A 4. Ap6/1: En 2/2/989/pt.6 DS RECORD ONLY: HEARINGS BEFORE A Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations NOSSNOT JUL 1988 LIBRARY ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1989 HEARINGS BEFORE A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.... Nuclear Regulatory Commission......... Departmental Administration ........ 39-953 O Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1988 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS JAMIE L. WHITTEN, Mississippi, Chairman EDWARD P. BOLAND, Massachusetts SIDNEY R. YATES, Illinois BILL CHAPPELL, JR., Florida BILL ALEXANDER, Arkansas JOHN P. MURTHA, Pennsylvania BOB TRAXLER, Michigan JOSEPH D. EARLY, Massachusetts LINDY (MRS. HALE) BOGGS, Louisiana WILLIAM LEHMAN, Florida MARTIN OLAV SABO, Minnesota JULIAN C. DIXON, California VIC FAZIO, California W. G. (BILL) HEFNER, North Carolina LES AUCOIN, Oregon DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii WES WATKINS, Oklahoma WILLIAM H. GRAY III, Pennsylvania BERNARD J. DWYER, New Jersey STENY H. HOYER, Maryland BOB CARR, Michigan ROBERT J. MRAZEK, New York SILVIO O. CONTE, Massachusetts JOHN EDWARD PORTER, Illinois JIM KOLBE, Arizona RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois RONALD D. COLEMAN, Texas ALAN B. MOLLOHAN, West Virginia LINDSAY THOMAS, Georgia FREDERICK G. MOHRMAN, Clerk and Staff Director ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1989 THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1988. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION WITNESS MARTHA O. HESSE, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION Mr. BEVILL. Ms. Hesse, we're delighted to have you with us here. You may just submit your prepared statement for the record and then proceed as you wish. MS. HESSE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to present a brief summary of what the Commission has been doing, and what we intend to do in the next year. Mr. BEVILL. All right. INDUSTRY FEES MS. HESSE. Beginning this fiscal year, the commission is recovering its entire budget through annual charges and fees paid by the industries that we regulate. As a result, I'm pleased to report that the commission is now, consistent with the expressed desire of both the President and the Congress to better control expenditures, a totally self-supporting agency. Within this framework, our proposed 1989 budget, while almost $7 million more than that approved by Congress for the current fiscal year, will not cost the U.S. Treasury or the American taxpayer any additional funds. It is in fact a slight reduction from the fiscal year 1987 funding level approved two years ago, when adjusted for inflation. SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS While keeping within those budget constraints, we are improving our performance. While I know that many of you are familiar with our activities, I would like to briefly outline significant progress that we've made, and which we expect to continue this year, on the substance of our mission. I believe that enhancing competition can best protect the consumer from unduly high prices and also benefit the economy as a whole. Thus, the thrust of the Commission's policy decisions has been to loosen regulatory bonds that are unnecessarily tight or maybe not necessary at all, in order to encourage competition in the natural gas and electricity markets. Hand in hand with this progress I am acting to modernize the Commission's administrative operations. This modernization will (1) |