th'jrsdsy octohr 2 1975
daily nebraskan
page 7
V:. '
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to the people
ic conference
Photo by Tad Kirtc
Nil officials, Omaha mayor 'pleased'
Agriculture Earl Butz
Photo by fad Kirk
iff
t rtwto by Kmln Hfctoy
1 the Environmental Protection Agency .
Ho that the United States and have jxperi
Rental stations , studying energy
alternatives. ,
2 He said part of San Francisco's electric-
comes from geothermal generators.
, "You can actually inject water into the
. I ,earth onto seiralcally active layers and
J - produce steam to drive a generator," he
we said. "Someday wo will be able to do it
n ost anywhere In the world."
, Nuclear power has certain risks, accord
Ion mg to Trali) bu ha said most of those risks
Jr result of poor quality control when
2" plants are built. Ha said nuclear fusion '
31 P0Wer Plants are probably 20 to 25 years
k ' ? tha tUf ff tha United States, but will
inexpensive and sfr.
By Rex Seline
Omaha-An informal Daily Nebraskan
check of three University officials and
Omaha Mayor Ed Zorinsky indicated they
were pleased with Wednesday's White
House Conference on Domestic and Eco
nomic Affairs and what it attempted to do.
All four attended parts of the- confer
ence as delegates.
NU President D.B. Varner termed the
gathering "outstanding" while University
of Nebraska at Omaha Chancellor Ronald
Roskens called it a "very productive
experience."
UNL Student Regent Jim Say asserted
that there was a certain political air about
the day's proceedings.
Zorinsky said he thought the conference
went well "considering the time constraints
put on according to the number of people
participating."
Varner commented on the delegates and
officials who had been selected to attend.
"IVe never seen such a big group of
state leaders at one time before." -Good
questions
He said he thought "our people have
asked good questions" during the question
and answer periods each government
official was allowed.
"I'd give them (the delegates) a grade of
A."
Roskens lauded the program for bring
ing federal officials to the people.
"It was an arena where federal officials
could express their views on local issues
and the area citizenry could probe' ancf
offer comments to the government people,"
Roskens said.
'This conference makes very good Sense
so people in decision making positions, es
pecially the federal government, are not -insulated
from the people."
Roskens impressed
Roskens said he was impressed by David
Mathews, newly appointed secretary of
Health, Education and Welfare. .
"Because of his immediate past (as pres
ident of the University of Alabama), he
should.be a sympathetic and persuasive
voice for education," he said.
Roskens also cited what he called the
somewhat political nature of the confer
ence, but said it is sometimes hard to separ
ate the political from the nonpolitical in
such circumstances.
Say said the conference "was supposed;
to be where federal officials. could get
citizen input ." -
.Series of announcements
"But it turned out to be a series .of
announcements where someone says I am
so and so of such and such," he said.
"They're campaigning for the interests that
the people represent.
'The major thing they're trying to ac
complish is to make the administration
aware of some problems," Say continued.
"But it's a public relation: campaign and
it's political too."
He said he viewed the conference as
political after hearing a report that Ford
had scheduled a visit to all 50 states soon.
'This might be his Nebraska visit (for
his campaign)," Say . saiK "It's more to
make people content. He is talking to
the major citizens who have got responsi
bility here. They'll go to' their organiza
tions and say Oh, yeah, they're doing a
fine job (in Washington)."
Right direction
Zorinsky called the conference a "step
in the right direction in giving local citizens
a chance to ask questions of the government
officials.
"I feel there's a high degree of a lack of
credibility and confidence in elected
officials," Zorinsky said. "It's (the confer
ence) a step in the right direction to end
that too."
He said he didn't think partisanship
entered into the conference, adding he
preferred the terra "Americanism forum."
"Other than people who attended
knowing the party of those involved, I
don't think partisanship entered into (it),"
Zorinsky said.
Oil, food costs dominate conference talk
Energy, agriculture and the economy
were the major themes at the Nebraska
Iowa White House Conference on Domestic
I and Economic Affairs Wednesday.
Six members of the President Gerald
Ford's Administration spoke to representa
tives of 17 Iowa and Nebraska organiza
tions. Speaking were Secretary of Agri
culture Earl Butz, Secretary of Transporta
tion William Coleman, Jr.; Secretary of
Health, Education and Welfare David
Mathews; Federal Energy Administrator
Frank Zarb; Assistant to the President for
Economic Affairs William Seidman and
Administrator of the Environmental Pro
tection Agency Russell Train.
AH answered questions from the
audience after their speeches.
Both Zarb and Coleman talked about
energy. Coleman said that to help what he
called the energy problem, automobiles
must be made more efficient and their use
must be "more socially directed," Zarb
criticized the OPEC countries for raising
the price of oil.
Need for highways
Automobiles and trucks "are here to
stay," so there is a need for good highways,
Coleman said.
However, he said, good mass transporta
tion systems within cities also are needed.
Under a new mass transportation pro
posal, 31 transportation systems would be
consolidated into four areas: interstate,
rural, urban and safety.
Ha said the Highway Trust Fund, which
wai started in 1956 and expires in Oct,
1977, also can be changed under the new
proposal.
The proposal still would provide for the
same four cents per gallon tax on gasoona
that is currently charged and would Include
all taxes on diescl fuel and automobile
exciso taxes. However, the breakdown of
the money would differ, he said.
One cent of the four-cent gasoline tax
still would be used for trie Highway Trust
Fund, he said, but two cents would be put
in the general federal treasury.
The other cent would not be collected
by the federal government in any state in
which the government would increase its
gasoline tax by one cent, Coleman said.
By doing this, he said, the federal
government in effect would be sending one
SI billion back to the states.
In each of the next two years this
money would represent $800 million for
urban transit and $1.5 billion for paving
rural highways. It also would mean $400
million for highway safety over the next
four years, he said.
Chromium gunboats
Zarb said that when "gas was at 19
cents a gallon and we got three glasses with
a fill-up, we ordered chromium plated gun
boats. And that's what we've got now."
Ha also criticized Congress for not
developing an energy policy.
'The only action (on energy) has been
by the President," he said. "He's laid out
a program that may not be politically
popular but that he feels will work.
There are those in Congress who say
they're prepared to legislate the necessary
sacrifices," he continued. "But when you
lay them out, they say they're not pre
pared to make that kind of sacrifice.
"It's political with a small p, and some
times with a large P," he said.
OtECmbMlwsy
If a policy is not developed soon, Zarb'
said, "we wiU fast become a wholly owned
subsidiary of OPEC."
He Klso said oil prices ere not going
down. ;
, Zitrb" said he is satisfied that nuclear
power plants are S3 fa enough for continued .
eonsiAStion and advocated expanded im
of the power source. ..
He also supported regulation of strip
mining and said he thinks companies
should reclaim land that had been strip
mined. But he said a bill on President
Ford's desk, which would regulate the
mining, "wa3 written with many vagaries."
"It appeared to me to be an emergency -employment
act for the legal profession,"
Zarb quipped.
Economic upswing
Economic Affairs Assistant Seidman
told a luncheon gathering that the '
economy had bottomed out and was now
on an upspring.
Seidman said the economy still is
, touchy, however, and requires continued
gtOwiii fui tho COuutiy tu pull uoiiiplcieiy
out of its economic problems. t
"Inflation created ' the recession,"
according to Seidman, "and it brought
along its own unemployment."
Mathews, in his 40th day as Secretary of .
Health, Education and Welfare, promised
conference delegates that attempts were
being made to cut down federal
bureaucracy.
Responding to a question from UNL .,
Student Regent Jim Say, Mathews said
financing of monetary aid programs for
college students probably will not decrease.
Say had asked whether the aid would
decrease or whether aid was decreasing in
favor of greater financing of worketudy
programs.
Work-study
Mathews said he "didn't anticipate a'
major redesigning of financial aid pro
grams. Ho added that at the University of
Alabama, where ho served as president
before taking the HEW post, students had
preferred work-study grants. ,
'They'd tell ma they aidnt want to go '
in debt, Mathews said. "But they didn't
mind working for It"