Transition

Ronald Reagan takes over as a president who sees the achievement of near-independence in energy supplies as one of the major goals of this decade. It is a pledge not made lightly in the heat of the campaign trail, but with the full responsibility of a President-elect; and certainly one that this newsletter will be diligently monitoring.

The initial signs are good. Incoming Energy Secretary James Edwards has impressive credentials: He is a well-informed and staunch supporter of nuclear power, and he is the founder of the South Carolina Energy Research Institute, a scholarly group that is not an arm of government, but is funded by private enterprise, the place that government gets its money from in the first place.

The choice of James Watt as Secretary of Interior is exquisite. As head of one of the legal foundations that have been defending the law against Interior's back-room deals, he must be thoroughly familiar with the department's past efforts to let NRDC and Sierra Club lawyers make themselves accuser, defendant, judge and public treasurer all in one, whether to grant coal mining leases or to fund energy obstruction [AtE May 78, Dec 80].

Our optimism in welcoming these energy-related appointments is confirmed by the squeals they have drawn from the sham-environmentalists and the supporters of lawlessness.

"A crime," says Russell Peterson, who has helped more than many to damage public health by obstructing nuclear plants; and in a campus newspaper typical for its support of lawless opposition to abundant energy, defense and free enterprise, we read about the "B-grade movie actor who surrounds himself with the most incredible gang of subintellects ever assembled in one place."

Ronald Reagan's energy goals will not, of course, be easy to attain. A minor reason is that the seniority system and other factors have advanced the power of some virulent energy stiflers (Ottinger, Dingell, Wirth) in crucial House Committees; the major reason is that while politicians can easily obstruct energy production, they cannot significantly contribute to it beyond getting out of the way.

It is nevertheless heartening to think that the worst of the nonsense may be over. As a farewell present, the Consumer Affairs Advisory Committee of the DoE's Office of Consumer Affairs (yes, there was such a thing, personed by Lola Redford and other typical consumers) sent a list of some 40 recommendations to the DoE transition team for the benefit of the new administration.

What this document shows is that the sensitive, aware and relevant have been fervently mutilating not only the consumer interest, but also the English language.

"To recognize that although children will not impact on the development of policy, they can participate in the educational process..." begins the list of Newspeak structures. "To recognize that many citizens realize a few wellplaced conventional bombs or terrorists acts can stop the flow of oil..." gargles another string of words. "To assure that low and fixed income persons can benefit from Federal weatherization..." the low and fixed persons seem to assure us. "We further urge the new Secretray to continue a strong consumer function reporting directly to the Secretary..."

Our hope is not so much that the new Secretary will reject this good advice.

It is that he will not be able to understand it.