1.1979-11.1980

Dingell has third term as Subcommittee Chairman and continues to report legislation and conduct oversight over the Subcommittee's jurisdiction:

• Solar Commercialization
• Motor Vehicle Fuel Efficiency
• White Collar Crime in the Oil Industry
• Mineral Trespasses on Federal Lands
• Natural Gas Issues
• National Solar Energy Policy
• PURPA Implementation
• Energy Information Shortcomings and the Gasoline Shortage
• Canadian National Energy Conservation Program
  Middle Distillate Prices and Supplies
• Cost Estimation Techniques for Emerging Synthetic Fuels Technology
• NRC's Response to the Report of the President's Commission on Three Mile Island
• Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Oil Supply and Construction Problems
• Centralized v. Decentralized Energy Systems: Diverging or Parallel Roads?
• Investigation of the Cove Point, MD LNG Accident
• Oil Industry Compliance with Guidelines of the Council on Wage and Price Stability
• Standby Gasoline Rationing Plan
• Energy and Waste Management
• Filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
• World Coal Study - Final Report
• Enforcement of Major Refiner Cases: Getty Oil and Other Settlements
• Domestic Refinery Policy
• Alternative Fuels and Compatible Engine Designs
• Geopressured Gas
• Coal Seam Methane
• World Oil Market in an Interactive Computer Model
• Energy Costs of Environmental Constraints
• Geothermal Implementation Program and Loan Guarantees
• Department of Energy Practices in Procurement and Contracts
• General Oversight of the Department of Energy
  Oil Shale
• Coal-Oil Mixtures

Legislative Activities:

• Emergency Energy Conservation Act  (PL 96-102 )
• Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Act  (PL 96-501)
• Energy Security Act  (PL 96-294)
• NRC Authorization  (PL 96-295)
• Fuels Transportation Safety Amendments Act of 1979  (PL 96-129)
• Used Oil Recycling Act of 1980   (PL 96-436)
• West Valley Demonstration Project  (PL 96-368)
• Automobile Fuel Efficiency Act  (PL 96-425)
• Alaska Federal-Civilian Energy Efficiency Swap Act  (PL 96-571)
• Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act  (PL 96-573)

9.22.1979

President Carter, with Dingell, declares the fourth Saturday of September as National Hunting and Fishing Day.  President Carter presented Dingell with a "signed proclamation which designated Sept. 22, and each fourth Saturday of September thereafter as National Hunting and Fishing Day…Congressman Dingell led the effort … to secure the Presidential proclamation, marshalling the support of over 170 of his colleagues."(Herald-Advertiser, 10.3.79)

11.4.1979

Iranian militants storm the United States Embassy in Tehran and take approximately seventy Americans captive.  The crisis lasts 444 days. (http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/hostages.phtml)

12.21.1979

Chrysler Loan Guarantees pass the House with the help of John Dingell.  In the face of imminent bankruptcy and the layoff of more than 100,000 workers, the federal government provided $1.5 billion in loan guarantees for the Chrysler Corporation.  "Chief sponsors of the Chrysler loan guarantee bill were quick to point out last week that the measure's passage was helped in no small measure by the lobbying of Reps. William Ford, D-Taylor, and John Dingell, D-Trenton.  With critical votes on the House floor scheduled last week, Ford and Dingell joined bill sponsor Rep. James Blanchard, D-Pleasant Ridge, in lining up votes for the measure…As the bill was nearing a final vote in the House, Ford quipped, 'getting the Chrysler bill through is really quite simple.  All you have to do is make the right threats.  Dingell has told other congressmen he'll cut off their gasoline if they don't vote for it.' … Ford quickly added he was only kidding, but others said there was some truth to the notion that Ford and Dingell, by virtue of their powerful positions in Congress, were able to use their prestige in persuading reluctant congressmen to vote for the legislation."(Times Herald, 12.26.79)