[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3404-S3405]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRAMS (for himself, Mr. Faircloth, Mr. Abraham, and Mr. 
        Stevens):
  S. 1678. A bill to abolish the Department of Energy, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


            THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ABOLISHMENT ACT OF 1996

 Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I am pleased to be introducing the 
Department of Energy Abolishment Act of 1996. I do this on behalf of 
the ratepayers and taxpayers in my home State of Minnesota and across 
America who have handed over their hard-earned dollars for years in 
exchange for a bloated bureaucracy. It is for their sake that we embark 
on this journey to bring real accountability to the Federal 
Government--the first step is the elimination of the Energy Department.
  In 1977, the U.S. Department of Energy, or DOE, was created to 
address the energy crisis which had paralyzed our Nation throughout 
that decade. It was assumed then that the creation of a Cabinet-level 
Energy Department would serve as a preemptive strike against future 
energy emergencies. But I'm sure that no one who served in Congress at 
that time envisioned the problems that DOE would create, rather than 
solve.
  I do not doubt that the DOE was established with good intentions, but 
like many of the relics of the seventies, it has outlived its 
usefulness and public support. And like many of the outdated and 
wasteful taxpayer-funded programs of that era, the DOE should come to 
an end.
  In my opinion, there are three main reasons for eliminating the DOE.
  First, the DOE serves no real mission.
  The DOE was created in response to the energy crisis and to protect 
us from similar emergencies in the future, a noble cause. Yet, the 
problems for which the DOE was established to address never 
materialized. Oil supplies eventually rose while prices dropped. The 
need for a national energy department became less apparent. Even so, 
the DOE continued to grow, with its bureaucrats working overtime to 
justify the Department's existence by branching out into areas only 
marginally related to national energy policy.
  Their effort is readily apparent when you realize that 85 percent of 
the DOE's budget is spent on activities with no direct relation to 
energy resources. The bulk of those dollars go toward the cleanup of 
radioactive waste from nuclear weapons facilities and for overseeing 
storage of our Nation's nuclear waste--programs better suited 
respectively for the Defense Department and the Army Corps of 
Engineers.
  I share the sentiments expressed by former Defense Secretary Caspar 
Weinberger who says: ``The Department of Defense, today, with the 
appropriate leadership and management, is the best place for 
responsibility for the nuclear weapons stockpile in all its aspects, to 
be vested, including clean-up activities. Maintaining a separate chain-
of-command, and all associated overhead in DOE is a costly and 
cumbersome arrangement that we can no longer afford.''
  The DOE is also responsible for national energy research--such as the 
development of alternative energy; promoting energy conservation; and 
ensuring affordable power and access to it by consumers. But after 
nearly 20 years and hundreds of billions of tax dollars, the DOE has 
little to show for it, except a few porkbarrel programs and a lot of 
excuses.
  Second, the DOE has failed to carry out the duties it has been 
handed.
  Perhaps the best example of this failure is the DOE's refusal to 
address the responsibility to accept and store our Nation's nuclear 
waste. There are 34 States, including my home State of Minnesota, with 
nuclear facilities in danger of running out of storage space for their 
spent nuclear fuel. In spite of this impending crisis and the DOE's 
legally mandated deadline of accepting nuclear waste by 1998, it has 
taken no real action in addressing the problem.
  Worse yet, through a surcharge on their monthly energy bills, 
electric utility customers have already contributed $11 billion to a 
nuclear waste trust fund established to create a permanent storage 
facility, nearly half of which the DOE has already spent. But as we 
approach 15 years of inaction on the part of the DOE, the waste still 
sits, posing a potential environmental risk to the people of Minnesota 
and across the country.
  Finally, the DOE is an affront to the taxpayers who are forced to 
watch nearly $16 billion of their hard-earned dollars go each year to 
feed this bureaucratic monstrosity.
  It currently takes 20,000 Federal bureaucrats and another 150,000 
contract workers to carry out the DOE's agenda. Even in the absence of 
another energy crisis like that which led to its creation, the DOE's 
budget has grown by 235 percent since 1977--a particularly alarming 
figure given our current national debt of over $5 trillion.
  In his State of the Union Address, President Clinton declared that 
``the era of big government is over.'' And I agree. What better way to 
carry out this pledge than to start dismantling an agency with no 
mission, no purpose and no legitimate future? That is exactly what the 
Department of Energy Abolishment Act does.
  As this chart shows, our legislation would dismantle the DOE, while 
transferring the legitimate functions of government to other agencies 
and departments. In doing so, it will eliminate DOE's upper-level 
bureaucracy, saving taxpayers an estimated $19 to $23 billion over 5 
years and $5 to $7 billion annually thereafter--a refreshing change for 
the millions of Americans who filed their tax returns yesterday.
  At the same time, it will peel away another level of Federal 
bureaucracy which has grown at the expense, not benefit, of the 
taxpayers, while addressing the future energy needs of this Nation.
  Most importantly, it will send a clear signal to the American people 
that Congress heard their message in the elections of 1994 and is 
prepared to protect the taxpayers by giving them a smaller, more 
effective Government.
  First, the Department of Energy Abolishment Act accomplish these 
goals by immediately eliminating the Cabinet-level status of the DOE 
and creating a 3-year resolution agency to oversee the transfer, 
privatization and elimination of the various DOE programs and 
functions. Then, the legislation sets about dismantling the DOE 
structure.
  Under title I of the bill, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
[FERC] is transformed into an independent agency. This is similar to 
the FERC status prior to the creation of the DOE.
  The pending cases before the Energy Regulatory Administration [ERA] 
are transferred to the Department of Justice with a 1-year resolution 
deadline. Furthermore, the DOJ is instructed to utilize alternative 
dispute resolution whenever possible.
  The activities of the Energy Information Administration [EIA] are 
transferred to the Department of Interior [DOI], which will have the 
discretion of maintaining or privatizing EIA activities.
  The basic science and energy programs within the DOE structure are 
handled in two ways. Those activities not being conducted by the DOE 
laboratory facilities are transferred immediately to the DOI. Once at 
the DOI, the Secretary of Interior has the discretion of determining 
which functions or programs constitute basic research and can recommend 
transfer to the National Science Foundation [NSF] for further study and 
recommendation by an independent science commission which is also 
established to look at the DOE labs.

[[Page S3405]]

  For those activities which are more commercial in nature, the 
Secretary has 1 year to recommend to the Congress a plan for permanent 
disposition of these functions. These activities can then be assumed by 
the private sector, focusing Government dollars toward fundamental 
research initiatives.
  Under title II of the bill, the three defense labs--Sandia, Lawrence 
Livermore, and Los Alamos--are all transferred to the Department of 
Defense under the civilian management and control of a new defense 
nuclear programs agency. The remaining nondefense laboratories are 
transferred to the NSF for review by a non-defense energy laboratory 
commission. The Commission can recommend restructuring, privatization 
or concur with the bills closure language.
  Furthermore, if the commission identifies additional labs or 
functions which are national security related, the commission can 
recommend a transfer of functions to one of the defense labs or a 
transfer of those facilities to the DOD.
  Once the commission has submitted its recommendations, Congress has 
fast-track authority to consider the report and enact the 
recommendations. Failure by Congress to act will result in closure of 
facilities within 18 months of the reports issuance.
  Under title III of the bill, the Power Marketing Administrations 
[PMA's]--Bonneville, Southeastern, Southwestern, and Western--are 
transferred to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The General Accounting 
Office is then instructed to conduct an inventory of the PMA assets and 
liabilities. The GAO is then instructed to perform a study of the 
options available which protect the interests of the current customers 
and taxpayers and submit it to the Congress.
  The Strategic Petroleum Reserve [SPR] and the Naval Petroleum Reserve 
are addressed under title IV of the bill. The SPR is transferred to the 
DOD where a GAO study is ordered to determine alternatives to 
maintaining the reserves. Once complete, the Secretary of DOD has the 
discretion to determine the amount to maintain or sell. The Naval 
Petroleum Reserve, however, is ordered to be sold within 3 years under 
the direction of the resolution administrator. If the sale is not 
completed within this timeframe, the Secretary of Interior is 
instructed to administer the balance of the sale.
  The largest portion of the DOE's budget, defense-related provisions, 
are addressed under titles V & VI of the legislation. All national 
security and environmental management programs are transferred to a 
newly created, civilian-controlled Defense Nuclear Programs Agency 
[DNPA]. This includes stewardship of the weapons production facilities 
and the stockpile.
  The environmental restoration activities at the defense nuclear 
facilities are also transferred to the new DNPA to coordinate ongoing 
DOD cleanup activities. DOE's current cleanup programs have wasted 
billions of dollars with little progress in their efforts at sites such 
as Hanford. This transfer is aimed at refocusing taxpayer dollars to 
cleanup, rather than duplicative bureaucracies.
  Title VII of the legislation transfers the civilian waste program to 
the Army Corps of Engineers. Site characterization activities continue 
at the Yucca Mountain site, and Area 25 of the Nevada Test Site is 
named as the interim storage site. This temporary site is consistent 
with legislation currently pending before the U.S. Senate. Also, the 
GAO is instructed to conduct a study of options for program 
privatization initiatives. These changes to the civilian waste program 
represent the best way to ensure the Federal Government meets its 
obligation to begin accepting waste by 1998.
  The merits and importance of this legislation have been recognized 
not only by Secretary Weinberger, but also by two men who know the DOE 
inside and out--former Energy Secretaries Donald Hodel and John 
Herrington. I am delighted that our legislation has their support, as 
well as the support of the Cato Institute, the Competitive Enterprise 
Institute, and Citizens Against Government Waste.
  I would like to close by quoting Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton 
Friedman who in 1977 likened a national energy agency to a Trojan 
Horse, saying ``[I]t enthrones a bureaucracy that would have a self-
interest in expanding in size and power and would have the means to do 
so.''
  Over the years, we have witnessed Dr. Friedman's prediction come 
true--and all at the cost of hundreds of billions of wasted taxpayers' 
dollars. As a result, the DOE has managed to see its 19th anniversary 
this year. It should not be around for its 20th. It is time to put this 
Trojan Horse out to pasture. 

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