V. ASSUMPTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE NCMP REPORT, "TOWARD A NATIONAL

I. INTRODUCTION

In approaching the subject of materials policy planning, in the spring of 1973, it may be helpful to set the perspective by recalling the events and thinking that led to the significant increase of attention in this subject at this time.

An initial paper was published as a Committee print by the Senate Public Works Committee, January 8, 1968, that identified the important components of national materials policy and asked: "What political decisions would be warranted in the immediate future, and in what sequence, to maximize progress toward an ideal national materials posture in the year 2000?" Action areas identified in the report were: review of irreversible decisions in advance, organizational and institutional arrangements for policy-making, research needs, data systems, environmental impacts, economic motivations, and the application of the systems concept to total materials management.

THE AD HOC COMMITTEE REPORT

Subsequently, an Ad Hoc Committee was created to respond to the initial paper. Its report, April 1969, titled "Toward a National Materials Policy," was also published as a Committee print. This report made the following assumptions or hypotheses:

--The National condition regarding materials was subject to large changes over time;

--There was a need for periodic reappraisal of the materials condition of the Nation;

--Demand for materials, on a global basis, in 1969, threatened to increase at a faster rate than did materials supply;

--All energy- and product-oriented economies depended heavily on materials;

--There was a need to anticipate alternative futures and to plan for changes, in order to avoid crash programs and economic and social dislocations;

--An abundance of action options were available, but they needed to be decided on, and implemented, in timely fashion;

--Better information was needed on supply and demand;

--Better means were needed for translating supply/demand information into plans for action, and for coordinating the taking of action;

--Environmental quality had become an important further consideration in materials management; and

--While in general a perfected posture in materials management (as to industry, the environment, and energy) was impossible, nevertheless it was possible to achieve progress, to achieve motion toward the criteria or goals of national materials management.

Among the national goals proposed by the Ad Hoc Committee relevant to

materials policy were:

--A healthy, efficient, domestic materials-producing industry;

--Assurance of adequate supplies of materials at prices established in competitive markets;

--Assurance of reserves of materials for military production, under the conditions of supply that might prevail in time of war emergency;

--Efficient use by manufacturing industry of the materials being

processed;

--With due regard for national security and foreign policy considerations, a national trade policy that permits materials users to draw their supplies from sources of lowest cost;

--Avoidance of sudden, wide, and costly fluctuations in materials supply/demand relationships, in materials costs, and materials production and supply patterns; and

--Avoidance of the discharge of waste materials into the environment in amounts and ways that threaten to impair human health and comfort, injure the ecological balance, and degrade the esthetic quality of man's surroundings.

To chart the steps that might be taken to achieve progress toward these goals, the Ad Hoc Committee recommended the establishment of a temporary national commission, having the following objectives:

--To identify the relationship of the broad subject of materials

in all their aspects to national goals and objectives;

--To define materials goals and objectives of the Nation;

--To contribute to a broader understanding and awareness of materials problems and opportunities;

--To maximize, to the extent permitted by the constraints essential to the national interest, the opportunities for free enterprise to function efficiently in the materials field;

--To recommend a way in which the Federal Government can be equipped to-- (paraphrase)

(coordinate Government policies on supply/demand/disposal,
exploit science to encourage good materials management, make
long-range materials studies, strengthen education and aca-
demic research in materials, improve management of materials
information systems, and develop or coordinate the develop-
ment of future options to achieve flexibility in materials
management.)

TITLE II: THE NATIONAL MATERIALS POLICY ACT

The recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee were substantially followed in Title II of the Resource Recovery Act of 1970. In general, this Title proposed-

*** to enhance environmental quality and conserve materials by
developing a national materials policy to utilize present resources
and technology more efficiently, to anticipate the future materials
requirements of the Nation and the world, and to make recommendations
on the supply, use, recovery, and disposal of materials.

This was to be done by creation of a temporary National Commission on
Materials Policy (NCMP) to investigate and report on these matters by
June 30, 1973. The apparent assumptions of the Congress in adopting this

measure were:

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