Number 336 CHAIRMAN GREEN advised that HB 80 which placed a limit on the amount of acreage a certain entity might hold, would be heard by the committee after receipt of a similar bill by the governor. CHAIRMAN GREEN talked about a bill currently in the House State Affairs Committee that, in effect, charged a nickel a barrel to build a fund, the 470 Fund, that would be useable in case of an oil spill disaster. He was concerned that this bill had a tendency to want to have more things funded from that fund. His personal view was that if the fund was justified to begin with then it should be accomplished and not be continually syphoned off. Number 365 REPRESENTATIVE OLBERG thought he had a major investigation going with regard to where all the money in the 470 Fund went, but found out that the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), published a book that said $47 million had been skimmed off and what was done with it. If necessary, he hoped to submit legislation to cap that fund at $50 million and stop it from being a "DEC slush fund." Number 373 CHAIRMAN GREEN believed the committee would be very helpful in getting a cap on the 470 Fund. He stated the book mentioned by Representative Olberg was an annual report published by the DEC. He surmised the fund "runs $27 to $30 million a year of income at a nickel a barrel and you think in a year and a half it would be full, but it has never got there. In fact it is dangerously low, it is less than $20 million." He added, "something bad was going on." Number 387 CHIP THOMA, an active participant in the legislative process for about 22 years, gave an account of a McNeil Lehrer show in which Charles DiBona of the American Petroleum Institute, gave what he perceived as a very inappropriate view of the way the industry was going to take on the new administration. MR. THOMA believed it was very evident from the comments from Secretary Benson of the Treasury and the comments that have been made by the new Clinton administration that there would be an energy tax. He believed further that Mr. DiBona's reticence to even entertain the idea of a tax, in fact his unwillingness to consider such a tax, abounded ill for the industry. MR. THOMA surmised the administration had recognized that our industries, homes, cars, and our whole way of using petroleum based energy was totally inefficient and that we wasted 50% of the energy we burned. Being in the insulation business, he noted almost every house in the United States was not properly insulated. MR. THOMA stated that as long as the petroleum industry continued their current way of making money and promoting inefficiency things were not going to work and there would be an energy tax on production, marketing, and consumers, which would raise $150 billion a year to bring down the deficit and be placed in environmental and conservation programs throughout the country. MR. THOMA added that a nickel a barrel was an example of the type of tax that would be placed on the industry. He agreed some of those monies had perhaps "gone out the door a little bit too fast," but urged the committee to consider the trend in the national administration. Number 434 CHAIRMAN GREEN invited those in attendance to the next committee meeting on Thursday, January 28, 1993. ADJOURNMENT CHAIRMAN GREEN then adjourned the meeting at 10:40 a.m.