CAPITOL POWER PLANT Mr. STEWART. The Capitol Power Plant is next. We requested, and the House allowed $2,752,000 for 1966 under this heading, which represents a net increase of $87,000 over the amount of $2,665,000 allowed for 1965-resulting from increases totaling $183,800, offset by decreases totaling $96,800 due to dropping of three nonrecurring items allowed for 1965. The first two items cover mandatory pay increases: $16,950 for Wage Board increases, and $1,550 for salary increases under the Federal Employees' Salary Act of 1964. Senator MONRONEY. Is the Capitol Power Plant total $2,752,000? Mr. STEWART. That is right, sir. Senator MONRONEY. An increase of $87,000? Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. There are seven other items Senator MONRONEY. What are some of those items? Mr. STEWART. The first item is on page 155 of the justification. Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. Senator MONRONEY. That is quite a sum of money. What did you have last year? Mr. STEWART. May I ask Mr. Henlock to testify on this item? PURCHASE OF ELECTRIC CURRENT Senator MONRONEY. Would not it be cheaper for us to buy our power? It seems to me we always have a $2 or $3 million powerplant request? Mr. HENLOCK. We do buy all our power, Senator. Senator MONRONEY. This is just the connections and things of that kind, powerlines? Mr. HENLOCK. We have to operate the plant-we have our heating plant and our refrigeration plant there, and we buy our electric current out of this appropriation. Senator MONRONEY. Current is bought out of this appropriation, and heating out of this powerplant? Mr. HENLOCK. Steam for heating is generated at the plant. Mr. HENLOCK. Yes, sir. In addition, we have several miles of distribution lines extending from the Capitol plant to the various buildings supplied with steam and with chilled water for air conditioning. Senator MONRONEY. There is a steady appropriation, then, that runs about $2.5 million, $2.7 million or Mr. HENLOCK. Yes, sir. The main increase last year, you may recall, was when we added the Rayburn Building to the load, and the air-conditioning load of the Library of Congress. We had to provide additional fuel for meeting the increased load and additional current for light and power. Do you wish any of these items gone into? Senator MONRONEY. Where is your breakdown? Mr. HENLOCK. It starts on page 155, which is our first increase, which is for the purchase of natural gas, Senator. Senator MONRONEY. Purchase of electrical energy. Mr. HENLOCK. That item has gone up $46,500. Senator MONRONEY. To pay for electric energy, and I think we ought to know what we are paying for. On natural gas, our gas bill is apparently only $14,000 a year; is that correct? Mr. HENLOCK. That is entirely for the Poplar Point Nursery of the Botanic Garden, with the exception of a small amount required for the House Office Building cafeteria. We buy electrical energy for all our buildings. COST OF ELECTRIC ENERGY Senator MONRONEY. Do you get the lowest possible rate on that $1,250,000 bill? That ought to be a pretty low rate. Mr. HENLOCK. Yes, sir. Senator MONRONEY. What do you pay? kilowatt-hour. Mr. STEWART. Average of 12 cents per rates. Senator MONRONEY. It is about half of the whole cost of the powerplant estimate? Mr. HENLOCK. Yes, sir; on page 156 we show that of the increase that we ask for electrical energy for 1966, $30,000 is to provide for the Rayburn Building on a full-year occupancy basis for 1966-the 1965 allotment being only on a part-year occupancy basis. Senator MONRONEY. $300,000. Mr. HENLOCK. $30,000, Senator. On page 156. Senator MONRONEY. Yes. Mr. HENLOCK. That makes a total of $300,000 for the full year. Senator MONRONEY. Yes. Mr. HENLOCK. We have $15,000 additional for the main Library of Congress Building due to the new air-conditioning system for that building being operated on a full-year basis in 1966, as compared to a part-time basis for 1965. That is an increase of from $25,000 to $40,000; $1,500 is required to meet a slight increase in usage in the other buildings under the Architect. GENERAL ANNUAL REPAIR You may recall, on the next item under which there is requested a $15,000 increase, that there was an appeal last year for $85,000 for general annual repairs. The House granted the increase to $85,000 last year, the Senate did not, and in conference it was settled at $70,000. We are appealing again for reconsideration of the full amount of $85,000 since that is what the bills continue to run. The plant has steam and refrigeration equipment which ranges from 8 to 12 years old, and other equipment up to 20 years old. Emergency repairs must be made when the need arises and all the equipment must be maintained properly for reliability of service. We feel it is necessary to ask for this fund. On page 157 we have a new item of $16,000 for cleaning and repairing the two chimneys at the plant. All these years we have used coal only at the powerplant throughout the years. Now, during the months of May, June, July, and August, we are starting, this year, putting in service new oil-fired boilers recently installed at the plant. When we had the coal-burning equipment in use during the 4 months much discoloration occurred to the chimneys' exterior. We would like to clean the chimneys this coming year, and at the same time make repairs to the interior refractory linings of the chimneys, which will be the first repair work done on them in the past 10 years. SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS On page 158 we ask that our allotment for supplies and materials, which consists almost entirely of consumable materials, be increased from $32,000 to $38,000; and actually this increase is essentially due to the Rayburn Building going into full service this year. FUEL Now, for fuel on page 159, we ask for an increase of $29,800. Mr. HENLOCK. Yes, sir. The fuel we are asking for is the fuel oil for the new oil-fired boilers and the coal for the older boilers. Senator MONRONEY. Is that for heating? Mr. HENLOCK. Sir? Senator MONRONEY. Is that for heating? Mr. HENLOCK. Yes, sir. And it also provides steam for processing purposes at the Government Printing Office. Coal for the plant is purchased through the Federal Bureau of Supply, General Services Administration, under authority of Public Law 152, 81st Congress, as amended. The GSA takes competitive bids on both coal and oil and we merely utilize those rates. As shown on page 160, from now on coal will represent about 70 percent of the Capitol Power Plant's fuel requirement and fuel oil about 30 percent. SMOKE NUISANCE Senator MONRONEY. Does the coal throw off soot and all in the discoloring of the buildings as much as oil? Mr. HENLOCK. We have electrostatic precipitators at the plant that largely take care of that situation. Mr. Rubel can enlarge on that point. Mr. RUBEL. Mr. Chairman, the trouble has been during the summer months when the steam load has been very light on the coal-fired boilers. Large boilers operate less efficiently at light loads and, therefore, they emit more smoke during the summer months. That circumstance has caused most of the discoloration of the brick stacks during the last 10 years. Senator MONRONEY. I am not talking about brick stacks. I am talking about the discoloration you get on the new buildings you have or the buildings that are new and the ones you have washed up and are spic and span and bright and shiny now. Mr. RUBEL. I presume it does have some effect on neighboring buildings. By the time the gases travel several blocks away from the Power Plant most of the soot is precipitated from the air, although there may be some of it left to deposit on the buildings. Senator MONRONEY. Do you not find coal is no worse than oil? SMALL, OIL-FIRED BOILERS Mr. RUBEL. The two are about the same, if we operate at full load. One of the main reasons for installing the smaller oil-fired boilers, which are going into operation this week, was to reduce the smoke nuisance during the summer season. It is the size of the boiler that has more to do with smoke emission than the type of fuel used. A large boiler, whether using coal or oil, will smoke at light loads. We now have these four smaller boilers which will be used primarily during the summer months when the loads are light, and we do not expect to have any smoke nuisance. Senator MONRONEY. Yes, I see. I will have to recess until I get this rollcall answered. (Brief recess.) Senator MONRONEY. All right. The committee will resume its hearings. We were on the powerplants, I think we had about completed that. BULLDOZER REPLACEMENT Mr. HENLOCK. We were down to page 160, where we asked for $25,000 to replace a 1950 bulldozer used for pushing coal into storage piles and for reclaiming coal for use in boilers at the Capitol powerplant. This is a very necessary item in order to assure unloading coal cars as rapidly as they are received at the plant, to minimize demurrage charges. Ability to move large quantities of coal quickly is essential to dependable steamplant operation. ASH TRUCK PURCHASE Now, the last item on page 161 is $25,000 for the purchase of two specially built ash trucks with completely closed bodies, similar to those used for transporting dry cement or powdered chemicals for use in removal of ashes from the Capitol powerplant, in order to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act of 1963, which was approved December 17, 1963. Senator MONRONEY. OK. Mr. HENLOCK. The next item is the Library buildings and grounds. LIBRARY BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS STRUCTURAL AND MECHANICAL CARE Senator MONRONEY. Before you do that, I ask that justification for the appropriation, Library buildings and grounds, structural and mechanical care, be placed in the record at this time. The House has allowed the full budget estimate, $879,000, including two new positions for the carpenter shop which the Senate committee denied last year, and prevailed in conference. Please advise the committee about this request and the need for these additional positions. The appropriation last year was $2,382,200; apparently you have finished some major works. Will you detail these for the record? FUNDS REQUESTED AND HOUSE ALLOWANCE Mr. STEWART. We requested, and the House allowed, $879,000 for 1966 under this heading, which represents a net decrease of $1,503,200 under the amount of $2,382,200 allowed for 1965-resulting from increases totaling $225,100, offset by decreases totaling $1,728,300 due to dropping of 16 nonrecurring items allowed for 1965. The first four items of increase on pages 181 and 182 of the justification are for mandatory pay increases and total $18,539-$15,489 for wage board increases; $150 for within-grade promotions under the Classification Act; $600 for increases under the Federal Employees' Salary Act of 1964; $2,300 for increased overtime and holiday pay costs resulting from base pay increases. The next item, $11,461-is for two additional positions and I would like to read the explanation of this request as shown on pages 182 and 183 of the justification. Mr. HENLOCK. They are the positions the House allowed and the Senate did not allow last year, and we appeal for their restoration. The Librarian has stressed that the present force cannot adequately handle the workload for repairs, erection of partitions, maintenance of furniture, general servicing and upholstering work, and work of that character, so we resubmitted the item. It has been allowed by the House for 1966 and is now submitted for consideration of your committee. Senator MONRONEY. This is all Library? Senator MONRONEY. All right. MARBLE TILE FLOOR REPAIR Mr. STEWART. The next item is $20,000 to continue the program of repairs to the marble tile floors in the main building. This is the 10th-year allotment. During the past 9 years, $150,000 has been appropriated for this work. It is estimated that to complete the program appropriations will also be required for the fiscal years 1967 and 1968. Senator MONRONEY. How much did you say you spent on it to date? Mr. STEWART. $150,000. Senator MONRONEY. To the main reading room as well as the lobby? Mr. STEWART. It is for repairs to the floor in the main building-the marble tile floors. Senator MONRONEY. That is because they are inlaid, is not that correct? Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. CLEANING AND RESTORING CEILING DECORATIONS Ten thousand dollars is requested to continue the program of cleaning and restoring ceiling decorations in the main building. This work was begun in 1960 and can be completed under the allotment request for 1966. Senator MONRONEY. This $10,000 will finish it, is that right? Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. It will make a total of $73,000 of work which has been appropriated to date. |