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Q To return to Mr. Landay's question for a moment, could you tell us what the time frame is in which you view the prospects of our obtaining self-sufficiency and not be depending on Middle Eastern oil imports?

GOVERNOR LOVE: Generally -- and it depends upon many things that can't be forecast with certainty now -- but generally, I think in terms of the three to five year time span. Certainly we will even then be importing some oil perhaps from this Hemisphere, maybe certainly some still from the Middle East, but I believe in five years through coal technology, through an expanded nuclear, and as I say, the wide range, geothermal, solar and so on, we can get to the point of self-sufficiency maybe in five.

Q Can I follow that up, sir, these are your own words. You said that the only near term solution is to dampen the increase in demand. Now, the Administration has been fairly silent about this particular aspect of energy policy. I wonder if you can enlarge specifically on how you intend to do that. You have indicated that you only have contingency plans to ration, but are not putting it into effect. But you seem very definite, at least, in saying that. How do you intend to go about dampening?

GOVERNOR LOVE: I would repeat it as matched against my optimism for the five years or so in the future. It is also true that all of the things that will bring about solutions have a lead time of at least three years, new refinery capacity, takes three years. A new well drilled in the Gulf, to bring it on line, three years. Coal technology and so forth.

In that period of time, if the demand continues to rise, there is going to be a greater short fall even with additional imports unless we can solve this refinery capacity thing more quickly than that.

So we are very firm in our belief that every possible effort in the conservation of energy is going to have to be made.

We have, as you know, taken the lead. We are, with a program that is going ahead, very satisfactorily cutting back at the federal level some seven percent. We have programs which will be forthcoming to seek not only through the States, but nationwide, to convince, urge the kind of conservation. We hope that this will be able to be effective.

Q On June 29th, Governor, the President said he would call for a list of projects to which they would add $100 million in fiscal year '74. These are atomic energy projects. Did he announce any today that they were going to add funds for development?

GOVERNOR LOVE: The $100 million program -- which is not only AEC, it is coal technology, too, and large part coal technology -- I believe, is going to be going up to the Hill in about three weeks.

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Q Could you estimate at what point in time, if this country does become self-sufficient, oil imports from the Middle East would stop? Would you say 10 years from now this country will no longer import oil?

GOVERNOR LOVE: No, I would think not. I think that our goal is to make sure that we move beyond reliance, but insofar as the economic benefit of relying on that resource for a period of time, I see no reason it shouldn't continue.

Q Governor, the President in his remarks talked about the short-term and the long-term situation. In the short-term, I wonder if you can tell us if you are satisfied that in the aggregate, the major oil companies have behaved properly with the gasoline situation and if so, was there any discussion of the role of the oil companies' situation in the meeting this morning?

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GOVERNOR LOVE: No, not specifically, I don't believe. But let me express this not as a product of the meeting, but my opinion. The question that appeared to the FTC, I believe, is whether indeed there has been any kind of arrangement among the oil companies, and if there has, the law or the regulatory agency should act and so on.

I know of no such situation. The thing that bothers me about it is that it presents too easy a solution to people in that this is a transitory thing, just a simple plot, and I guess it stands in the way of people understanding indeed this is a deep problem.

There are many things that have contributed to it. I wouldn't defend all Government policies. I am sure they have their part in it. Decisions on the part of oil companies may well have contributed to it.

But basically the problem is one of a tremendous increase in demand, not only in the United States, but worldwide. As you probably know, we have been doubling our demand for energy every 12 or 15 years. It has gone up at even a higher rate here recently, due to many factors, and it has simply out run our current ability to meet it with production.

Q Dr. Kissinger was in the meeting. Was part of the spirited discussion on the short-term having to do with American foreign policy vis-a-vis Israel and the Middle Eastern States, perhaps a more even-handed Middle Eastern policy?

GOVERNOR LOVE: No, we talked -- Dr. Kissinger briefed us on the world situation, including the Middle East. We discussed it to some extent, but certainly there wasn't any great disagreement.

Q Was there any discussion of the Canadian oil import situation?

GOVERNOR LOVE: It was mentioned. We didn't discuss it in any detail.

Q Governor, I am puzzled by the President's repeated emphasis on what he calls peaceful use of nuclear energy. The four bills do not include the siting bill and it is just not clear to me whether you have something new coming along in the nuclear field or why the President developed that emphasis this morning?

GOVERNOR LOVE: The four he mentioned do not rule out our support certainly of the others, and I agree we will push, in addition, for that siting bill which is a part of it. It is four in this session.

Q He said this year.

GOVERNOR LOVE: He was referring to this session of the Congress.

Q What Governors are you going to have here?

GOVERNOR LOVE: I don't know yet.

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Q Could you clarify your position on mandatory controls? You told us in this room several weeks ago that you were opposed to them. Now you want to hear more about them and comments. Is your view changing on a need for mandatory controls?

GOVERNOR LOVE: Not changing. My viewpoint is not, let me stress, an ideological one. It is a practical and pragmatic one. The problem of controls, mandatory controls, in a shortage situation, is as I say, the sharing of the shortage. You rob Peter to pay Paul.

For example, those who have been in the middle West in favor of mandatory controls on propane to make sure that crop drying and home heating are taken care of, at the hearings some of them have been appearing to oppose them on the grounds that in order to assure that priority, you would have to take, they were fearful, peaking power away from some of the gas distribution companies and therefore create problems on the other side.

We realize the problems, but we also know that in the event it becomes clear that indeed there will be severe problems, we obviously are not going to stand at the side, but we need to know a little bit more about both the form and the facts before we do come to an ultimate conclusion.

Q Can I draw you out on that, sir? Do you envision the strong possibility, on the basis of your statement that the only near-term solution is to dampen increase in demand, that some kind of strictures in the case of perhaps electricity or oil or natural gas may, within that three to five year span, have to be imposed on the general public? Is there that very strong possibility?

GOVERNOR LOVE: I don't know how strong it is except in certain specifics. The Northwest faces the very real possibility of that in the coming months, not due strangely enough as much to a fuel situation as to the hydroelectric power up there in a drought year in which those things are not producing at the forecasted rate. But it is a possibility. I don't believe it is real, yet.

Q How long would it take you to put a contingency program into effect?

GOVERNMENT LOVE: We can move, I think, pretty quickly.

THE PRESS: Thank you, Governor.

END

(AT 11:46 A.M. EST.)