Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "7342015",
    "label": "Energy Policy and Conservation Act (S. 622) [Fact Sheet]",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7342015"
}

{
    "id": "7342015",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7342015",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Energy Policy and Conservation Act (S. 622) [Fact Sheet]",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7342015",
    "collections": [
        "White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)",
        "Press Releases"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "U.S. Senate. (03/04/1789 - )",
        "Legislation"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/3420/7342015/content/library/document/0248/whpr19751222-016.pdf",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/3420/7342015/content/library/document/0248/whpr19751222-016.pdf",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/3420/7342015/content/library/document/0248/whpr19751222-016.pdf",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7342015",
    "naId": 7342015,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 22,
            "logicalDate": "1975-12-22",
            "month": 12,
            "year": 1975
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/3420/7342015/content/library/document/0248/whpr19751222-016.pdf",
    "mediaId": "f724d40ee9281f71",
    "ocrText": "Digitized from Box 19 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nEMBARGOED FOR RELEASE\nDECEMBER 22, 1975\nUNTIL 12:00 NOON EST\nOffice of the White House Press Secretary\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nFACT SHEET\nENERGY POLICY AND CONSERVATION ACT (s. 622)\nTHE PRESIDENT TODAY:\nSigned the Energy Policy and Conservation Act,\nS. 622, which establishes a modified system of\ncrude oil price controls that would be phased\nout in 40 months and provides four major elements\nof the comprehensive energy legislation he requested\nlast January.\nAnnounced that he was removing, effective today,\nthe $2 per barrel import fee on crude oil that\nhe previously imposed to reduce imports and\nstimulate action on energy independence legislation.\nIndicated he was urging Congress to move immediately\non other pending energy legislation after its\ncurrent recess.\nDirected the Administrator of FEA to take the\nnecessary steps to remove allocation and price\ncontrols (other than those on crude prices)\nfrom a major segment of the petroleum industry\nas soon as possible, in order to return much of\nthe industry to a free market.\nBACKGROUND\nIn his State of the Union Message last January,\nthe President announced specific goals to achieve\nenergy independence.\nAlso in January, the President proposed compre-\nhensive legislation to conserve energy, increase\ndomestic energy production, and provide strategic\nreserves and standby authorities to cope with\nany future embargo.\nBeginning in February, the President imposed a\nfee on imported oil to reduce imports and\nstimulate Congressional action on national\nenergy policy legislation.\nmore\n2\nDuring the past year, the President frequently met\nwith Congressional leaders on his proposed energy\nprogram. At the request of Congressional Leadership,\nhe delayed implementation of planned import fees and\napproved temporary extensions in the existing\nallocation and price control authority in order\nto give Congress more time to develop acceptable\nenergy legislation.\nIn addition to the new legislation, progress toward\nthe President's energy independence goals include:\n- oil imports are about one million barrels per\nday less than estimated one year ago, due pri-\nmarily to conservation actions by consumers\nand industry and better than expected weather\nconditions.\n- near final action in the Congress on other\nAdministration proposals, including\nproduction from Naval Petroleum Reserves,\nderegulation of new natural gas prices, estab-\nlishing thermal efficiency standards for new\nbuildings, and weatherization assistance for\nlow-income persons.\nPRINCIPAL PROVISIONS OF THE BILL\nThe principal provisions of the Energy Policy and Conservation\nAct (S. 622) are:\nPricing Provisions (amends Emergency Petroleum Allocation\nAct)\n- Under the existing system of price controls, \"old\"\ncrude oil is subject to an average limit of $5.25\nper barrel, and new oil is uncontrolled.\n- Under the new system, the average price for all\ndomestic crude oil is subject to a composite\nprice limit of $7.66, which\ncan be adjusted\nupward. Assuming old oil is controlled at $5.25,\nnew oil would be controlled initially at $11.28\nper barrel.\n- The $7.66 composite price can be increased monthly at\nthe President's discretion:\nTo adjust for inflation.\nTo provide a production incentive of not more\nthan three percent per year.\nThe two adjustments together may not exceed\n10% per year.\n- In addition, each 90 days following February 1,\n1976, the Administration may take steps to adjust\nupward the 3% production incentive and the 10%\noverall adjustment limitation. This is subject\nto disapproval by either House of Congress within\n15 days.\nmore\n3\n- To continue any production incentive after\nFebruary 15, 1977, the Administration must\nmake a recommendation to Congress which is\nalso subject to disapproval by either House\nwithin 15 days.\n- After April, 1977, Alaskan oil can be excluded\nfrom the composite price calculation upon a\nrecommendation from the Administration that is\nnot disapproved by either House within 15 days.\n- The mandatory control program converts auto-\nmatically to a discretionary program at the\nend of 40 months.\n- The President is directed to review the current\nregulatory system and to dismantle as much of\nthe current program (other than crude oil prices)\nas possible. This includes the price and alloca-\ntion controls on wholesalers and retailers, which\nare the bulk of those currently controlled by\nFEA. Each such deregulation action is permanent,\nif not disapproved by either House of Congress\nwithin 15 days.\nOther Provisions\nThe other provisions of S. 622 contain several elements\nof the President's comprehensive energy program.\nThese include:\n- Strategic petroleum reserves similar to the\nprogram proposed by the President. This program\nwill establish storage of at least 150 million\nbarrels of petroleum within three years and up\nto 400 million barrels in seven years. Although\nnot tied directly to production from the Naval\nPetroleum Reserve (NPR) #1 (Elk Hills, Calif.),\nit is expected that NPR legislation now before\nthe Congress will make the important connection\nbetween revenues from NPR-1 and the strategic\npetroleum reserves.\n- Standby energy emergency authorities that provide\nmost of the standby authorities requested by the\nPresident to deal with severe energy emergencies\nthat may arise in the future. The President must\ndevelop contingency plans in six months, which\nwill be reviewed by the Congress prior to implemen-\ntation.\n- International energy authorities which are necessary\nto allow the United States to participate fully in\nthe International Energy Program.\n- Coal conversion authorities to permit the conversion\nof oil and gas fired utility and industrial boilers\nto coal. An extension of this authority was\nrequested by the President in January.\nmore\n4\n- Appliance labelling provisions that will require\nappliance manufacturers to provide energy ef-\nficiency information to consumers on major\nappliances and set voluntary energy efficiency\ntargets for the industry.\n- Automobile efficiency standards for 1980 agreed\nto on a voluntary basis earlier this year are\nmade mandatory in this bill. In addition, the\nbill sets mandatory standards for 1985. These\nstandards will have to be evaluated for tech-\nnological and economic feasibility, and changes\nwill be submitted to the Congress, if appropriate.\nThe bill contains several other provisions including:\n- General Accounting Office audits giving the\nComptroller General authority to audit the records\nof persons and companies who are now required to\nsubmit energy data to the Federal government.\n- Industrial energy conservation targets are\nestablished for the ten leading energy consuming\nindustries and are to be monitored by FEA.\n- Coal loan guarantees providing financial assistance\nto companies opening new coal mines that cannot\nobtain credit from private markets.\n- Conservation grants to the States to assist in\nthe development and implementation of energy\nconservation programs.\n- Export controls and material allocation authorities\nto enhance the Federal government's ability to respond\nto energy emergencies.\n- Mandatory conservation standards for Federal agencies\nto further improve the energy practices of the\nFederal government.\nIMPACTS OF THE BILL\nThe bill will initially reduce the average price of\ndomestic crude oil by about $1.00 per barrel. This\nchange could reduce retail prices by as much as approxi-\nmately 1 cent per gallon from today's levels. By way of\ncontrast, immediate decontrol could have raised prices\nat the retail level by about 5 - 6 cents per gallon.\nCompared to imports projected under the current price\ncontrol program:\n- imports probably will increase by approximately\n150,000 barrels per day by the end of 1976, due\nto lower initial prices.\n- imports probably will be about 200,000 barrels\nper day less after three years, due to future\nprice increases allowed by the bill.\nRemoval of price controls at the end of 40 months should\nincrease domestic production by more than one million\nbarrels per day by 1985 and reduce imports by about\nthree million barrels per day.\nmore\n5\nOther provisions of the bill will further reduce the\nNation's dependency on foreign oil. The automobile\nefficiency standards, appliance labelling provisions,\nand extension of the coal conversion authorities could\nreduce imports by almost two million barrels per day by\n1985. The strategic petroleum reserve and standby\nauthorities in the bill will enable the Nation to with-\nstand a future embargo of about four million barrels\nper day.\nNEXT STEPS\nCurrent oil price controls will remain in effect\nuntil FEA promulgates a rule to implement the new\ncomposite price control system. The new rule must\nbe effective no later than February 1, 1976.\nFEA contemplates continuation of a basic two-tier\npricing system for domestic oil with new oil prices\nhigh enough to insure adequate incentive for\nexploration and development of new fields. The\nfinal structure of domestic prices will be determined\nthrough a rule-making procedure to allow all interested\nparties an opportunity to express their views on the\nbest pricing program.\nThe price program that FEA envisions for the entire\n40 month program, including the monthly application\nof the price escalators allowed in the bill and the\ndistribution of these escalators among various\ncategories of oil, must be in place by March 1,\n1976.\nFEA will take steps to remove price and allocation\ncontrols on those parts of the petroleum industry\nthat are downstream from the refinery, primarily\nproduct wholesalers and retailers. The objective\nof this effort will be to once again allow the\nmarketplace to operate $0 that consumers are not\npenalized by an unnecessary regulatory program.\n####"
}