Funding public participation in Department of Energy proceedings: a report prepared by the Energy Policy Task Force

Abstract

The Energy Policy Task Force (EPTF) examined the matter of paid participation in DOE proceedings. President Carter's Executive Order 12044 directed all agencies to ensure that opportunity exists for early public participation in the development of agency regulations. In implementing E.O. 12044, DOE has published its proposals, noting that: ''Options will be developed to provide DOE funding to pay the fees and expenses of lawyers or other experts who participate in DOE regulatory and policy development on behalf of consumers or other public interests.'' The purpose of this report is to assist DOE's Office of Consumer Affairs in designing a comprehensive paid participation program in DOE's regulatory actions as well as in its policy development, i.e., policy analysis, R and D decisions and budgetary concerns. The report does not deal with the larger aspects of public participation (citizen educational and informational services, advisory councils)--only with financing the direct participation of outside groups and individuals in DOE's regulatory and policy decision-making processes. In conducting its study, the EPTF report team contacted 146 persons, including most of the top DOE office heads and officials, knowledgeable paid-participation experts in other Federal agencies, and over 80 consumer groups and citizen organizations at the local,more » state, and Federal levels who have had experience with agency paid-participation programs. The report team also examined the programs of other Federal agencies and the voluminous literature on the subject.« less