!Clements doesn't want synfuel plan cut JIM CRAIG POst Washington Bureau - - 'WASHINGTON — In a private meet: ing with President Reagan Monday, Gov. Bill Clements Jr. registered his disap- proval of the president's proposal to re- duce federal support of the development of the synthetic fuels industry. ;The governor and the president met in the 'White House before Reagan sat with members of the National Governors' As- sociation in the East Room for a discus- sion of his economic proposals. Among the $41 billion program cuts proposed by Reagan is a plan to restruc- ture the synthetic fuels program, elimi- nating the Energy Department's direct role in development of synthetic fuels. * • . `‘i" --The proposed cuts would reduce out- 'lays by $275 million in the current fiscal year and a total of $3.2 billion by the end of fiscal year 1986. Clements, who has expressed support of the president's overall budget-cutting effort, believes the government should not back off from its support of develop- ing the synfuels industry. The governor said he spoke to the president and budget director David Stockman in separate meetings about the prospects of diminished federal support for development of synfuels. Clements refused to characterize the president's response, but said Stockman Indicated "the administration's position is much closer to mine than I realized." Instead of the Energy Department's synfuels program, Reagan wants respon- sibility for those projects transferred to the new U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corp. The Reagan administration contends the private sector can absorb the cost and responsibility for developing the na- tion's synfuels industry. "I'm against cuts," Clements said in an interview on the White House lawn after attending the governors' meeting, with the president. "I do not think they should be taken out of synfuels." The governor said he told Reagan in his private meeting that the funds the government had committed to synfuels development were from the windfall profits taxes Congress imposed on the oil companies last year. He said that money should be allowed to be reinvested in the development of energy. "This is a plowback," Clements said. He said there should be $80 billion in federal funds over the next 10 years that should be used as seed money to result in a capital investment of as much as $500 billion in the synfuels industry by the pri- vate sector. Those kinds of capital funds are not available to private companies now, Cle- ments said. Clements said the administration has expressed a willingness to continue to discuss the matter and indicated he will return to Washington in the near future to continue to press for strong federal support of synfuels. Governors' panel endorses windfall tax exemption 'WASHINGTON (UPI) — A panel of the National Governors Association Mon- day endorsed a proposal to exempt from the windfall profits tax the first 1,000 barrels of oil produced each day by inde- pendent companies. The panel -also approved a resolution calling' -for' stronger state and Nuclear Regulatory Commission influence in the choice of a site for a national high-level clump site for atomic waste. In other actions, the governors' Ener- gy and Environment Committee endors- ed a policy that makes hazardous waste diSposal primarily a state responsibility and calls for a dialogue between states that allegedly create acid rain pollution and those that suffer from it. The 1,000-barrel-per-day exemption for • independents — a group that finds 90 per- cent of new discoveries, accounts for 55 pereent of existing oil reserves and in- 1, eludes all but the 16 largest oil compa- nies — was offered by Oklahoma Gov. George Nigh and Texas Gov. Bill Clements. Massachusetts Gov. Edward King suc- cessfully sponsored an amendment call- ing on the administration to keep an endangered $200 million home weather- ization program and fulfill legislative promises to earmark 25 percent of the windfall profits tax money to assist the poor with fuel bills. Idaho Gov. John Evans proposed the successful resolution covering the associ- ation's policy on atomic waste. It would require a two-house override of any state's objection to the siting of a waste dump. It would also require NRC licensing of both commercial and mili- tary dumps and ensure the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, such as environmental impact state- ments, are applied to atomic waste management. asrow /90.5r (98/
