78-08-A5

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Energy

Transcript I've been waiting to see if Washington would be rocked by another "scandal of the tapes" but so far all is quiet. Of course the tapes I'm talking about are computer tapes, but even so there may have been monkey business in the marble halls. A state representative from Louisiana, according to a wire story several weeks ago, charged the new federal energy department in Washington with computer rigging. The idea, he said, was to produce false data proving that the Administration's energy plan would work. Billy Taugin, chairman of the Southwest Regional Energy council says--QUOTE-- "The plan doesn't and can't work. It will fall far short of its projections in all forms of energy production--oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear"--UNQUOTE-- Now if this were just an expression of opinion representing one side of a debate we could wait to hear the other side. It's far more than that and it follows on two or three other cover-ups regarding our energy situation. The ceuncil had to invoke the Freedom of Information Act to get the computer tapes from the Department of Energy. According to Taugin, the computer model was tampered with or--QUOTE-- "manipulated 21 different ways between December, 1976 and last April so it would coincide with what the planners wanted this country to believe about the plan"- UNQUOTE - The Congressional delegations from the council's five-member states and the White House have been advised of this. So far no comment that I've heard or read from the Department of Energy on the charge that in addition to the manipulating, three unusable tapes and one that was blank were delivered to the council before the department eventually yielded the information. The allegation is that the idea had been to hide basic information about the energy plan until Congress had acted on it. Acted of course on the basis of false information and figures. Projections of energy production between now and 1985 were falsified. The plan before Congress would result in a big shortfall and major economic and political problem in the country. A federal audit advisory team said that changes in the computer model were made by persons in the Department of Energy. The audit team said no outside agencies or experts were consulted about the changes. It sounds as if it was a nice cozy in-house operation. I'm no expert in the field of producing natural gas and oil, but for those who are, two major changes contributed to the false conclusion. Data was projected that no additional natural gas would be produced if the price was allowed to rise to $1.75 per 1000 cubic feet and that the equivalent of 30 barrels of oil is produced for each foot a well is drilled. That last one sounds fishy to even an amateur such as me. But of even greater importance than the monkey business with our need for oil and gas is the arrogance of bureaucratic officials who would distort the facts if the facts didn't support their theories. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-08-A5 Production Date 06/05/1978 Book/Page RPtV-308 Audio Youtube? No
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