If you think I'm being too tough on the guy, then you should have seen all the inexpensive. worthwhile proposals I saw and evaJuated in Sacramento that won't get funded because of some inept and unconcerned bozo in Washington, D.C.! On top of that, rather than being able to expand to the other nine federal regions after the pilot program 50 obviously proved it could be done and done well, one finds that because there's only $3 million for all of FY '78, Jerry Duane has decided that the a.t. small grants program obviously can only be run in two other federal regions. Here's What We Want, Omi Now it's obvious to me the federal mule again needs a 2x4 sLammed against the side of its head to aid it in making a needed mid-course correction, as they say at NASA. We need two things: the right people and the right promises. There are a number of people being talked about as potential director of an OSST enlarged from three to fifteen people. They are Jim Benson. now at the Council on Economic Priorities in NYC; David Goldberg; Malcolm Lillywhite of the Domestic Technology Institute in Colorado; Jim Parker of the Center for Social and Environmental Concerns in Montana; Mary Ann · McKenzie of CSA in Washington, D.C.; and Michael Pete of" Booz-Allen-Hamilton in D.C. I'd trust any of them in place of Duane, who even lacks enough a.t. savvy to understand why those of us in the Pacific Northwest want our a.t. program run out of our region, /lOt out of San Francisco. But whatever person runs OSST in the future, we'll have no hold over them, no way to make them keep their all too easily spoken promises unless we get what we want down on paper. The best way toward that modicum of control is to make sure that Ms. a mi Walden, Carter's nominee for Asst. Secretary for Conservation and Solar Applications, and under whose authority OSST resides, is asked a few a.t. questions during her Senate confirmation hearings. Here's some of what we should ask for: * increased funding- we UWflt OSST to fight for jimds within DOE and for DOE to S1~pport OSST budgets so they survive OMB unscathed. • local program management- we want OSST to run its programs tbrollgb state, city and county agencies, on the way to the neighborhood block level . . . f ederal regional offices sbould only be used to manage a. t. programs until we learn to do them even more locally. • a.t. "old-timer" advisory panel- to meet four times the first year, three times the second, then semi-annually, to keep OSST on course and [rom stepping on toes of existing "grassroots" a. t. organizations: should number twice tbe number ofpeople on OSST staff; be composed of long-time a. t. advocates known for their vision, grass roots experie71ce, technical competence and political independence. * a.t. people in OSST- get appropriate technologists i" as many positions as possible. * rotating staff- a.l. ers in the provinces should be brollght in to work one to six months at OSST, while an OSST staffer takes their place in a. t. groups out of D. C. Teaches a.t. people about OSST, D.C. politics, etc. and OSS T people about local groups, how best to use them, work with them, what federal actions can hurt them. April1978 RAIN Page 15 • citizens' evaluation in a.t.- ifa.t. is supposed to be a citizens' or people's technology, u'lde·rstandable and buildable by laypeople, then try to increase the partid pation of the "man-on-tbe-street" in OSST programs, such as in evaluating a.t. grant proposals. That's all I can think of right now. If you've got other items to get into the transcript, let me know if you Can, but whatever you do, be sure to send your " questions for Omi" to your senator or congressperson, with a request that they be asked. Her confirmation hearings occur after the Easter recess. Friends of Appropriate Technology (FAT) Within the last year, over 150 people in Washington, D.C., have joined a local informal network that meets over potlueks and brownbag lunches to push a. t. in the federal agency bureaucracy. A three-page history called "The Forming of FAT" is available from Mary Anne McKenzie, Office of Community Action, CSA, 1200 19th Ave., N.W., Room 30, Washington, DC 20506, and a fourteen-page FAT name, address and phone list is available from Michael Pete, Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Inc., 4 330 East West Highway, Bethesda. MD 20014. You might also want to share your views on a.t. and your "questi.ons for ami" with people in FAT. They're our friends on Capitol Hill ... the a.t. counterpart of the Solar Coalition. DOE ENERGY SUPPLY RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION, DEMONSTRATION AND DISTRIBUTIONS (Budget Authority, $ Millions) '77 '78 '79 Fossil 537 846 924 olar 282 390 37 3 Geothermal 53 106 130 Hydro 2 10 8 Biomass 13 21 27 Fusion 316 325 334 Fission 1,099 1,125 1,000 Basic Energy Sciences 155 177 211 Other 7 12 25 3,381 3,478 3,231 (not included above) Uranium Enrichment 919 471 202 Advanced Technology Assessment Projects 1 8 21 Energy Storage Systems 33.5 50.2 58.0 Electric Energy Systems 26.5 39.5 40.0 Improved Conversion Efficiency 23.2 58.2 78.0 End Use Conservation 82.7 143.3 185.8 At Small Grants Programs 3.0 3.0 Lee Johnson
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