[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11944-S11946]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    THANKS TO STAFF OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

  Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. President, when I first came to the Senate, I was 
assigned to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, which we of 
course know today as the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. As 
I prepare to finish my Senate career, I look back on my years on that 
committee as the source of the most rewarding and intellectually 
stimulating challenges of my years here. From the Arab embargo of 1973 
to the natural gas wars of 1978, from the complex Alaska land issues of 
the early 1980's to the National Energy Policy Act of 1992, we have 
been engaged in vitally important work that is often long on complexity 
and short on glamour.
  I am proud of the record we achieved, not only during my 8 years as 
chairman, but throughout my service, and I wish today to say thank you 
to a professional staff unlike any other, one which has served the 
committee and the country so well over the years.
  Some of the best minds in the country have served on the committee 
staff over the years.
  Whatever their reasons for coming, I believe most stayed and relished 
their time there because they found themselves in the company of other 
keen minds, and they knew that their mission would not be mortgaged to 
politics and that their task was to find honest, pragmatic, workable 
solutions to vexing problems. Almost all of them have gone on to 
rewarding careers in government and business, and I can only hope they 
were as enriched by their experience as the public product was by their 
service.
  Luckily for me, some of the very best and brightest have remained to 
assist me as my service in this body comes to a close.
  One of those staff members who has served me the longest and with 
particular distinction is the minority staff director of the committee, 
Dr. Ben Cooper. About the time I joined the committee, we became 
involved in the development of national energy policy in response to 
the crude oil supply interruptions in the Middle East that were 
disrupting our domestic economy. The committee has continued to be 
involved deeply in this issue, as indicated

[[Page S11945]]

by its current name, which was attached to the committee during the 
reorganization of Senate committees that occured in early 1977.
  Shortly after I joined the committee, a long-haired doctor of physics 
joined the Democratic committee staff from the University of Iowa, 
where he had been an instructor. He first joined the staff as a 
congressional science fellow employed by the then-chairman, our dear 
departed colleague, Senator Henry M. Jackson. Since those early days, I 
have worked closely with Ben, who officially became part of my staff in 
1981, when I became ranking minority member of the committee. Ben has 
continued with me through my chairmanship of the committee and through 
our return to the minority.
  Mr. President, there can be no better staff than Dr. Ben Cooper. He 
is perhaps the only remaining staff of either the House or Senate who 
has a complete institutional memory of the evolution of modern Federal 
energy policy. Ben has been active on energy issues that range from 
crude oil pricing to natural gas deregulation to the current electric 
restructuring debate. Ben is particularly an expert on nuclear policy, 
as would be expected from his physics background. I can say without 
reservation that Ben has played an active and, usually, key staff role 
on every piece of legislation relating to nuclear matters that has been 
considered by Congress in the last 20 years. In addition, Ben has 
played a key role on non-energy-related legislation ranging from public 
lands legislation to the risk assessment legislation that has been 
considered by the Senate during the last two Congresses.
  Mr. President, throughout his long career as Senate staff, Ben has 
earned a reputation for honesty and professionalism both among the 
staff and Members of the House and Senate. Unfortunately for the Senate 
and, I believe, the process of developing sound public policy, Ben has 
indicated that he will be leaving the Senate by the end of the year to 
pursue new challenges.
  Mr. President, my friendship with Ben Cooper will continue, but our 
daily interaction is not likely to continue, and I will miss Ben's 
daily good counsel tremendously. I commend Ben for a career well spent 
and well-conducted, congratulate him on the contribution he has made to 
our Nation and wish him the best in his future pursuits.
  The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has been fortunate 
to have a second long-term Democratic staff member who is as eminent in 
his field as Dr. Cooper is in the field of energy policy. I refer, of 
course, to Tom Williams, who is without equal in his knowledge of 
Federal policy toward public lands, national parks, the United States 
Forest Service and a variety of lands issues relating to the great 
State of Alaska.
  Tom joined the Democratic committee staff of the committee in 1973 
and has continued his service with the committee through today, except 
for a brief interlude at the Department of the Interior early in the 
current administration. During his service with the committee, Tom has 
served as key staff on every public lands and national parks bill that 
has been considered or enacted by the Senate. No staff member in the 
Congress has a greater institutional knowledge of these important, and 
often divisive issues that are often at once arcane and tremendously 
important both to the Nation as a whole and to individuals that may be 
affected directly by Federal policy.
  I have had the pleasure of considering Tom my staff since I became 
ranking member of the committee in 1981. Throughout that period of 
time, I have valued Tom's counsel not only on the parks and lands 
issues, but on a host of other issues including the mining reform 
legislation that has been considered by the committee in the past 
several Congresses. Tom has the ability to counsel wisely and honestly 
on the various policy options available and on the often diametrically 
opposed arguments of industry and the environmental community. Tom has 
that great ability, shared by Ben Cooper and many of my staff, to 
remain calm and professional in the midst of the hottest and most 
divisive debates. For that reason, among others, Tom Williams has 
earned an excellent reputation among Members and staff alike in both 
the House and Senate.
  Mr. President, I will miss my daily interaction with Tom, but I 
understand that Tom's talents will not be lost to the Senate or the 
public. I understand that Tom desires to continue in his service and I 
am sure that my colleague and friend, the senior Senator from Arkansas, 
who will become the ranking Democrat on the committee, will continue 
Tom's service with the committee.
  Mr. President, I extend my thanks to Tom for his service and counsel 
to me and for his friendship and I am pleased that the committee and 
the Senate will continue to have access to Tom's talents and service.
  A uniquely talented attorney serves as minority chief counsel of the 
committee: Sam Fowler. Sam has a long history of distinguished public 
service, first with the Smithsonian Institution, then with the 
President's Council on Environmental Quality, next with the House 
Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and, finally, beginning in 1991, 
with our committee.
  Mr. President, Sam is a lawyer's lawyer. If Sam says the law says X, 
then you can be sure that the law says X. He is one of the most 
fastidious and careful researchers I have ever encountered. He has a 
special talent for expressing himself through the written word in a 
concise and precise manner.
  Sam has staffed many issues in which I have taken particular 
interest. Perhaps in no area has his contribution been any greater than 
in the area of nuclear policy. Sam has exhibited the rare talent, at 
least among lawyers, for mastering the scientific terms and concepts 
associated with the development of nuclear power and the safe disposal 
of nuclear waste.
  Finally, Mr. President, I would be remiss if I did not mention one 
other activity of Sam's that has enlightened and enriched my life and 
those of the committee staff. Sam, on his own time, prepares incisive 
memoranda that trace the history and development of various aspects of 
the institution of republican government. Among his topics have been a 
history of gift rules, privileged motions, and the evolution of the 
modern State of the Union Address. This aspect of Sam's life 
illustrates his wonderful intellectual curiosity that is so vital in 
good staff.
  Mr. President, Sam is a treasure of the committee, a treasure I will 
miss greatly.
  In 1993, I learned that Bob Simon of the Department of Energy would 
be detailed to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Bob had 
started working for the Department during the Bush administration, and 
my staff director, Ben Cooper, told me of the high regard he had for 
Bob's acumen and integrity. I can say now from the perspective of 3 
years later that Ben's endorsement, strong though it was, has turned 
out to be an understatement.
  While many agency detailees treat their time with congressional 
offices as something like school without the examinations, Bob took his 
opportunity very seriously and began distinguishing himself almost 
immediately by his deft and thorough handling of difficult issues. 
Since coming on board, Bob has won the respect and admiration of his 
colleagues on the staff and the trust of the members who rely on his 
work, and he has demonstrated his possession of a rare combination of 
attributes--intellectual and technical mastery, outstanding political 
and strategic judgment, and complete reliability--which has made his 
work extremely valuable.
  I want to express my sincere appreciation for Bob Simon's hard work 
and dedication, and I wish him the very best in the future.
  No subject has presented more of a challenge to my committee or 
consumed more of our time than the vast issue of electricity 
deregulation, and I am frank to say that the sterling work done by 
Betsy Moeller, Don Santa and Bill Conway raised the bar significantly 
on my expectations for staff work in this area.
  I am pleased to say that Cliff Sikora, whom we enticed to come from 
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has more than met those 
standards. I am persuaded that no one in the country has a more 
commanding overall grasp of the thorny issue of electricity 
deregulation than Cliff, and he has done an exceptional job of bringing 
those talents to bear to assist me and other members of the committee 
in our deliberations in the scant year or so that he has been on the 
staff.

[[Page S11946]]

  David Brooks came over from the House Interior Committee to join our 
staff in 1989. He has played a major role in shaping much of this 
country's recent policy on public lands, national parks and historic 
preservation. The California Desert Protection Act is one such example 
of David's craftsmanship. And there could be no more appropriate bill 
with which to associate David--whom we often refer to as the third 
Senator from Arizona--than the Arizona Wilderness Act, to which he 
devoted his unstinting attention. If we are fortunate enough to see 
enactment of the pending omnibus parks bill before the end of this 
Congress, it will owe in significant measure to David's determination 
and negotiating skills. His great knowledge and exemplary work ethic 
have added so much to the work of our committee, and I am most 
grateful.
  Vicki Thorne, through her years as majority and minority office 
manager and clerk, has performed the unsung, often unnoticed, but 
always critical job of keeping the committee running, whether in 
organizing hearings, supervising publications or playing den mother to 
a large and diverse family of staff. Her efficiency has been matched 
only by an equable temperament and warm smile that enabled her and us 
to get our way far more often than not. She has my deepest thanks.

                          ____________________