library regarding the Federal Government's policy on the use of 
recycled paper and a possible conflict between the President's 
Executive order on recycling, Executive Order 12873, and the 
requirement of Public Law 101-423 that permanent paper be used for 
historical documents. Happily, this matter seems to have been resolved 
to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. Fran McPoland, Federal 
environmental executive at the Environmental Protection Agency, has 
written the New York Public Library that the requirement for the use of 
recycled paper does not conflict in any way with the requirement for 
the use of permanent paper for historical documents. The administration 
fully intends to use permanent paper for documents of enduring historic 
value.
  The Federal environmental executive was appointed by the authority of 
Executive Order 12873. One of the roles of the Federal environmental 
executive will be to assist individual agencies in the development of 
specifications to fulfill the requirements of both the Executive order 
on recycling and the joint resolution on permanent paper. Executive 
Order 12873 also called for the appointment of agency environmental 
executives in each executive department and major procuring agency.
  Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, I ask unanimous 
consent that a letter from Federal Environmental Executive Fran 
McPoland to Paul LeClerc, president of the New York Public Library, be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:
                                             Office of the Federal


                                      Environmental Executive,

                                    Washington, DC, July 19, 1994.
     Mr. Paul LeClerc,
     President, The New York Public Library, New York, NY
       Dear Mr. LeClerc; As the Federal Environmental Executive 
     appointed by the authority of the President's Executive Order 
     on Recycling, I am in the receipt of your communication 
     regarding the necessity to ensure that the federal 
     government's use of recycled paper not be perceived to be in 
     conflict with P.L. 101-423's requirement to use permanent 
     paper for documents of enduring historical value. I am 
     writing to assure you that there is no such conflict, and to 
     tell you of the steps this Administration is taking to ensure 
     that the recycled paper requirements are not implemented in 
     such a way as to result in the inappropriate use of acidic 
     paper.
       The Administration is completely aware of and strongly 
     supports the Joint Resolution on permanent paper and its 
     goals. Paper which contains recycled material and is either 
     permanent of alkaline is available for purchase, and it is 
     our intention to continue to use these papers for documents 
     of enduring value.
       I will be working with the individual agencies to develop 
     specifications to fulfill the goals of the Executive Order 
     and the Joint Resolution. Executive Order 12873 called for 
     the appointment of Agency Environmental Executives for each 
     Executive department and major procuring agency, in addition 
     to a Federal Environmental Executive within EPA, the position 
     to which I have recently been appointed. I intend to transmit 
     a copy of this letter to all Agency Environmental Executives 
     in order to restate our position that the requirements for 
     use of recycled paper are not to conflict in any way with the 
     concurrent requirement for permanent paper use. Furthermore, 
     I am meeting this week with the Agency Environmental 
     Executives, and I intend to discuss and reaffirm our 
     commitment to the use of permanent or alkaline paper during 
     this meeting. I will be continuing to work closely with these 
     executives to ensure on-going sensitivity to this issue as we 
     implement Executive Order 12873.
       I very much appreciate your interest and concern for the 
     permanence of historical documents, and applaud your efforts 
     to reduce the use of acid papers by the federal government. 
     We fully share your concern, and I look forward to continuing 
     to work with you on issues of recycling and paper permanence.
           Sincerely,
                                                    Fran McPoland,
     Federal Environmental Executive.

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