in interest, including the United States. Any such plan may, in the discretion of the Secretary, provide for vesting in the Secretary or any other person, committee, or Federal or State agency designated therein, authority to alter or modify from time to time the rate of prospecting and development and the quantity and rate of production under such plan. All leases operated under any such plan approved or prescribed by the Secretary shall be excepted in determining holdings or control for the purposes of section 7 of this Act.

When separate tracks cannot be independently developed and operated in conformity with an established well-spacing or development program, any lease, or a portion thereof, may be pooled with other lands, whether or not owned by the United States, under a communitization or drilling agreement providing for an apportionment of production or royalties among the separate tracts of land comprising the drilling or spacing unit when determined by the Secretary to be in the public interest, and operations or production pursuant to such an agreement shall be deemed to be operations or production as to each lease committed thereto.

The Secretary is hereby authorized, on such conditions as he may prescribe, to approve operating, drilling, or development contracts made by one or more lessees of geothermal leases, with one or more persons, associations, or corporations whenever, in his discretion, the conservation of natural products or the public convenience or necessity may require or the interests of the United States may be best served thereby. All leases operated under such approved operating, drilling, or development contracts, and interests thereunder, shall be excepted in determining holdings or control under section 7 of this Act.

SEC. 19. Upon request of the Secretary, other Federal departments and agencies shall furnish him with any relevant data then in their possession or knowledge concerning or having bearing upon fair and adequate charges to be made for geothermal steam produced or to be produced for conversion to electric power or other purposes. Data given to any department or agency as confidential under law shall not be furnished in any fashion which identifies or tends to identify the business entity whose activities are the subject of such data or the person or persons who furnished such information.

SEC. 20. All moneys received under this Act from public lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary shall be disposed of in the same manner as moneys received from the sale of public lands. Moneys received under this Act from other lands shall be disposed of in the same manner as other receipts from such lands. SEC. 21. Geothermal resources in lands the surface of which has passed from Federal ownership but in which the minerals have been reserved to the United States shall not be developed or produced except under geothermal leases made pursuant to this Act. If the Secretary finds that such development is imminent, or that production from a well heretofore drilled on such lands is imminent, he shall so report to the Attorney General, and the Attorney General is authorized to institute an appropriate proceeding in the United States district court of the district in which such lands are located, to quiet the title of the United States in such resources, and if the court determines that the reservation of minerals to the United States in the lands involved included the geothermal resources, to enjoin their production otherwise than under the terms of this Act: Provided, That upon an authoritative judicial determination that the Federal mineral reservation does not include geothermal steam and associated geothermal resources the duty of the Secretary to report to the Attorney General shall cease. SEC. 22. Nothing in this Act shall constitute an express or implied claim or denial on the part of the Federal Government as to its exemption from State water laws.

SEC. 23. Rights to develop and utilize geothermal steam and associated geothermal resources underlying lands owned by the United States may be acquired solely in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 24. The Secretary shall prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem appropriate to carry out the provisions of this Act. Such regulations may include, without limitation, provisions for (a) the prevention of waste, (b) development and conservation of geothermal and other natural resources, (c) the protection of the public interest, (d) assignment, segregation, extension of terms, relinquishment of leases, development contracts, unitization, pooling, and drilling agreements, (e) compensatory royalty agreements, suspension of operations or production, and suspension or reduction of rentals or royalties, (f) the filing of surety bonds to assure compliance with the terms of the lease and to protect surface use and resources, (g) use of the surface by a lessee of the lands embraced in his lease, and (h) the maintenance by the lessee of an active development program.

SEC. 25. As to any land subject to geothermal leasing under section 3(a) and (b) of this Act, all laws which either (a) provide for the disposal of land by patent or other form of conveyance or by grant or by operation of law subject to a reservation of any mineral or (b) prevent or restrict the disposal of such land because of the mineral character of the land, shall hereafter be deemed to embrace geothermal steam and associated geothermal resources as a substance which either must be reserved or must prevent or restrict the disposal of such land, as the case may be. This section shall not be construed to affect grants, patents, or other forms of conveyances made prior to the date of enactment of this Act or to affect any claim asserted by any party in any proceeding initiated pursuant to section 21 of this Act.

SEC. 26. The first two clauses in section 11 of the Act of August 13, 1954 (68 Stat. 708, 716), are amended to read as follows:

"As used in this Act 'mineral leasing laws' shall mean the Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 437); the Act of April 17, 1926 (44 Stat. 301); the Act of February 7, 1927 (44 Stat. 1057); Geothermal Steam Act of 1967, and all Acts heretofore or hereafter enacted which are amendatory of or supplementary to any of the foregoing Acts; 'Leasing Act minerals' shall means all minerals which, upon the effective date of this Act, are provided in the mineral leasing laws to be disposed of thereunder and all geothermal steam and associated geothermal resources which, upon the effective date of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1967, are provided in that Act to be disposed of thereunder ;".

SEC. 27. The United States reserves the ownership of and the right to extract under such rules and regulations as the Secretary may prescribe oil, hydrocarbon gas, and helium from all geothermal steam and associated geothermal resources produced from lands leased under this Act: Provided, That whenever the right to extract oil, hydrocarbon gas, and helium from geothermal steam and associated geothermal resources produced from such lands is exercised pursuant to this section, it shall be exercised so as to cause no substantial interference with the production of geothermal steam and associated geothermal resources from such lands.

Mr. EDMONDSON. I might say, in preparing to give the statement that has been prepared for the chairman of the subcommittee this morning, that I had some very eloquent words here about the origin of geothermal steam and Old Faithful which I will omit from the

statement.

The thrust of all the various bills that are before us this morning is to permit the Secretary to lease the geothermal steam on the public lands. The energy that is superheated high pressure steam or water which would be used to produce energy, primary electrical energy, through the use of steam turbines.

As I stated when I first opened these hearings, the subcommittee and the full committee considered these and similar proposals extensively last year and reported out a bill to the House. Somewhat similar legislation was eventually passed by both the House and the Senate as 1674. This proposal did not meet with the approval of the President and was vetoed. Therefore, today we are considering proposals which were before the committee last year, as well as a new administration version which I introduced. Merely for the sake of identification and clarification, I will give a brief comparison of the bills as they relate to each other and to S. 1674, of the 89th Congress. A more detailed discussion will certainly follow as we receive testimony on the various proposals.

In point of time the bills before us today include H.R. 715, by our colleague, Mr. Hosmer; H.R. 3577, by our colleague, Mr. Baring; H.R. 4740, by Mr. Johnson, a member of the full committee; H.R. 5283, by Mr. Tunney, also of this committee; H.R. 5778, by Mr. Matsunaga; and H.R. 9583, by the chairman of the subcommittee.

H.R. 3577, 5283, and 5778 are identical bills which, as I understand it, are virtually identical to S. 1674 as passed by the Congress last year. These three bills, however, do not contain the so-called grantfather clause, which appears to be one of the main features to which the veto message was directed. So, in that sense they are not identical to S. 1674. H.R. 4740, by Mr. Johnson, is identical to S. 1674, which was the vetoed bill. This bill contains the grandfather clause, or the right to convert the prior claim or lease to a geothermal steam lease.

H.R. 715 is essentially similar to H.R. 4740 in that it contains the grandfather clause, but it differs from the latter in that to exercise this right competitive bidding would be required. There are also other differences in lease terms and definitions.

Now, I realize that I am oversimplifying some points in reference to these bills. The authors of the bills will elaborate upon the distinctions in them.

I do want to emphasize that all of the bills just mentioned are almost identical in language and approach, except for the grandfather clause provision and other minor differences, such as lease terms and definitions.

H.R. 9583 is the administration's proposal. It was submitted in compliance with the President's statement in the veto message of November 15, 1966, in which the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice were instructed to prepare a new proposal. That proposal, of course, was included in the February 2, 1967, message that came up from the Department of Interior.

Briefly, this bill eliminates the grandfather clause; it decreases the acreage that can be held under a lease; it provides for straight competitive leasing with provisions for the Government to readjust lease terms and royalty rates; and it makes several other changes in lease tenure.

In order that the committee members may be familiar with the six principal points raised in the President's veto message, copies can be made available and it is also a part of the record available here at the chair.

I might add that the use of geothermal steam, as a source of energy, is taking place today in our own country in Sonoma County, Calif., and also in Italy, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, and other countries. The operation in California is on privately-held lands and not on public lands, so we do not have any going operation on public lands today in this country, to my knowledge. Enacting the pending proposal would permit a development of this great natural resource on the public lands of this country. I think, in that sense, it is generally agreed in the committee that we do want to enact legislation as soon as possible to get on with this development.

With this summary background I would like to yield at this time to the chairman of the full committee.

Mr. ASPINALL. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I will just take a few minutes. I wish to advise that I have a miniature geyser and many hot springs in my district and I think I know what geothermal springs are. I do not have to go into a primary explanation. Mr. Chairman, since last year, even up to the present time, many people in the United States perhaps do not know very much about geothermal steam and its value to the United States. They have unfortunately

seen fit to criticize certain Members of Congress for what they have broadcast as a giveaway. This charge against the Members of Congress, against Congress itself, and the implied meaning at least, is that it is only the Department of Interior or executive department of the Government that are trying to save the great natural resources of the United States on its public lands.

Many people in the United States apparently think that the Government is in a better position to conduct research and develop the natural resource values of the U.S. public lands, than is private enterprise which has done the job so admirably up to the present time, even though there have been, of course, mistakes made in the private enterprise system. I just wish it known, as we start these hearings that the charge of anybody being interested in a giveaway program is absolutely false, untrue, and it is mouthed only by those people who do not see fit to work enough to really know what is involved.

Anybody that has tried to attack this program is completely wrong. There is no giveaway here. Congress and the members of this committee are just as interested in protecting the public values as are the executive departments. Over the years Congress has, in my opinion, done a better job than the agencies downtown are willing to admit. Mr. Chairman, one of the most frustrating aspects of geothermal steam problem is the action taken by the Department of Interior this February, to withdraw from all forms of location, entry, or appropriation, all lands potentially valuable for geothermal steam. This proposed order was so vague and general that the practical effect was to withdraw, or at least cloud the right to enter all public lands for all purposes. However it is not our purpose today to delve into the reasons and merits of this action,

(Discussion off the record)

Mr. ASPINALL. I do think the record on this pending legislation would be incomplete without some documentation of the proposed withdrawal and subsequent action and correspondence. This has to do with the oversight authority of the Congress of the United States, wherein the chairman has an unusual amount of responsibility. For this reason, I would request that there be placed in the record certain documents which reflect past action and a present status of this proposed withdrawal.

The following is a list of documents, in chronological order, for insertion in the record, relating to the February 7 withdrawal of geothermal steam, the subsequent modifications of that order and correspondence with the Secretary of Interior and the Bureau of Land Management, relating to the withdrawal and authority for making the withdrawal. As a rule it is not my purpose to try to make too big a record, but these documents are of enough importance, Mr. Chairman, that I think that they should be placed in the record:

1. Proposed withdrawal order relating to geothermal steam appearing at page 2588 of the Federal Register of February 7, 1967.

2. Letter of March 3 to Secretary of the Interior questioning the scope and authority for the February 7 withdrawal.

3. Letter of March 16 to Boyd L. Rasmussen, Director, Bureau of Land Management, relating to the February 7 withdrawal.

4. Letter of March 21, 1967, from John Crow, acting Director, Bureau of Land Management, relative to future handling of geothermal steam withdrawals.

5. Modified proposal appearing at page 4506 of the March 24 issue of the Federal Register issued by BLM to revise the February 7 proposal and a second modification which appeared at Page 5850 of the April 12 Federal Register.

6. Map showing the areas of prospective and known geothermal resource areas. All prospective areas, totalling 86,361,000 acres, would have been withdrawn by the February 7 order. The March 24 order was confined to known areas totaling 1,050,900 acres.

7. Letter of April 3 to Secretary of the Interior relative to giving notice to the committee on nonmilitary withdrawals over 5,000 acres. 8. Letter of April 3 to Acting Director John O. Crow relative to clarification of procedures for handling future geothermal steam withdrawals.

9. Letter of April 24 to Director Rasmussen, Bureau of Land Management relative to revised geothermal steam proposal and the future handling of future geothermal steam withdrawals.

10. Letter of May 5 from Assistant Secretary Harry R. Anderson responding to our letters of April 3 and April 24 regarding handling of future geothermal steam withdrawals.

11. Letter of May 9, from Secretary Udall in response to our letter of March 3 concerning the so-called implied authority to make withdrawals.

Mr. EDMONDSON. Is there objection to the request? If there is none, without objection then the 11 instruments will be made a part of the record at this point.

(The documents referred to follow :)

ALL PUBLIC LAND STATES

NOTICE OF PROPOSED WITHDRAWAL AND RESERVATION OF LANDS

The Bureau of Land Management has filed an application for withdrawal of the lands described below, from all appropriations under the public land laws, including, without limitation, the mining laws and the mineral leasing laws. The applicant desires the withdrawal for the protection and conservation of natural resources, including geothermal steam resources and the mineral and other resource values in the lands.

For a period of 30 days from the date of publication of this notice, all persons who wish to submit comments, suggestions, or objections in connection with the proposed withdrawal may present their views in writing to the undersigned officer of the Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240.

If circumstances warrant, a public hearing will be held at a convenient time and place, which will be announced.

The determination of the Secretary on the application will be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER. A separate notice will be sent to each interested party of record.

The lands involved in the application are all public lands which are valuable or prospectively valuable for geothermal steam.

FEBRUARY 3, 1967.

BOYD L. RASMUSSEN, Director.

[F.R. Doc. 67-1461; Filed, Feb. 6, 1967; 8:49 a.m.]

MARCH 3, 1967.

Hon, STEWART L. UDALL,

Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. SECRETARY: By letter of February 8, the Director of the Bureau of Land Management furnished the Committee with a copy of the application for the withdrawal of geothermal steam resources. The notice of proposed with

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