ML19331E383
| ML19331E383 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 05/03/1977 |
| From: | NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| REF-10CFR9.7 NUDOCS 8009100089 | |
| Download: ML19331E383 (24) | |
Text
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An Carug'o UNITED STATES 8
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o
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WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555
%{* *CV August 18, 1980 OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY COMMISSION DETERMINATION REGARDING PUBLIC DISCLOSURE UNDER THE GOVERNMENT IN THE SUNSHINE ACT OF:
Transcript of Briefing on Possible Classified and Litigative Aspects of GESMO, May 3, 1977 Pursuant to the Commission's regulations implementing the Government in the Sunshine Act (10 CFR 9.108 (d) ), it has been determined after a further review of this transcript that additional. portions of the text can be released to the public.
Attached are all portions of the subject transcript that have been determined to be releasable.
The remaining portions of the transcript remain withheld pursuant to 10 CFR 9.104 as noted below:
.Page/Line through Page/Line Exemption 23/7 23/9 10 CFR 9.104 (a) (6) i Samuel J. Chilk Secretary of tt.e Commission 80091eo 0%9
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2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3
Briefing on 4
Possible Classified and Litigation Aspects of GESMO 5
6 7
Room 1162 1717 H Street N.W.
8 Washington, D.C.
9 Tuesday, May 3, 1977 10 The Commission met at 1:00 p.m.
11 PRESENT:
Commissioners Rowden, Kennedy and 12 Gilinsky.
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1 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
All right,let's get going.
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MR. STRAUSS:
We are having this portion of the 3
meeting to consider any classified aspects of the questions 4
discussed this morning that may arise, and also to consider 5
possible courses of action in.pending litigation, notably 6
Supreme Court review of the 2d Circuit's decision in the GESMO 7
case.
8 Thatis a relatively simple matter.
Maybe we can get 9
that out of Lhe way first. Steve, do you want to speak to that?
10 MR. GOLDBERG:
I can speak to it.
The Supreme Court
'11 granted certiori in the 2d Circuit case which deals 12 with just one aspect of the entire November policy statement 7
13 and that is the matter of interim licensing.
k 14 So they have before them the November notice that 15 says under certain conditions the Commission will consider 16 granting an interim license.
17 The 2d Circuit said no, you can't do that, the Supreme 18 Court is going to review that.
19 Our brief it. currently due on June 13 on this matter.
20 We have discussed the issue with the Solicitor General's 21 Office and we have their approval for the following course 4
22 of action if the Commission wants to take it.
23 If the Commission were to issue an order, public order, 24 calling for comments on the November notice, including the f
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25 matter of interim licensing, such as the order you are
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considering, it would be appropriate in our view and in the o
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2 view of the Solicitor General to go to court with a motion for 3
extension of time, stating that here is an order the 4
Commission put out, they are considering changing the November 5
notice, they might or might not change it, this has a 6
bearing on how we believe the case,on whether we would suggest 7
it is moot.
Then ask the Court for an extension until 8
July 30, which would give enough time for the formulation of 9
a new Commission policy and then make the appropriate 10 representations to the court.
11 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
If one is to be formulated.
12 MR. GOLDBERG:
If the Commission decides to reaffirm 13 its November notice, then the case is before the Court, it is t
14 a live case, and we would brief it on the merits.
15 If the gommission were to reverse its November policy, 16 it seems quite likely we would file a suggestion of mootness, 17 it is no longer an issue.
18 We might, at the same time,have to file a brief on 19 July 30, a suggestion of mootness, but a brief in case the 20 Court disagrees with us.
21 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
Why would we do this?
The 22 specific question might be moot, but there is a fundamental 23 principle involved.
Why would we not have, since the Court 24 has already taken it up, why wouldn't we let the Court go 7.e.rm nonen, inc.
25 ahead and decide it?
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1 MR. GOLDBERG:
We don't have that option.
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2 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
That is their own choice, not 3
ours.
4 MR. GOLDBERG:
One chain of events is the following:
5 We could brief the case.
If the Commission were then to 6
reverse the November decision on interim licensing in a later 7
policy statement, we would have to bring this to the court's 8
attenti.on and the Court would not continue to consider the 9
case.
They have to have a concrete case or. controversy before 10 them.
11 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
We are not the only parties to 12 thisproceeding.
Talk about Justice and the private parties.
13 Justice is prepared to go along --
14 MR. GOLDBERG:
With an extension of time.
15 COMMISSIONER RONDEN:
Suppose we were to say no, we 16 are going.to brief it on the merits and if our position 17 changes, we will a-vise the Court accordingly.
What is the 18 President's lawyer going to do then?
19 MR. GOLDBERG:
We don't know.
All I can say is the 20 Solicitor General, the people we talked to, were sympathetic 21 to extending the time until we tade clear what our policy is.
22 I don' t know what they :eould say.
23 I might point.ut if we were to brief it on the merits 24 for June 1.3, it would be in many ways a difficult brief.
To Federal Reporters, Inc.
25 be effective, the brief would have to be hard-hitting. We would
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5 say interim licensing is proper as a policy matter and j
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that is how we brief it.
COMMISSIONER KENBEDY:
I think that is an important 3
question of principle.
4 MR. GOLDBERG:
Right.
To file such a brief during the 5
pendency of reconsideration, it is up to the Commission, if 6
they want to.
7 MR. STRAUSS:
The brief would have to state in it that 8
on the 3 of May, or fourth of May, the Commission issued a 9
call for comments on the impact of the President's policy, 10
.n on the course of action and the matter is not yet decided.
I think the short answer to your question, commissioner, 12 is that the Cout sits to decide cases rather than fundamental 13 ja principles and one of the consistent policies followed --
COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
Though most of its dicta are 15 16 considered fundamental principles, isn't that right?
MR. STRAUSS:
That is right.
Their excuse for 37 Producing those dicta is that they are --
11B 19 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY: I am glad you used that word.
MR. STRAUSS:
Is that they are deciding such cases. And 20 the consistent policy of the Department of Justice in this 21 respect -- and I think it is a sound one -- has been to 22 Protect the Court as an institutional matter even at the 23 24 expense of losing the opportunity for decision on the funda-Federal Reporters, Inc.
25 mental principles.
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COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:~ Put meanwhile there is a D)
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2 decision on the record.
3 MR. STRAUSS:
No.
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COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
In a lower court.
5 MR. STRAUSS:
.No, that would disappear.
6 MR. GOLDBERG:
If the case is mooted, the Supreme a
7 Court practice is absolutely consistent, the decision below j
8 is vacated as if it never happened.
It is not citable as i
9 a precedent.
10 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
No, and no young lawyer will 11 ever read it as guidance to himself, although it is vacated 12 nonetheless should the question arise again, he would have i
!l' 13 some idea that at least one court in a particular situation 14 though this. Is that right?
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15 MR. GOLDBERG:
He would alse know that cert was 16 granted by the Supreme Court.
Anyone who cites a case in 17 which cert was granted --
18 COMMISSIONER GILINSKY:
How does the vacation of the 19 decision take place?
20 MR. STRAUSS:
It is an order of the Supreme Court.
21 MR. GOLDBERG:
It said it wanted to review some lower 22 court decision.
But because of the turn of events, it doesn't 23 have a chance.
That doesn't mean it agrees with what the lower 24 court did'.
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25 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY: It doesn' ti mean it agrees either.
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MR. GOLDBERG:
RIght.
It enters an order that says
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2 the judgment is vacated and the matter remanded.
3 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
I think the course of action 4
you propose in my view is reasonable. I would be prepared 5
to have Commissioner Kennedy's course explored with the Depart-6 ment of Justice.
It is inconceivable to me the President 7
would allow the Solicitor General to file a brief supporting 8
the merits of interim licensing here.
You talk about signals, 9
in terms of conducting the GESMO proceeding.
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i 10 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
I thought the Administration sent 11 some when it went up on the Hill just the other day.
I 12 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
That is not one on use of plutonima.
13 This is talking about interim licensing of reprocessing
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14 facilities.
15 MR. STRAUSS:
Let me talk about it in outcome,determin-16 ative terms for a moment.
In terms of the point in time when 17 you could expect a decision to be rendered in the case, the i
18 course of action that we are proposing would not change that.
l 19 It might postpone the oral argument by as much as a month.
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20 But the case would in any event be reached next yaar and 21 decided next year.
And beyond that no man could say anything 22 about when the Supreme Court is going to act.
So that one 23 doesn't lose anything by taking this course.
24
'The paper filed with the court would say notning more w e n a r =. inc.
25 than'what I gather the Commission this morning has decided to 1
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do, the course of action is being undertaken, which may prove to
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2 have an influence on the case, and consquently it is most 3
efficient to postpone briefing until that course of action 4
can have been determined.
5 MR. GOLDBERG:
I should make it clear it doesn't fore-6 close any options.
If the Commission decided to continue 7
to favor interim licensing after the comment process, it would 8
presumably state its additional reasons for doing so, and the 9
brief we would file at the postponed date would take advantage 10 of that, say here is interim licensing, it is legal, here are 4
-11 the reasont, whatever the position is, it can be fully 12 defended.
13 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
If this course of action is 14 followed, before it is implemented, would you propose to 15 consult with the petitioners?
16 MR.EGOLDBERG:
I don't believe so.
17 COMMISSIONER RONDEN: Why not?
18 MR. GOLDBERG:
I am not sure our interests --
19 COMMISSICt1ER ROWDEN:
No, I am sure the interests are 20 not the same.
As a matter of fact, I would be the first 21 to say our interests are independent of theirs, but just as 22 a matter of professional courtesy.
They filed the petition 23 for certiori.
24 MR. STRAUSS:
Certainly we will call petitioners and ww n.conm. inc.
25 tell them that this is part of the conclusion the Commission has reached.
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1 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
If that is the course, let's 2
follow it, they ought to have an opportunity to be heard 3
at least.
4 MR. STRAUSS:
They will.
5 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
THe lawyers in the Department of 6
Justice can make up their own minds.
7 MR. STRAUSS:
There.is no question about that.
8 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
I would be happy to have you, 9
as far as my own perspective is concerned, explore Commissioner 10 Kennedy's proposed course of action with the Department of
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11 Justice.
12 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
No, so long as the options are 13 open, remain open, there is no misunderstanding on that
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14 score, proceed on this course.
15 COMMISSIONER GILINSKY:
And that is to ask for a post-16 ponement?
17 MR. STRAUSS:
Yes.
18 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
After having spoken with counsel 19 for the petitioners.
20 MR. STRAUSS: Yes.
21 MR. GOLDBERG:
The order has to come out, we will 22 speak to counsek and pursue it.
23 VOICE :
Theplea is for the 20th of July?
24 MR. GOLDBERG:
30th of July.
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25 MR. GOLDMAN: Do you think it will be sorted out by that time?
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MR. GOLDBERG:
If the order is issued promptly, 2
comments are in by early June.
MR. STRAUSS:
What the date should be, whether the 30th of July or 30th of August --counsel for the Respondent 5
in the case has already indicated that he has some vacation 6
plans for mid-summer which led me to think that there would 7
be no objection on their part to a longer postponement than 8
the 30th of July.
COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
If you postpone it long i
10 enough you get into the winter vacations, skiing and so on.
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So get us out of the work period during the late winter 12 and early spring, the normal work period for these matters.
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COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
You are going on the supposition
-i 14 there will be lawyers around to write the briefs, and 15 commissioners around to give them guidance.
16 MR. STRAUSS:
Yes.
17 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
In other words, all other things 4
being equal.
19 MR., STRAUSS:
All other things being equal, yes.
20 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
I won't explore the ramifi-21 cations of that.
22 To my way of thinking that is the only practical course 3
of action.
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MR. STRAUSS:
All right.
,g 25 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
Did we decide on the 30th of
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July or the 30th of August?
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2 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
I would be prepared to defer to 3
your views.
4 MR. STRAUSS:
We will work that out.
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5 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
It ought to be a reasonable 6
period of time, taking into account resources.
I think you re also suppos'ing that the Commission will 8
have reached a determination on the basic issue before the,
a 9
end of June.
You a re calling for replies by the third of 10 June.
It is our contemplation that we act on this by the 11 end of June.
We ought to.
12 MR. SHAPER:
There are some pretty knotty issues.
COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
By that time they will be even 14 knottier.
15 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
That is the target, anyway.
16 MR. STRAUSS:~
There will be one around to cut the
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17 Jordainian knot.
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Pederet Reporters, Inc.
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MR. STRAUSS:
A second aspect of this afternoon's
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2 discussion. concerns the question of consultation with 3
the Executive Branch.
4 What issues the Commission would wish to have raised, 5
on what time table.
My own thinking in that respect would be 6
that there are two courses of action that might be followed.
7 One of them, which may appear resumptious, but would 8
take care of everything at once and assure that the assignment 9
of formulation of the views within the Executive Branch was 10 exactly what was wished by the President, would be to address 11 the request for comments to the President.
12 It is, after all, his statement issued over his 13 name which you wish to have interpreted as it applies here.
14 If that seems like too forward a course, as it may, 15 I can identify three or four different agencies in the Executive 16 Branch who perhaps have a claim to speak.
The Department of 17 State, obviously, the ceiling of the Department of Energy, 18 Mr. Schlessinger, the existing Office of Energy, ERDA, and 19 CEQ.
FEA, perhaps, though they have not been signficiantly 20 involved in nulcear affairs since the Ragumas (sic) matter f
21 more or less by wish of the Congress, as I understood it.
22 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
It is an energy matter.
23 MR. STRAUSS:
It is an energy matter, yes.
24 COMMISSIONER GILINSKY:
We have addressed letters to Federal Reporters, Inc.
25 the national Security Council on many occasions.
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1 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
We certainly can address a
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2 letter to the President and it can be handled by whoever he 3
chooses.
4 MR. STRAUSS:
That is right.
That is the first 5
alternative.
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COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
If you address it to the President 7
I assume you will get an authoritative view, from whomever
.8 he selects to give it.
9 MR. RATHBURN:
Isn't there a connection between the 10 timing of the release of this order and the answer to the 11 question that Pete raised with regard to who we are going 4
12 to approach in the Executive Branch?
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13 It seems te
- it might be desirable to informally 14 contact the Executive Branch before the order is issued 15 and get some feedback on a fairly rapid turn-around basis.
16 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
WHat feedback arel.you thinking l'7 of?
18 MR. RATHBURN:
Well, as it is, we really don't know 19 what their reaction would be to the order and the specific --
20 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
Why do we care?
I will tell 21 you, we are going to get the views of the participants and 22 the public and insist on the views of the Executive Branch.
23 And I frankly am not particularly interseted in any misgivings 24 about contributing thsoe views.
They owe us the views for the
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25 record.
We have been left with a decision-making responsibility w
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and 3.t is vital we have that contribution.
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cO,,ISSIONER xENNEDY, I, they choose not to,1ve it, 3
that is a choice they should make on the record as well.
d COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
I am not faulting you for 5
making'the suggestion, but I think you ought to appreciate 6
that there is a clearly thought-out rationale for soliciting 7
the views of the Executive Branch.
8 MR. GOLDMAN: The question is what do you want to 9
solicit?
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10 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY: Their views.
MR. GOLDMAN:
If we get their views --
I2 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
We don't give them the answers, 13 we just give them the questions.
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MR. GOLDMAN: One of the questions maybe you want to 15 ask, and this is the basis of part of our concern, is what 16 impact do our options have on the Executive Branch foreign 17 policy as it is now ongoing and is possible.
This is one of 18 the concerns, at least initiated at the OPE level, that if we go ahead and talk out of both sides of our mouth, keeping our 20 domestic options open by continuing to any extent, versus --
2I COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
We have already done that.
The 22 Executive Branch did that on the Hill just the other day, 23 when they were asked if they wished legislation to prohibit 24 this, and they said no, they wanted to keep their options open.
Ar 'ederal Reporters, Inc, MR'. GOLDMAN:
That was the Executive Branch.
15 1
COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
Who are we addressing?
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2 MR. GOLDMAN: We are addressing the Commission. How does 3
the Commission feel about this?
Do they feel they are 4
furthering --
5 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
I thought it was the Executive 6
Branch.
7 MR. GOLDMAN:
THis Commission here.
This Commission is 8
an independent commission, not subject to Executive vetoes, 9
supposedly.
10 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
State the proposition.
11 MR. GOLDMAN:
I think the problem is what we ought to 12 specifically be asking the Executive Branch that this order 13 does not ask for is we have certain options or courses of 14 action open to us in the form of GESMO.
What is the impact 15 of each of those courses of action on the Executive Branch.
16 C,OMMISSIONER ROWDEN: I think if we addresss a President, l
17 we use a tough course of action.
You don't get down to 18 specifics, you indicate the desirability of having consul-19 tation with him on an informal basis, and the need to have i
20 formal views contributed for the record, ask him to designate 21 an appropraite representative, then you see what happens.
i 22 I don't think I am that smart in terms of being able to 23 appreciate where all of the issues are in terms of what they 24 see them to be, or know what all of the underlying consideration
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That would be my suggestion, if we go the Presidential l
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route.
There are so many players in the game --
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2 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
Te31 them these are the choices 3
open to us and the circumstances, and we would appreciate 4
their views.
5 MR. STRAUSS:
I don't'see any reason why you couldn't 6
be a bit fuller with the President than might otherwise be 7
in order.
8 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN: Draft up a letter.
9 COMMISSIONER GILINSKY:
YOu could send it to the 10 National Security Council.
11 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
They don't cover the domestic 12 side of it.
Schlessinger would be in on this game.
13 MR. SMITH:
THe best thing is to send it to the -
14 President and let him make that decision.
15 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
Why doesn't the Staff get together 16 and draft up a letter to the President?
17 When do you think you can come back with a completed 18 draft circulated?
I would like to have it circulated 19 before you bring it in.
20 MR. STRAUSS:
There is no reason why we couldn't have 21 that draft of a letter by late this afternoon, depending on 22 the rest of the Commission's business.
23 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
Fine.
24 Now let's deal with this problem, this thing, and get Federet Reporters, Inc.
25 rid of it.
Tha't shouldn't take more than five minutes either.
17 COMMISSIONER GILINSKY:
What is "this"?
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k-2 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
The order.
3 MR. STRAU,SS:
I have no difficulty with discussing 4
it as long as the Commission understands the transcript of the 5
discussion will be made public. I think that should be under-6 stood.
7 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN: I think we are discussing this 8
matter in an open session.
This is just an extension of the 9
session we had this morning.
10 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
WE said this morning we were II going to do this. And whatever we say on that can be in open 12 session.
13 MR. STRAUSS:
That is what I am saying.
The transcript
[
14 of this discussion will be put in the Public Document Room.
15 So.let's go to this.
16 MR. GOLDBERG:
You have a draft of the proposed order 17 seeking public comments.
It has been changed in light of 18 this morning's discussion. You are inviting comment not only I9 from the GESMO participants, but from the public.
We are 20 now putting in the context of the November 1975 policy statement, the first paragraph and mroe spec'ifically the 21 22 third paragraph.
23 There are some changes to the draft you have.
On page 24 2, line 2, the proper date there for comments should be filed-Federal Reporters,'inc.
25 by June 3, 1977.
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18 1
COMMISSIONER GILINSKY:
Since we are going back to the 2
November statement, I didn't remember it very well myself, 3
but shouldn't one indicate something about that statement?
4 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
We are enclosing a copy.
5 MR. GOLDBERG:
We will enclose a copy of the November 4
j 6
statement, and a copy of the President's statement.
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MR. STRAUSS: Would the Federal Register publish 8
the attachments?
9 MR. GOLDBERG:
They won't publish -- they will publish j
10 the President's statement, because it is brief.
And they have 11 a citation to the other and everyone who receives a copy will 12 receive both attachments.
We would not only serve it, but 13 since we are asking for public comment at large, it will 14 go in the Federal Register, be sent to the regular mailing 15 list, the relevant Congressional committees, and so on.
16 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY: WHich includes Foreign Relations, i
17 I assume?
18 MR. STRAUSS:
Yes.
In order to avoid giving -- with the 19 changes, it is probably undue prominence to the matters now 20 pending before the hearing board, the second paragraph in this 21 draft could be moved to a footnote on the secondpage, 22 reading "On April 12, the GESMO hearing board postponed the 23 hearings until further notice."
24 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
The sentence that is in the center 2.deres Reporem, inc.
25 of that paragraph, about issues raised by the President's 3
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statement seems to me a perfectly reasonable sentence to
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2 introduce what would now be the new second paragraph.
3 MR. STRAUSS: Okay.
4 MR. GOLDBERG:
That could be the lead-in sentence of 5
the.new second paragraph.
6 Le*. me see if I have this straight procedurally.
With these changes --
7 l
8 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
I have a couple of additional 9
things.
10 MR. GOLDBERG:
And additional changes, I am prepared, 11 if the Commission desires, to have this put in final form very 12 promptly, and we can perform service and mailing this 13 afternoon or tomorrow morning, not awaiting the drafting and
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14 approval of the letter to the Executive Branch and so on.
15 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
No.
16 MR. GOLDBERG:
Fine. If I get your chages we will 17 have this out late today or early tomorrow.
18 MR. SHAPER:
Doyou want to request particular comment 19 on the appropriate breaking place on GESMO?
20 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY: What are the staff views on that?
21 MR. STRAUSS:
The EDO view is that is an option, 22 that is the option they put forward this morning.
23 MR. GOLDMAN:
Of the choices given. I don't think 24 we ought to be ' soliciting an answer.
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w m nwon m.inc 25 MR. GOLDBERG:
We think we have. swept up the issues here, l
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the future course and scope of GESMO, many parties will talk
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2 to possible breaking points.
1 MR. SHAPER:
It is a question of whether it will be 4
helpful to the Commission.
It is one of the most diffiucit 5
questions in front of you, where exactly to break. I am not 6
advocating it.
7 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
Youacan put a question, one 8
question which might be considered is is there a logical 9
cut-off point, if one were to be sought.
10 MR. SHAPER:
Yes.
11 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
You havea no difficulty with that?
12 MR. STRAUSS:
We will put that in.
13 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY: So long as it has this condition, 14 the "if".
15 MR. GOLDBERG: Yes.
Many parties will view the matter 16 in that fashion.
17 MR. STRAUSS: One other matter related to this which 18 we might discussion, which I think would be appropriate for 19 return to a closed format, as Mr. Shaper mentioned thit 20 morning, one aspect of the S-3 Notice is the incorporation 21 of a description of the hearing board.
22 A possibility, depending on the options that are 23 adopted, would be to make use of one or more members of the 24 GESMO hearing board in conjunction with the S-3 effort.
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25 They are obviously educated, they have obviously also performed
. extraordinarily well in what they have done.
21 1
The choices that you have left open make it impossible
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2 at this time to make any such move.
What I suggest might 3
be done:in the interest of moving the S 3 proceeding forward 4
would be to publish it, as you have already approved it --
5 and I think you have to identify the board.
I think they 6
have to get started.
But it would be possible to add a 7
conditional statement:
"In the event that the Commission may 8
wish " --
9 COMMIESIONER ROWDEN:
Either you have confidence in 10 these people, and know you have confidence and select them 11 and it is go.
I would feel, if I were designated to be a 12 member of a board on that basis that if a better team comes/
13 along --
14 MR. STRAUSS:
No, supplementation.
35 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
If additional hot shots appear 16 on the scene, we will add them to you.
17 COMMISSIONE ROWDEN: I am not sure that that is --
18 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
That is the way this Commission 19 operates all too frequently.
20 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
I am not sure it would be recieved 21 in the manner in which you intended it.
It is a good panel.
22 There is a lot to be said for utilizing this talent that not 23 might otherwise/be available if the GESMO proceeding doesn't go 24 forward.
4
.o.rw n senm. ene.
25 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
There is no reason the new panel I
=
L_
n
. _. ~
22 I
couldn't call upon the others for advice, counsel and 2
background.
3 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:,But I think we have to make a 4
choice.
The choice is you go with one or go with the other.
5 You couldn't pick the GESMO panel now, that as much as says how you are going to come out.
7 COMMISSIONER GILINSKY:
Where do we stand on the E-3?
8 COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
The Commission approved three 9
members for the panel.
10 VOICE:
The Commission tentatively approved the 11 panel.
MR. SHAPER:
WHat do you mean tentative?
COMMISSIONER ROWDEN: There is no question it would be I#
a little awkward if we were to change now. But we are in a I3 position to make that determination now.
16
.MR. STRAUSS:
The only thing you can do is postpone I7 publication of the S-3 notice, postpone appointment of the 18 board or appoint the baord as you now have it and go ahead.
COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
We have not given public notice.
20 We decided among ourselves who the Board members would be, 21 and they have been contacted and indicated theyare willing 2
to serve.
It would be awkward -- it's an attractive 23 possiblity, but not being able to it.plement it now 2A pretty much dictaes the course of action.
MR. SHAPER:
THey know they have been selected?
,,,i 23 1
COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
Yes.
(,
2 MR. SHAPER:
It would be a litttle embarrassing 3
then.
4 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
We are going with the panel 5
as originally selected?
6 MR. STRAUSS:
So I understand.
We will revise the S-3 7
accordingly, 8
COMMISSIONER ROWDEN:
9
-- it is a great panel.
10 MR. STRAUSS:
Okay, that is it.
11 MR. SEAPER:
Then we have a notice subject to any 12 further editing on the version distributed this morning?
13 MR. STRAUSS:
That is right.
{
14 (Conclusion of discussion on this subject) 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 j
23 24 s dwal Rwrws. Inc.
e 25
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