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Show role in water resources management man-agement policy." "The States have historically histori-cally had the expertise for water management that the Federal government has not had. They are much better suited for understanding peculiarities pe-culiarities of terrain, hydrology, hydrol-ogy, and other conditions which have a bearing on water resources use. Any national water policy must account for the expertise of the States and their ability to better manage their resources." At a White House meeting, President Carter agreed with Senator Jake Garn (R-Ut.) that Federal regulations are inhibiting necessary coal production and the President said that, within the limits of his authority, he will issue an Executive Order to help remedy the problem. Garn was one of 12 Senators to meet with the President at an informal breakfast where a variety of topics were discussed. dis-cussed. "I told the President that I agree with his goal of Increasing coal production by 400 million tons per year," said Senator Garn, "but that the bureaucracy would make it Impossible to achieve it. I told him that I was not asking for any environmental environmen-tal standards to be changed but pointed out that there are always at least two environmental environ-mental impact statements required. I said that it seems that all the different government agencies could use the same one; that all the duplication is entirely unnecessary." "It now takes from seven to eight years to open a new coal mine, and it has taken &s long as 15 years. I Pointed out to the President that even if he served his full constitutional term of eight years, the governmental govern-mental bottleneck and red tape would prevent him from even approaching his goal." "To my pleasant surprise, he told me that he agreed lth me completely. He said that he was not certain of the limits of his authority in this Instance, but that with-tn with-tn those limits, he would' Issue an Executive Order as soon as possible to consolidate consol-idate all the paperwork needed need-ed to open a coal mine. It was a blanket agreement with my position and I couldnt be more pleased. The elimination elim-ination of much of the paperwork paper-work involved in opening a mine will be of tremendous benefit to the coal industry nd, ultimately, to the country. coun-try. When it happens, we wiU be able to set a real- istic goal of opening a new mine three years after an initial application is submitted sub-mitted and the President's Presi-dent's coal production goal will be very attainable." With the Senate in the midst of considering S. 2104, the Natural Gas Deregulation bill, Senator Jake Garn said that the bill does not go far enough and that he is supporting sup-porting a substitute piece of legislation. Garn said S. 2104, "basically continues the program of government regulation but extends it to the intrastate market." The Senator said that, while the legislation allows for a slight increase in the price of new gas from the current $1.46 per 1,000 cubic feet to $1.75 per 1,000 cubic feet, "it is far too little to do the country coun-try any good." "For some 23 years, Federal Fed-eral price controls have held the price of natural gas below be-low its replacement cost," said Senator Garn. "This has discouraged the drilling of new wells and has created creat-ed serious national shortages." short-ages." Senator Garn said he is a co -sponsor of, and will vote for, decontrol legislation legisla-tion sponsored by Senators Pearson (R-Ks.) and Bent-sen Bent-sen (D-Tx.), which decontrols decon-trols the price of new natural na-tural gas sold in interstate commerce n or after January Jan-uary 1, 1977. Senator Jake Garn joined Senators Floyd K. Haskell (D-Co.) and Carl T. Curtis Cur-tis (R-Nb.) in seeking support sup-port for a resolution which limits the authority of the Administration Ad-ministration in setting national na-tional water policy. " "Historically, the States have had authority and domain do-main over water resource management within their borders," bor-ders," said Garn, "and the policies of the Federal government gov-ernment have been confined to national guidelines. However, How-ever, in July the Administration Adminis-tration published in the Federal Fed-eral Register its intent to change this procedure and greatly expand the Federal |