OVERSIGHT OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE U.S. SYNTHETIC FUELS CORPORATION
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT,
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,
The subcommittee met, at 9:30 a.m., in room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. William S. Cohen (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Senators Cohen, Rudman, Levin, and Bingaman.
Staff present: Susan M. Collins, staff director; Mary B. Gerwin, counsel; Rachel D. Harlan, assistant chief clerk; Linda J. Gustitus, minority staff director and chief counsel to the minority; Carla Kish, professional staff member; and Nancy Evans, intern.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR COHEN
Senator COHEN. The subcommittee will come to order.
The Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management is holding 2 days of hearings this week on the management of the Synthetic Fuels Corporation.
Created in 1980, in response to widespread concern about the country's dangerous dependence on imported oil, the Synfuels Corporation fosters the development of the commercial synthetic fuels industry through the use of purchase agreements, price and loan guarantees and joint ventures. In the Energy Security Act, Congress established a national goal of achieving a synthetic fuels capability equivalent to 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day by 1987, increasing to 2 million barrels per day by 1992.
During the first phase of its existence, the Corporation is empowered to obligate up to $20 billion in financial assistance to worthy projects. Potentially, the Synthetic Fuels Corporation may place at risk $88 billion through investments in synthetic fuels production. Congress viewed the Corporation's task as so urgent and the energy crisis as so severe, that it exempted the Synthetic Fuels Corporation from many of the usual statutory restraints that govern-and limit-the authority and operations of Federal agencies, despite the fact that the Corporation is funded entirely from the Federal Treasury. The Synthetic Fuels Corporation, for example, is not subject to the Administrative Procedure Act or the Federal procurement laws, and its directors can only be removed from office for neglect of duty or malfeasance.