357. Memorandum From the Chairman of the Petroleum Study Committee
(McDermott) to
President Kennedy0
Washington,
September 4,
1962.
I am pleased to submit a Report based upon a comprehensive study of
petroleum requirements and supplies in relation to national security
objectives, undertaken in accordance with your directive issued December
2, 1961.1
The Conclusions and Recommendations of the attached Report are the result
of extensive study by the Committee and its Task Force group and the
report has been signed on behalf of all participating departments.
At the request of the Department of Interior, I have been asked to report
to you their opinion that the conclusions relating to costs and benefits
are potentially misleading. Interior contends that “while estimates
purportedly covering costs to the economy are included in the report,
the counter-balancing benefits which flow from the maintenance of the
petroleum industry in its present state of health were not reduced to
comparable terms.” The Interior member also states “that existing
legislation and delegations vest the Director of the Office of Emergency
Planning with adequate authority to deal with the security aspects of
the petroleum problem and that, in consequence, the recommendation in
the
[Page 800]
report dealing with
coordination of interagency activities is unnecessary and could lead to
future difficulty in assessing responsibility for development and
coordination of petroleum policy within the Executive Branch.”
Except for this comment by the Department of Interior, the attached
Report has the unanimous support of all participating departmental
members, the Committee’s advisers and observers.
Respectfully,
Attachment2
Washington,
September 4,
1962.
Report by the Petroleum Study Committee to
President Kennedy
INTRODUCTION
To the President:
On December 2, 1961, in connection with proposals to amend
Proclamation 3279, governing the allocation of oil import quotas, by
press release (Tab A, attached) you announced
“. . . that a comprehensive study of petroleum requirements and
supplies in relation to national security objectives will be
undertaken under the leadership of the Director of the Office of
Emergency Planning, to be completed by mid-1962.”
This assignment was organized as an inter-agency study under the
Chairmanship of the Director of the Office of Emergency Planning,
with equal participation by the Departments of State, Treasury,
Defense, Justice, Interior, Commerce, and Labor. Representatives of
the Bureau of the Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers, and
the Deputy Special Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs served as advisers, and Representatives of the Central
Intelligence Agency and the Federal Power Commission participated as
observers.
[Page 801]
In the course of this study, public hearings were not held. A press
release, issued on February 16, 1962 (Tab B, attached)3 advised industry and the
public of the scope of the projected study, its objectives, and of
the opportunity to submit written position papers. Further
notification to this effect was published in the Federal Register on
February 24, 1962.4 In response to these
public announcements, thirty-two (32) written submissions were
received by the Office of Emergency Planning from various segments
of the petroleum industry. Each of these documents received full and
careful consideration by the Committee and its Task Force group, and
a large volume of intra-Governmental information relating to the
questions involved, and materials submitted in connection with other
petroleum studies, were considered.
This assigned study has now been completed and we submit the
following conclusions and recommendations.3
Respectfully,
- Edward
A. McDermottChairman
Petroleum Study Committee - Philip
H. Trezise
Department of State - James A.
Reed
Department of the Treasury - Paul H.
Riley
Department of Defense - Nicholas
deB. Katzenbach
Department of Justice - John A.
Carver, Jr.
Department of the Interior - William
B. Dale
Department of Commerce - W.
Willard Wirtz
Department of Labor
