Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
DO NOT USE WETA credit
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
DO NOT USE Sponsor credits
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Title sequence
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Paul Duke, Cokie Roberts, and Linda Wertheimer in studio. On program, preview of likely legislative battles of 1982: economic policy, nuclear power, and election campaigns.
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Linda Wertheimer introduces report on nuclear power, efforts to promote in wake of Three Mile Island disaster, low public support for building new plants. President Reagan is promoting nuclear power.
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
DO NOT USE Clip of promotional ad for Solar Power-Sun rising above forested mountains.
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Solar panels.
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Conservation advocacy literature.
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Nuclear reactor from across a small lake.
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Energy Department memorandum
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Congressional hearing on nuclear energy. Representative Marilyn Bouquard (Marilyn Lloyd) (D Tennessee), It has been apparent to me for some time that the concerned citizen is often confused or misinformed about many aspects of nuclear energy. Dr. Robert DuPont, President of Phobia Society of America (later known as Anxiety and Depression Association of America). It was totally a what if story. There was no story, or no substantial story, about what was, it was a what if story. And the media is very quick to dish out criticism, but highly sensitive of any criticism of itself. And the media, I have found, very resistant to the idea that what they were writing about was what could happen or what if. Representative Larry Wynn (R Kansas), we went to a motel close by, talked to people that lived there. There didn t seem to be any great fear among the waitresses and people who worked in the motel. We talked to people going in a little grocery store. And one told us that they thought about leaving the area but they changed their mind. Dr. Robert DuPont, President of Phobia Society of America, When you come back and tell people that, they don t believe you because they think everybody Representative Larry Wynn (R Kansas), they thought it was a rat race up there. They thought everybody done crazy. Dr. Robert DuPont, President of Phobia Society of America, Right. That was the national perception of what was going on. That it was a very scary experience and everybody of there was in a frenzy. And I ve talked to others that were there right at the time it was happening and rather than having the highways choked with traffic as people were trying to leave there, the highways were empty. .
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Representative Marilyn Bouquard (Marilyn Lloyd) (D Tennessee), I m not here to be critical of the new media. My point in having this hearing was to point out the fact that we have a job to do telling the nuclear story. And my role is to see whether or not the DOE (Department of Energy) is fulfilling their responsibility in providing the media with the information they need.
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Representative Richard Ottinger (D New York), no, I think the news media covers the news and the news with respect to nuclear reactors has been very bad. It s been very bad not because of anything the new media did but because all kinds of incidents have been occurring that have required the nuclear regulatory commission to shut down plants
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Congressional hearing on nuclear energy convened to attack President Reagan promoting policy for Nuclear Power. Department of Energy officials taking oath to testify. Representative Richard Ottinger (D New York), no individual organization s left alone in this massive public relations effort. Groups like the Kiwanis and Lions Clubs are to be enlisted. Selected respected journalists are targeted. Even the Surgeon General would be asked to lend a hand. Shelby Brewer, Department of Energy, I want to repeat, this is not a Department of Energy policy. This is not a Department of Energy plan. It s in the decisional phase now and we should have a plan within months. Robert Odle, Department of Energy, These press releases I have before me (large pile of paper) were press releases issued by the Department of Energy in 1980 in the non-nuclear area. This pile (holds up a few sheets of paper) represents nuclear press releases. So there is a basis today in DOE public information programs, I think. But it is a biases clearly still that tilts towards conservation, towards solar, towards renewable. Representative Al Gore (D Tennessee) I think that the Administration and the Department is making a serious mistake in dismantling the other programs at the Department of Energy. We should not allow this country to be lulled into complacency by the temporary stability in the world oil markets. It s only a matter of time before the pendulum swings back in the other direction. American will then ask of their government why did you go to sleep when there was this temporary stability. Didn t you learn the lesson from 74, 75? Didn t you learn the lesson when it was taught again in 1979?
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Robert Odle, Department of Energy, We will bot bury public information in a research budget. We re not going to try to hide anything. We re certainly not ashamed of the idea that we need to provide information on nuclear. If we re ashamed of anything it s that we haven t done enough.
Lawmakers 1/7/1982
Paul Duke, Cokie Roberts, and Linda Wertheimer discuss advocacy of nuclear power by President Reagan. It is likely that Reagan will spend money to promote nuclear. Discussion of Three Mile Island, charges that the press mislead the public. Cokie Roberts says the Press understated the real danger and fear, and the press got all of its information from the nuclear power industry and the government.