A new Cabinet department and an almost unwrapped package
While friends and congressional supporters applauded, Jimmy Carter whipped out a black pen and scrawled his signature across an inch-thick bill. With that simple ceremony in the White House Rose Garden last week, the President brought into being the Department of Energy, the first new Cabinet agency to be established since the creation of the Department of Transportation in 1966. In another Rose Garden ceremony at week's end, James Schlesinger, whose confirmation hearings were held even before the department formally existed, was sworn in as the first Secretary of Energy.
It was a fitting climax to a week that witnessed an impressive flurry of successes for Carter's energy program. At the onset of his presidency, Carter had selected energy as the test case by which he was willing to be judged. Now, only 130 days after he sent his first energy message to Congress, the results were rolling in faster and more favorably than almost anyone had dared to predict.
In addition to the creation of the Department of Energy, the House last week passed the President's package of energy legislation almost unwrapped; no more than a few ribbons were torn off. The Senate is likely to act favorably on it when Congress returns next month from its August recess. Carter also signed into law the first federal strip-mining bill, which requires mining operators to restore excavated areas to their original soil condition and contours. The legislation is regarded as essential to remove the uncertainties that have prevented mining companies from making the huge investments necessary to bring about the two-thirds increase in coal production that Carter wants by 1985.
The President's victory was all the more surprising because during the past few months his program often seemed to be in trouble. Part of the problem was Carter himself. In late April, when he introduced his package, he pulled out all stops, calling it "the moral equivalent of war." Within a few days, he retreated from that overheated rhetoric and talked down the sacrifices that his program might cause. Many people were left wondering whether there really was an energy crisis. Meanwhile, opposition to the presidential package began heating up on several fronts. The big oil companies criticized the program as lacking incentives for exploration. Conservationists bemoaned the President's emphasis on increased use of coal, which they consider an ugly pollutant.
Yet, even as the critics protested, Carter's program was being efficiently spirited through the mazes of congressional committees. Taking personal charge of the legislation, House Speaker Tip O'Neill set up a special ad hoc energy committee under Ohio Democrat Thomas ("Lud") Ashley. That committee's job was to mold into one hill the legislation that emerged from various committees. Even as those hearings were under way, the House and Senate were also studying Carter's other keystone energy proposal—a bill to create a new Department of Energy.