Evening star., 1941-05-31
|ckes Named
Defense Oil
Co-ordinafor
Rotionine Moy
Be Included in
Brood Powers
By JOHN c. HENRY,
Star Staff CORRESPONDENT.

HYDE PARK, N. Y, May 81
President Roosevelt has appoint
ed Secretary of Interior Ickes to
be petroleum co-ordinator for
national defense, it was an
nounced here today. extending
to the cabinet officer broad
emergency powers to mobilize
and control this entire vital in
dustry.
Specifying that the action is being
taken under conditions of the un-
limited national emergency, which
he proclaimed last Tuesday night,
the President wrote Mr. Ickes:
Recent significant developments
indicate the need of co-ordinating
existing Federal authority over oil
and gas and insuring that the sup
ply of petroleum and its products
will be accommodated TO the needs
of the Nation and the national de-
fense program. - One Of the
essential requirements Is the
maximum efficiency of our petrol
cum resources and our facilities,
present and future, for making pc
troleum and petroleum products
available, adequately and continu-
ously. in the proper forms. at the
proper places and at reasonable
prices. to meet military and civilian
needs
Rationing Powers Seen.
Designation of Mr.. Ickes TO this
task, in which he presumably will
have sufficient authority to ration,
if necessary, all consumption of pc
troleum products, with resultant
effect on heating usages and power
production, follows closely upon a
warning by the cabinet official on
Thursday that restrictions on civil
ian use of gasoline and electric en-
ergy may be necessary in the near
future
Principal "bottleneck" in the field
of petroleum availability, Mr.. Ickes
explained at that time, is the prob
lem of transporting all types Of oils
from areas of production, largely in
the Southwest, to the areas of great
est consumption, mostly along the
Eastern Seaboard Normally, ship
ments have been by tanker at the
required rate of about 1850 900 bar
relS per day. but the diversion of
nearly one-fifth of the available
tanker fleet to wartime servicing of
British needs threatens to cut seri-
ously into domestic movements.
Construction of pipe lines to the
East already has been considered
and surely will be given more ex-
haustive thought by Mr.. Ickes and
advisers. in the emergency program.
Gasless Sundays Hinted.
AS possible means of curtailing
civilian consumption, the Secretary
spoke on Thursday of gasoline-less
Sundays, national daylight saving
and darkened shop windows, adver-
tising signs and baseball parks at
night.
Requiring immediate action, Mr..
| Roosevelt said in his letter to Mr..
Ickes, are the following problems
bearing upon the petroleum and
allied industries:
The proper development, produc-
ton and utilization of those reserves
of crude oil and natural gas that
are of strategic Importance, both
in quality and location; elimination
or reduction of cross hauling of
petroleum and its products and the
development of transportation ia
cilities and of methods by which
more efficient use can be made of
existing transportation and storage
| facilities; balancing refinig opera
tions to secure the maximum yields
of specific products with full con-
| sideration for requirements, the
most economical use of the raw
materials and efficiency of produc-
| ton and distribution; and the elm
ination of the drilling of unneces-
sary wells in proven fields and of
other unnecessary activities and
equipment"
As his responsibility as co-ordina-
tor, the President directed Mr..
Ickes to obtain currently from all
public and private sources figures on
the military and civilian needs for
petroleum and allied products, the
factors affecting continuous avail
ability of these supplies, and all
possible information on proposed
developments which might affect
such supplies.
He directed the co-ordinator,
further, to make specific recon-
mendations to any affected industry
and to all public agencies, particu-
larly the Office of Production Man
agement and the Office of Price Ad-
ministration, and steps calculated to
(See OIL, Page AID